Bring ggMonteCristo and DoA back

iTz Uh Mario·Jan 17, 2017·25 votes·3,160 views

LCK is unarguably the best region in all of League of Legends, and MonteCristo and DoA were undeniably the best casters (at the very least, the best casters for that region). Not only were they a perfect duo that always bounced off of each other, but they also gave the most interesting content; lore, exciting play-calling, heads up shout-casting and beyond all else, perfect synchronization, even when they had to kill time for over an hour and a half due to OGN's problems last season.

I know of the politics between a caster (a low paid employee) and a billion dollar corporation, but get over it. The new casters are horrible, SPOTV (though unavoidable at this point) is horrible, and it's only going to continue to create turmoil with the professional scene all year long.

I hope there are some on here who can agree with me, because I truly miss my nights with Monte and DoA, bringing intelligent, personable and top notch shout-casting.

On a side note, if there is a better shout-casting duo, let me know. I haven't found one yet. Given I only speak English and Spanish.

All in all, is anyone in agreement that Monte and DoA should be cornerstones of the LCK scene?

Edit: LCK1 is down to 448 viewers... The lowest I've ever seen it by at least 4,000, and that was for bottom of the table teams.

Edit: The viewership on Twitch is back up to normal levels, but the amount of complaints with LS being casted over MonteCristo and DoA is flooding chat.

32 Comments

QuavelixJan 17, 20177 votes

This stream is unwatchable with LS and whoever the other guy is.

As a compromise I'm forced to sit there with the sound muted. Seems legit.

C7psr7sKvlJan 17, 20176 votes

Watching muted as well. Kind of stupid really. I guess I'll watch more Overwatch or something.

LankPantsJan 17, 20173 votes

Watch the Korean language stream. It's like watching muted but the casters get super exited about everything. Way better than listening to LS be shit at casting.

MozzarellahJan 17, 20175 votes

Great Audio 4Head Cinematic Bars 4Head Quality Bitrate 4Head Learn How To Ping 4Head Nice Relaxing Silence 4Head Learn Korean 4Head Artistic Overlays 4Head SPOTV 4Head

hotarseJan 17, 20174 votes

I used to enjoy the occasional LCK match, but noticed my enjoyment dipped whenever Monte and DoA were not casting. It's too bad I can't stand watching Overwatch or any FPS for that matter. I could even get into SC2 if those two were casting that, but not Overwatch...

Miror BJan 17, 20174 votes

Downvoted because the original poster kinda "missed" what happened. Rito didn't fire monte/doa, both of them left because they felt LoL was on its final years and that blizzard could cater more to their needs (like pay-rates/being able to choose which events they had to go to). This was a war that had essentially gone on for the past year, so you had to expect this to happen eventually.

Your idea on viewership is not only off but also misleading as well. I'm watching LCK on youtube right now, and there are at least 15-16k viewers right now. While people aren't watching it on twitch, that doesn't mean that nobody is watching it. Considering the teams playing today are pretty "meh" as well (KT is the only team playing that people might be familiar with), this looks like a pretty average day.

dakm102Jan 17, 20172 votes

Exactly what I was thinking. the Kt vs Rox match was hype because we got to see the superteam for the first time and outside of that there wasn't much this time around. not to mention that youtube often has better stream quality so it makes sense that you don't have as many twitch viewers

ForgottenLuckJan 17, 20173 votes

I thought they left of their own volition

iTz Uh MarioJan 17, 20172 votes

They did, because of Riot's payment to freelance casters. If Riot decides, they could have them back easily.

Earl EulrichJan 17, 20173 votes

no, they didn´t cast worlds because of that - their dealings with the LCK have nothing to do with Riot.

and for me personally i couldn´t stand MonteCristo anyways, DoA is a great caster though (and the only thing that made monte bearable).

Genocide VictimJan 21, 20171 votes

{quoted}

I thought they left of their own volition

They left because Riot is cheap and pays casters under the market value.

Head ConnoisseurJan 17, 20173 votes

I personally cannot stand the SPOTV casters for the LCK and would love for Monte and DoA to come back for it. However, I also love their casting enough to appreciate that they deserve higher pay and am glad they're going where that is (presumably) the case.

WulfyJan 17, 20172 votes

Nope. Monte and Doa said, quite clearly, they just refuse to work for SPOTV. Pay isn't the issue, exactly.

WulfyJan 17, 20173 votes

They chose to leave as freelancers to work for Overwatch.

There is no "bring them back" because they weren't fired. Talk to them instead.

GenghisEmoJan 19, 20171 votes

They didn't choose to "leave as freelancers" they are "OGN employees" casting OGN events and non OGN events as OGN does not force them to freelance while being OGN casters.

So Riot cannot bring them back, OGN can! XD.

