Hello Nomad. I’ve just done an interview with T-Panda and Snare in which we discussed their versatility in terms of Dota 2 talent work. You’re also someone who’s been super versatile, doing a lot of desk hosting and casting - but now at this International you’re doing interviews here at The International 2024! Can you chat a bit about how that’s been?
So I did desk hosting at, for example, WePlay, DPC China and SEA. Online I do way more casting but on-site I do more desk hosting.
[chips in] Do you find it hard to transition between these roles?
When I initially went from caster to host, it was pretty hard. I thought it would be easy without planning desk segments or doing any research and it didn’t work. I did my first panel in WePlay in Ukraine and I was like “oh shit, okay let’s reset”. I did a reset and brought loads of preparation and it went a bit better each time - it just took a bit of learning.
Now that I’ve done it a bunch it’s really easy to flip between them - I feel comfortable in both roles. When it comes to interviewing though, it’s a bit different. Most of the interviews I’ve done before, given the nature of the DPC, have been in-studio with remote interviewees (via Discord or similar) so it was really kind of big going from that to live interviews. I did live interviews twice before, at TI9 and at ESL Stockholm; both times I was there as a journalist and they were pre-recorded so it was quite different.
So this International you got a bit dropped in the deep end? Despite doing a great job, in the one interview your hand was shaking from the nerves!
During the media period I did pre-recorded interviews and was confident as hell for that. I’ve done that before, sitting down in a chair in a nice room and chatting with the players. That went absolutely fantastically and I think people were very receptive to that as well, so it set me off on a good foot.
Then we went to the hotel interviews (for the Group Stage and Road to The International) which I actually found pretty difficult. The players were just not as receptive because it’s an entirely different environment, coming off the back of a win going “oh can you come talk to me now?” and they’re just like “oh shit, okay”. They seemed to just follow my lead and sometimes didn’t give me very much, just one word answers; so you have to be ready for anything.
Those first few interviews were a lot harder than I expected and as a result I started over-preparing and writing too many notes. I also wrote out the entirety of my questions onto my cue card and tried to read them like notes which was a terrible idea. Pretty quickly I fixed this and got better at going through the themes and planning out the flow of the interview. In the space of a couple of days it changed a lot - I think if you listen to my first interview and my fourth interview it’s so different.
Going from that onto the mage stage was a huge jump. I’ve only cased in front of like a hundred people before for the Commonwealth Games and this was in front of a crowd of over ten thousand. To do interviews in front of that was incredible, I couldn’t believe how much easier it was doing that compared to doing it in the hotel. I was able to come out and just feel the energy of the crowd. All those nerves I had previously had turned into excitement and I was just able to harness it better. I realised that all I have to do is go out and ask some questions - so I strode out and did my thing. I’m not saying that I’m the best TI interviewer of all time, but considering it was my first time I was super happy with how I’d done – but still tons of feedback to look at and review. Being in front of that crowd just felt so cool.
Were you aware this was going to be your role here, or was it kept a bit secret from you? Sometimes in the past (like when I worked TI5 and 6) there were talents who weren’t sure exactly what they’d be casting, or panel work, etc.
They were very clear that I was going to be an interviewer and do intros and also winners/losers interviews. I don’t think they mentioned coach interviews but it’s within the scope of what I expected. I actually really enjoyed the coach interviews during the Road to The International, they seem more composed because the players are either distraught that they’ve lost or they’re so happy that they can’t speak properly. I hit the nail on the head with coaches by only asking analytical questions, I didn’t go into the mentality aspect because you’re just going to get the same answers. Some coaches were really receptive to me, one of my favourites was Igor "kaffs" Estevão (the coach of HEROIC) because he’s not a particularly dynamic speaker but the content of what he’s saying is incredible.
As an interviewer who’s doing exit interviews, you need to watch all the games right and prepare your questions. People don’t always realise this, but it’s a non-stop role, right?
I watch every series from start to finish and I just make notes. I mean, I’m at The International! I feel like it’s a huge gift for me to be here, even though I’ve worked for the past five years to get here it’s still like other people who’ve worked longer and haven’t got it.
What was it like working with the other talent at The International this year? You were one of the only (if not the only) new talents to be added from last year, who did you work closely with and learn from?
