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LCK Casts

Tract··1 votes·2,344 views

I've been a SKT fan since summoner level 5, years ago, and I watch most LCK games...or WATCHED anyway. I was really looking forward to the split starting but I could only last a few minutes before dropping the volume on the non IGN cast. Not sure what it is with them but the new casters are just uninteresting and boring at best, and flat out annoying often. I just can't make myself watch or care while listening to their unfunny dull drone. Please, find new casters or get Monte and DOA back.... or League as a resort may die from this singlehandedly, as Korea is such a major region. SPOTV is just plain inferior, anyone else agree? Possibly if Riot sees enough of this kind of thing they will do something, because LCK is essentially crippled right now.

edit to clarify: not a bring Monte/DOA rant, and yes I know that the still very good OGN broadcasts have great casters, my point is that the 1/2 of the time when there is a far subpar SPOTV cast, many English speaking viewers will have trouble watching much, and more likable casters would be good, even if they are not monte/DOA

17 Comments

GenghisEmo2 votes

I agree for most part. I respect one of the SPOTV casters if he breaks down or gives me relevant info on why something works the way it does or the interactions. It's the dude that went to Worlds alongside OGN's Papasmithy.

Now OGN's casters i prefer. Papasmithy is still quite entertaining and the other guy with him, whose name i can never recall and jokingly refer to "Not DOA, but sounds similar to DOA", is also good.

Thank goodness Papasmithy is still with OGN for LoL. And thank goodness he was at Worlds.

The SPOTV casters are not very exciting, they are just knowledgeable. And one of the casters bugs me so much since the guy can never, NEVER, pronounce names well. the other can pronounce them relatively well if it is something Korean, but anything Chinese-ish like "Longzhu" and butcher city central here we come. Papasmithy also has issues pronouncing some names well, but they pale in comparison.

OGN English casters for life! That is until they also leave if they so happen to ever leave...

I was so freaking happy that OGN got to cast SKT vs JAG and MVP vs BBQ... but the MVP vs BBQ was a bit less exciting as only the first game of the match was good, the second was a stomp, and the last was a bit of a mess.

I freaking miss DOA and Montecristo when i see LCK now. But i'm happy to know, that the game i play a lot more, Overwatch, is where they are currently casting. They are have so much to learn and have so much to improve on. There is another caster exponentially better from casting Counter Strike, Call of Duty, and now Overwatch (note, FPS games, and several vets and pros from these games now in Overwatch so he is familiar with them which is advantage to the guy, while DOA and Monte have to try and learn the players). Luckily, DOA and Monte's MOBA and RTS experience and suggestions seemed to bring some great ideas to FPS genre in an attempt to improve the viewer experience. Some ideas Blizzard is considering to add to Spectate feature. One is here or coming soon for Overwatch.

Now back to League, i will miss DOA and Monte, may not watch LCK as religiously, but I will continue to watch it if casted by OGN, or if it is a team i respect or love, or one that piqued my interested and it was casted by SPOTV, then i will suck it up and watch the damn game.

Miror B2 votes

Yet another post about trying to "bring back" monte/doa, yet another downvote because of how dumb I find it to be.

Jerry Seinfeld once did an entire episode about how aside from almost incredibly rare circumstances (like what he demonstrated at the beginning of the episode with Jeneane Garrofolo or however you spell her name) mutual breakups literally never happen. As was the case with Monty/Doa as Rito didn't break up/fire them, they left on their own knowing that they'd be leaving things like LoL/their fanbase probably forever. The idea that Rito can/should bring them back is an almost non-ideal concept that fails for multiple different reasons and doesn't actually benefit rito in the slightest (even if the LCK english audience falls off a bit, which trust me, is pennies compared to the tens of thousands of koreans who watch lck on a daily basis). Ignoring all the videos that Monty released that looked to be heavily against rito (becoming the esports equivalent of the "bin-laden tapes"), how exactly could rito bring them back? "Oh, I know you guys left and sorta tried to suggest that Overwatch looks to have a brighter future than this game and will probably still be around in a few years unlike this one, but hey, here's some $, now could you please break the contracts you have with blizzard and rejoin to appease the small-ish english LCK fanbase we have?" Ultimately, there are only really two "sides": you're either a fan of monty/doa, or you're a fan of LCK. If you can't watch LCK without the two, then I implore you to go watch overwatch and stop complaining about them being gone. If anything, it'd kinda help them and prove why they got those contracts (as nowadays casters aren't so much hired because of the quality of their work, but instead based off of how many fans they can "draw in" just by being there).