ChaoticPineconeJan 17, 20172 votes

It has nothing to do with the politics between a caster and a billion dollar corporation. They are both freelance casters - they dont work for SPOTV or Riot. They go to the highest bidder and the ones they think with further their career, which at the moment is OGN. And the problem has nothing to do with SPOTV and Monte/DoA, since Monte/DoA never worked for SPOTV. SPOTV had pretty much always had mediocre/terrible broadcasting for League. In SC2 ProLeague, it was the opposite - SPOTV had the better cast and the OGN had a terrible broadcast.

But without going into all the problems of 2 gigantic broadcasting organizations competing for the rights to broadcast the LCK, Monte and DoA still work for the OGN. It just looks like they switched to casting Overwatch. It might be because Overwatch is growing, it might be because OGN's hold on the LCK is shrinking. But thats whats happening.

iTz Uh MarioJan 17, 20171 votes

OGN will still broadcast half of the LCK's games though. I'd much rather have those two casting than any other duo - period. Riot still controls a massive amount of their profits as freelance casters, and all they have to do is pay them a very minuscule percentage more of their net income.

Monte, DoA and even Achillios were easily the best casting team in all of League in my opinion.

Ale non è maleJan 17, 20173 votes

[{quoted}](name=iTz Uh Mario,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=EEGA7Amm,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2017-01-17T10:18:01.620+0000)

Monte, DoA were easily the best casting team in all of League in my opinion.

Rose tainted glasses at its finest. I found Monte unbearable to listen because of his clean-cut bias while being so wrong on basically anything that didn't involve Korean teams in its latest international shwings casting LoL

DoA is fine, but he give its best in combo with Monte because of their indubitable synergy and long-time working relationship, which basically put him at best on par with the major LCS pbp shoutcasters once he get split from Monte

ChaoticPineconeJan 18, 20173 votes

I gotta disagree with you there - I think Monte and Deficio have the same type of analysis, but Monte comes off a bit more egotistical. Both are hyper critical about mistakes and bad calls, and both have a way of putting down the "worse" team. Its far from unbearable - its just not an "entertainment" type of casting style. Its an informative one. If you want to learn about the meta, why certain teams make certain decisions, and the best possible play in a specific scenario (as well as the one mistake that could have changed the game), Monte is the guy you want to go to.

DoA actually synergies naturally with many casters. I dont think he has to "work" to synergize with anyone, since his casting style is mainly joking/comedic relief (which cannot be said of the Krepo/Froskurinn duo when they kept trying to talk over each other). He has casted games with Phreak and others, and it seems like his personality is just relaxed, talkative, and very easy to pair with. He feeds off the energy of his other caster, so he really isnt bad when he isnt paired with Monte.

iTz Uh MarioJan 18, 20171 votes

This. I would quote it but the entire thing is true. Monte is an easily dislikable person and I totally agree with that, but it doesn't mean that he's wrong or too critical. He is a bias and cocky individual, who also happens to state exactly what he wants exactly when he wants to, and I like that.

As for DoA, it seems that nobody has disagreed on him thus far as far as his casting goes. I just don't think there's another caster in the community that could possibly counter-balance Monte's intense way of speaking than DoA.

All in all, they're a great pair.

Ale non è maleJan 18, 20173 votes

{quoted}

I gotta disagree with you there - I think Monte and Deficio have the same type of analysis, but Monte comes off a bit more egotistical. Both are hyper critical about mistakes and bad calls, and both have a way of putting down the "worse" team. Its far from unbearable - its just not an "entertainment" type of casting style. Its an informative one. If you want to learn about the meta, why certain teams make certain decisions, and the best possible play in a specific scenario (as well as the one mistake that could have changed the game), Monte is the guy you want to go to.

Do not misunderstand me, I like the style that Monte type of analysts bring to the casting more than other kind of color caster out there, the "politically correct" bullshit you listen from some color caster is just annoying, it is refreshing to have someone on the desk saying clearly "hey, that was stupid, and that's why"

I just found Monte casting unbearable because when I see him casting anything that is not about Koreans team, I find myself disagreeing with the point that he is making, and then i see that most of those were incorrect once the game develop some more and his predicitons confirm to be incorrect

Monte is very very good when talking about Koreans and the Korean teams, but I found that he has too much of the Korean playstlye stuck in his mind that he isn't basically able to judge any kind of different League anymore because once he doesn't see what he is familiar to, he start to relying on his bias which is more often than not wrong

He won't be missed in international casting events, tbh For LCK viewers....well, probably he will, but I think is repleaceable giving some more time to his replacements, so I don't think the outcry is warranted, tbh

Also, Krepo/Froskurrin are both color caster, it is difficult for a copule like that to mesh when they have worked together for little time - and heck, the problem is mostly on Froskurrin as she has in general has bad timing in understanding when and how enter in the speech of the other caster, as krepo does not have much of thse problems when paired with casters other than Deficio -, so they are not comparable to a pbp caster like DoA (in those circumstances Phreak was the color caster indeed, so the roles were clear)

DoA is good alone, just not special, imho. He is special with Monte, but if Monte goes and he follows with him it won't be a so big loss

StillnameJan 19, 20171 votes

I completely agree that Monte is an entertaining caster. He always keeps the games fun but is also a different type of caster than most of the LCS casters. He is a pretty charismatic guy but doesn't get overly excited about teamfights unless there is something happening to get hyped about which is something the LCS casters could do a little better imo.