The biggest people I learned from were Pyrion and Tsunami. Tsunami I didn't actually talk to him that much but every time we spoke he gave me brilliant advice - he was very helpful and open. Pyrion, obviously a huge Yogscast guy, he treated me just like just another peer, very professional. He was super down to earth and there wasn’t any sort of superiority from him - we were just sharing information and question ideas back and forth.
Lyrical gave me help, Trent gave me help, everybody gave me advice or tips - and if I didn’t ask for any they just gave me praise and motivation.
If you were invited to an event and you could decide on what role you’d take - how would you prioritise your options?
That’s a super hard question, I don’t know if I can decide. The thrill of casting is huge, but as a stage host you’re directly facing the crowd and there’s that roar as you say “this team is making it to the finals, isn’t that amazing crowd!”. The crowd here has been incredible, so I don’t know if the feeling here at The International is making me biased towards it. I like desk hosting as well because you get to work with your peers much more - I love everybody in the talent scene so the ability to work with analysts is fun.
A few years ago we saw very few talents who were able to fulfil multiple roles, I think Cap was one of the only ones who could cast and desk host. Right now it seems everyone is able to everything, why do you think that flexibility has become the norm?
I think everyone is sort of learning from each other in some ways. I don’t think casting is very applicable to other talent roles, like if you’re a good caster I don’t think you’re automatically a good desk host - but if you’re a good desk host you’re probably able to be a good interviewer. So some skills are more transferable and interchangeable than others, and I think people who have the confidence to do multiple roles can easily expand into them.
Someone looked at me and said “I think that guy would kill at on-stage interviews”, like I’m beyond humbled that someone took that shot with me and I hope that person feels like it paid off.
The International is coming to a close (this interview was conducted during the Grand Finals), could you maybe highlight some of your favourite moments or teams from the event?
I had a really good pre-event interview with Remus "ponlo" Goh which did very well, pretty much universally loved and everyone was like “ponlo is f***ing great”. That was cool because I was able to create that for him and that’s something I’ve been working at, but it was really cool to have that and then I got to talk to him a little bit more afterwards. They had a great little start to the tournament but unfortunately it didn’t look so good for them in the playoffs.
I also have a soft spot for nouns, I think they’re a great team and I would have liked them to go further. They had some really exciting series and knocked down some of the best; it was fun to watch them and it’s sad we didn’t get to see them on the main stage.
Team Liquid as well, all of their players are very likeable and talkative and nice. Their organisation as a whole is a great role model for other teams to follow. They’re the full package: they make good content, they put effort into promoting their players better than anybody else, they really lift up their players.
This year’s TI was only 16 teams, not 20 teams. Would you prefer to see more teams here? Would more teams have made the event more spectacular?
So it’s a smaller number of teams here, but everybody makes it through the group stage into the playoffs. As an interviewer, 16 teams is a great number for us to have since we can split them up and do 8 each (PyrionFlax also did interviews). With 20 teams we might need another media day or another interviewer - so it felt like a nice manageable number to keep the focus and the quality high.
Last few questions from Copenhagen then, what are your professional plans for the future?
I’m hoping to do more interviewing stuff, more stage work. It’s just super fun and I can build more confidence in the role.
[chips in] only in Dota 2, or other game titles too?
Yeah, I absolutely would do other games, but my passion is Dota 2. I can’t see myself working out of Dota at the moment - maybe if I was given enough warning I could prepare for it; but I can’t just rock up without deep knowledge and preparation and pretend to do a good job. I’d need a couple of months to put in a few hundred hours into the game so it’s all Dota at the moment! I’m always down for casting but casting has always been the same where you have some really incredible casters that aren’t going anywhere and fill up the top positions. I’m happy to do the occasional casting stuff but diversifying and interviewing is fun and seems to be a good fit for me.
And what do you have planned for this brief offseason?
Well, now the event is over I'll go home and recharge. It's been two weeks of solid work, with a few months of preparation before that, so going home to my partner and my cat (Sir Wilfred Whiskerson) is going to feel really good! Then it's on to the new season, there's really no post-TI break, so it's gonna be a case of fiending roster shuffles and preparing for whatever's next.
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