Tract1 votes

Not quite.... my point is that while I loved them casing, the problem is not that they left it's that SPOTV and their replacements are way way too subpar for a region like the LCK.

Miror B1 votes

{quoted}

Not quite.... my point is that while I loved them casing, the problem is not that they left it's that SPOTV and their replacements are way way too subpar for a region like the LCK.

Your idea though suffers from 3 giant flaws: a) they can't exactly "bring back" monty/doa (as explained above), b) the english audience that watches lck is too low to really warrant a change (EU/NA are the two "big" english audiences, hence why all the good casters are there), and c) it's too early in the season to really "tell" how good/bad the casters are yet. Although some people may not like them (I personally don't understand why, being someone who watches LCK for the actual play and not the side-chatter), let's remember that much like the meta the casters themselves still probably need to get "adjusted" after taking such a long break between iem/worlds and now. Give it a month, and it could very easily be way better than you think it is now.

III BAKURYU III 1 votes

I liked Monte no doubt when I watched the LCK region and whenever he got a chance to cast at Worlds etc but while he was a small reason why I watched the LCK it wasn't 50/50 on why I watched it.
I watched the LCK region because of the players/teams. The casters are in the background to give advice/thoughts/opinions/jokes(so it's not so dry) etc the main meal on the table is the gameplay from the LCK players not the casters.
Like you said anyone who wants Monte back go watch overwatch. Anyone true fan of the LCK or just league in general would be annoyed but at the same time has no choice but to move on and adapt to the change or just stop watching.

Miror B2 votes

[{quoted}](name=III BAKURYU III ,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=1uznhgjP,comment-id=00020001,timestamp=2017-01-19T17:22:37.270+0000)

I liked Monte no doubt when I watched the LCK region and whenever he got a chance to cast at Worlds etc but while he was a small reason why I watched the LCK it wasn't 50/50 on why I watched it.
I watched the LCK region because of the players/teams. The casters are in the background to give advice/thoughts/opinions/jokes(so it's not so dry) etc the main meal on the table is the gameplay from the LCK players not the casters.
Like you said anyone who wants Monte back go watch overwatch. Anyone true fan of the LCK or just league in general would be annoyed but at the same time has no choice but to move on and adapt to the change or just stop watching.

Yeah, the sad thing as well is that LCK got so much better during the offseason. Koo/Rox "broke up" and are now scattered among the teams there, Huni's on his first LCK team trying to show everyone that he isn't just a top-tier player in bad regions but just a top-tier player in general, and thanks to rebranding we have a team whose mascot is literally a helmet-wearing f'cking rooster! Minus the fact that SKT is almost guaranteed first, it'll still be an incredibly interesting split even if two of the most overrated LCK casters aren't there.

III BAKURYU III 1 votes

I like Monte but the thing that annoys me about him is how much of a LCK fanboy he is. He would watch a NA vs LCK game and LCK beats NA and be like " NA sucks" however if NA beats LCK he would be like " NA didn't beat LCK, LCK beat themselves" like he never gives any credit to other regions. CLG did great at MSI and in his vod reviews he just says "oh those teams that CLG beat RNG-SKT-G2-FW just played sloppy".

Yeah B"ee" B'ee" Q and not Bar-B-Que as I pronounced it at first. I didn't think much of BBQ as I had them 9th in my rankings to end the season but they looked good and could make it to playoffs.