However, I would never say that he is the game knowledge guy. He is master of hindsight and saying exactly what went wrong with any given decision but he just isn't the guy to go to when talking about what a teams strategy will be for that game.

I am not trying to bash on the guy because he is a great caster but he definitely has his flaws and I think the big one is that he simply just doesn't play league so the only strategies he can ever know about are ones in games that he watches.

I would say a caster like Krepo would be more of the "game knowledge" type of caster because he has so much experience in and around the game but he is a way worse at presenting the information in an exciting and fluid way than Monte is.

ChaoticPineconeJan 18, 20171 votes

When the OGN broadcasts, its still Achillios and Papasmithy casting. Both dont have the unique personalities of Monte (the hyper critical analysis) or DoA (nonstop references, jokes, and puns), but both are very good casters. I personally love PapaSmithy - his type of analysis pairs well with anyone (he is the comedic relief with Monte, the voice of reason with DoA), plus he has a great accent.

And I'm not sure that Riot controls the profits of freelance casters. Riot controls the profits of their own, in-house casters that they use in both the EU and NA LCS, but I'm pretty sure Monte doesnt get paid by (what he believes to be) Riot's low compensation. Thats why he openly refused to cast tournaments where Riot would be handing the paychecks.

PAULBROKEACHAIRJan 17, 20172 votes

100 percent agree. Even if they don't have monte and doa, they need better casters. These guys have no synergy, one sounds like he is 14 years old, and the best line I heard today was "there is a gorilla in the jungle," which the other caster did not even comment on because they have zero synergy. The gameplay analysis too was sub par, so I don't see wtf they bring to the table.
Imagine sitting through a long pause with these guys......... I gave them about a minute today before doing something else during the lz pause.
They don't even get excited in the least bit about gameplay.
I'm sure there nice guys, but they are not good casters.

KinjishiJan 18, 20172 votes

LS is basically Jatt/Krepo, jr. - but for LCK. Didn't care for LS at Worlds... and not a big fan of listening to him all the time in LCK. The other new guy tries to sound excited about stating obvious things. (i.e. - they took baron, that's bad... no #!@$). He sounds like he is reading a horrid script and/or doesn't know what to say. Papa Smithy was supposed to be casting in LCK. Hope that still happens.

Edit: At least LS and the new guy (Valdes) are only on SPOTV casts. Papa Smithy and Achillios are on OGN casts, so we get great casts for half the year (Papa/Achillios) and meh/crap casts for half the year (LS/new guy).

BhayanakaJan 17, 20171 votes

When an invite for casting worlds was not sent the message was quite clear

GenghisEmoJan 19, 20171 votes

They are NOT Riot employees just in case.

However, see if telling OGN can make them return to cast LoL when Overwatch/Apex is not on or when they are not busy learning to cast a new game.

EDIT: If OGN has a VOD or is casting event, or Live Stream of OGN is also available WATCH IT since Papasmithy and Achillios cast it, and they would sometimes have to "sub in" for either DOA or Monte when one was out sick or had a day off. They have built a decent synergy as well. They are better than SPOTV.

LS is more for his knowledge of game, not his "casting". DOA was more for shouting, Monte was more for breaking down stuff. LS is a Monte light, very light. A bit like a Jatt light.

KotexJan 19, 20171 votes

I don't hate the LCK casters, i just don't care for them. Right now i don't even know their names and nothing gives me a reason to want to. That's just how mundane they are. Not like say Phreak or Jatt, or Kobe, or Quickshot, or Pyra, Sjokz, etc. They leave a particular impression

KinjishiJan 23, 20171 votes

There's nothing memorable about Pyra, Stress (and their laughable attempts at facial hair), or Sjokz. Quickshot, Krepo, and Deficio are the good EU casters. Everyone else in EU is just meh.

KotexJan 25, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Yasu Yoru,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=EEGA7Amm,comment-id=000e0000,timestamp=2017-01-23T08:03:57.299+0000)

There's nothing memorable about Pyra, Stress (and their laughable attempts at facial hair), or Sjokz. Quickshot, Krepo, and Deficio are the good EU casters. Everyone else in EU is just meh.

Yea sure i like quick and krep and deficio alot more too. Sjokz is cool honestly not sure what makes you dislike her, but as for pyra i dont hate him either. I like him more than pulse.