Yeah SKT looks better than what I expected honestly but with that said I think people are sleeping on Afreeca Freecs and Longzhu.
Teams outside of SKT/SSG/KT only need 2-3 weeks to really build synergy as it helps Longzhu as their botlane has been together for a while now and Afreeca has in my opinion the most underrated ADC in the LCK Kramer who builds CS leads easily.

SKT- Obvious powerhouse team no question but I think KT will win the #1 seed.

KT- I'm tired of this Deft " is the best ADC in the world" he's not he's good but a cry baby that tilts however like I said KT has so much talent they only need time to grow as a team as I'm a believer of Mata's calling.

Longzhu and Afreeca - underrated teams that get no love because of the hype and history of KT and SKT.

SSG - Not the same Worlds SSG team but still very good. Won't be top 4 tho.

Miror B2 votes

Yeah, for me BBQ-Olivers isn't interesting because of their players, but more because I'm under the impression that they have a shot of being the UOL of korea. Apparently the franchise that bought the team is known for doing a bunch of "fun" stuff (one of their promos involving fans submitting weird ideas for chicken flavors with the winner getting on the menu, and apparently the thing that won was something ridiculous like jalapeno gingerbread), so I'm thinking that if they apply it to their team we could be in for some fun stuff.

Yeah, Monty was always kind of a polarizing character (watch some of the stuff he did in 2014 when he was the CLG coach, add an almost hindenburg-ish ego, and that sorta sums up what he is now). The fact some people think rito should go out of their way to have him cast for them again makes me laugh every time I see it, as not only was his youtube channel probably the most anti-rito propaganda on the web (barring one overwatch video and a bunch of vod reviews, literally every video he did over the past 6 months consisted of "rito is a bunch of greedy scumbags who don't know what they're doing, I don't have a massive bias against them because they banned renegades, did I mention that they're greedy scumbags?" ) but much like everyone else nowadays he seemed to be more interested in overwatch than this game. Whether it benefits anyone by him leaving LCK is anyone's guess, but if it makes both sides happy then is it ultimately bad that he left?

III BAKURYU III 1 votes

Yeah give or take 2 weeks and I'll forget that he left because again I don't really listen to the casters as much as oppose to actually just watching the games.
Monte has a personal vendetta against Riot which it's I'm not going to go in detail about because I don't care but like you said he has nothing good to say about Riot and while the LCK is independent from Riot I believe I don't think he is able to cast Worlds but only LCK games.
Monte pointed out that the money isn't the greatest and while I'v never found out how much $ casters make I will say Riot isn't making anyone cast games you do it for a paycheck or you don't.

He's more Overwatch because it's the "newer" toy and when you have a new toy you play and admire it etc. I will say that MOST(NOT ALL- Cause I know some A-Hole will read this and talk S$it) of the community doesn't think much of Monte but more of a "Hambre" type of meme at this point.

LCK isn't going to lose millions of viewers because of this so anyone saying " I will stop watching etc" go ahead because the real LCK community will stick around as most of the viewers are actually KOREAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as most viewership is actually in NA as far as views/attention/revenue etc.

Tract1 votes

It's kind of more of how he and DoA were quite analytical and often funny. His major flaws aside I personally do prefer those two over SPOTV, although I agree with you mostly. I may be wrong but I am fairly sure the reason they are alternating is that they need more casters. I agree on the viewership as well, with the exception that if someone is new and are less motivated to get into it in the first place... I'm making assumptions here, and probably over considering some things, though for the most part I feel the same. To find a new set of casters is also probably more healthy in the long run, as they were going to move on or retire at some time, it's just that I don't think they found the right ones in SPOTV.

III BAKURYU III 1 votes

Opinionated- Analytical YES VERY SO ! Funny - meh.

Casters $ - I will take Monte's word on Riot not paying casters much $ as it's hard everywhere in this economy anyways so I do agree with that. As well as support his claim as I'm sure being a caster it's no picnic as you need to know information, spells, champions, etc so 10/10 agree.

As far as # of casters I do think Riot needs more casters as they have had Phreak-Jatt-Deficio-Quickshot etc for just NA/EU for about 6-7 years from small tournaments/LCS years way back during 2011 all the way till now 2017. SO I do think Riot are trying to get more attention on the casting job but Monte isn't helping much from complaining about Riot so it's a conundrum.

On 1 hand we have Riot and on the other Monte. Riot are always going to be the "bad guys" while Monte is revered as the "good guy". Riot is the big bad company that wants $$$$$, elo, and tears while Monte is a single person as 1 individual is always going to get more sympathy opposed to an established company.

I don't think Monte wants to comeback anyways and why should he ? Riot has wronged him in the past and Monte clearly doesn't like Riot and vice versa. The longer this situation doesn't get resolved the better it looks for Monte as he will get more and more support behind him anyways so it's a smart move on his part.

Nice talking to you!

GeminiRune1 votes

So far the LCK casting on English side has been pretty normal to that of the likes of the Summer Split. You have your OGN Casting with Papa and Achilios which has maintained the casual and engaging banter that Monte and DoA would normally run into during its deader points of gameplay. And you have the SpoTV Casting of LS and Valdes which although may be less appealing on the ear for what the typical viewer is used to with LCK, it's still informative and professional despite having lesser experienced casters.

If it's casters first to you, then are you really that much of a fan for the team you support? If you can't give anything a chance or if you can't handle change, then you're being rather petty about it and only bound to ruin your own experience for yourself from here on. The games so far have been living up to a lot of hype regardless of where you watch it from. And this is still the beginning of the week to some extent! But hey, you're free to sit in front of your browser on mute, which I doubt a lot of people actually do because they learn to suck up their pride and get used to it.

To say the League is going to die from the loss of Monte and DoA is just absurd. We lost Deman and Joe a while back and similar things were said. Lesser considered talent came in or shifted around: Quickshot being a direct example going from Colour to PBP. They found the room to improve off of that and form their own personalities to fit them. Point is though, casters aren't going to magically fill the shoes of the ones that depart from a scene. And more importantly, casters do not ruin the League in which the players play in.

Tract1 votes

Not quite what I meant, I meant that Eastern English speaking viewers are likely to get turned off if they are watching on a SPOTV day instaid of the still excellent OGN days.

GeminiRune1 votes

Well that may be true. But if the reason you are turning off a SpoTV broadcast is because of the caster and whatever style of English accent they may have, then that's pretty pathetic. At glance, it only shows that you like LCK for its laid back, freelance style casting before that of the games that are even played.

Countless people dislike voice first which leads to dislike of personality as well. They'll be just fine with OGN's viewer pandering but once anywhere else does it, they might as well be popular in their own extent or else they're probably going to get bashed to no end.

And just for a heads up. The next SKT game is being played in Nexon Arena on SpoTV. And with no piggyback English casts, this is a matter where you just have to take it or mute it. 1 to X viewers; it won't do much damage at all.

Tract1 votes

Also not quite what I meant. What I meant is that turn off the VOLUME, my bad. Watching the game is just as fun :D

That and it still remains valid that there are likely a great number of players who care less, and if they don't like the casters, wont bother simply turning off the volume and watching themselves, and just not watch at all. "1 to X" viewers isn't an increasing number, especially with the actual rise of other games, such as Overwatch(were Monte and DoA went, as it happens), that less viewers is not a good thing..

Also, if a position is made insistently enough, the chance of it being recognized is exponentially more likely than if left unsaid. If you dont agree with me, thats fine, but it also doesn't make my oppinion, and that of those who agree with me, any less valid than your own.

GeminiRune1 votes

Not sure what it is with them but the new casters are just uninteresting and boring at best, and flat out annoying often. I just can't make myself watch or care while listening to their unfunny dull drone. Please, find new casters or get Monte and DOA back.... or League as a resort may die from this singlehandedly, as Korea is such a major region

This is enough to point out that you can't enjoy it unless it's the kind of casters that you're familiar with. This makes you picky. If you want to make a post about how your interest in LCK Casting is unappealing to you, you don't have to watch it. But you're missing out if a voice is the reason that you can't watch it.

Tract1 votes

Read the edits and other comments t_t

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