Bias in Casting

Ginjavitis·6/5/2017, 3:28:41 AM·4 votes·1,321 views

Can we please stop putting one team up on a pedestal and constantly bashing every other team. No matter how the game is played SKT is always praised through mistakes, losses, poor decisions, and bad individual performance. I just finished the SKT/BBQ and the SKT/SSG games tonight....during the BBQ game they were entirely disrespectful during every instance of the game, Tempt (BBQ mid) a quadra at one point due to poor positioning and engage by SKT, do they praise them at all for doing a good job? No. They only point out that peanut was able to get the drag during the entire fight and saying that they fell right into SKT's trap during the whole ordeal, they didn't fall into a trap; they played well and they showed very good coordination and exploited weaknesses in SKT's decisions. The SSG game was even worse, SSG beat them very handily in 2 back to back game and there was almost zero praise given for them, eveything they said about them winning was followed by: SKT just got back from MSI, they had no time to prepare, they had jet lag (1 week after returning from MSI), they weren't top notch, the meta is different. First of all, they have plenty of time to play on the new patch while at MSI to practice and see meta changes, second, a week is all this new patch has been out, so hasn't everyone else had the same amount of time to prepare for it?? Stop making excuses for why the caster favored team is still better than a team that just destroyed them TWICE. If any members on SKT die and make mistakes it's never an outplay, it's only ever a mistake from them, how hard is it to give credit where credit is due? The most annoying part of the whole series was one comment as Huni outplayed the opposing top laner (I can't recall which game it was) it was very, very close but Huni got the last hit, and their comment was "it should be written on his tombstone that he was almost good enough and that he almost made it." How do we ever expect anyone to do well against this team when not only are they having to play against a very, very skilled team, but also anytime they do good and win it's never because of their own skill, decisions, or playmaking abilities, it's another excuse for SKT, truly ridiculous excuses. SKT is an amazing team, the most dominant we have ever seen and maybe the most dominant that will ever be, but the bias shown in favor of them at every chance leaves little hope for any team going against them seeing as how they will never truly get the credit they deserve. When a player in the game refuses to acknowledge their mistakes as a reason for their loss, we call them toxic. When a person refuses to give any constructive criticism about the current world champions, we make them a caster.

27 Comments

xJLx MCHammer6/5/2017, 12:59:26 PM4 votes

It was much much worse under monte

III BAKURYU III 6/5/2017, 5:10:41 AM4 votes

I actually agree, I think it was KT where they lost with 0 kills, towers, dragons etc and the casters were like " KT will bounce back, this team has so much talent, they just need to find their footing and keep on grinding and oh, gj SSG" lol. The SKT situation was pretty similar, the thing is the casters etc really have no choice but to keep talking about the tier A teams because there's 90% chance SKT/KT will rebound while the other teams most likely won't be even top 2 by season end. I'm not saying SSG/BBG etc won't be good but SKT will rebound, win LCK and head off to win Worlds.

It was one the of things that annoyed me about Montecristo He never really gave much credit to the underdogs in any match up or game, he would just scrunch up his face( that face when you're on the toilet) and be like " Yeah, but....." Point is I too thought it was weird in both cases but what you going to do you know.

Sagan Forever6/5/2017, 3:20:53 PM3 votes

What about when G2 loses to SKT 1-3 and most of the post game is talking about how amazing G2 is. Like I get they are an LCS team, but going 5-1(over all of MSI) is not that impressive. In international if the Koreans do not smash then the other team is amazing even if they lose.

Although I do agree that in Korea itself the bias swaps places and suddenly unless SKT/SSG/KT are smashed then the other team does not get the proper cred.

Ps I wonder why this year SKT played in week one of summer, when last year they got the first week off because it would unfair if they played without proper prep time.

woodvsmurph6/7/2017, 9:01:12 PM3 votes

Some casters are better than others. Korean casters - at least the English stream ones - tend to have their favorite players and teams. If you are not a member of either of those, you are just bad in their eyes. For instance when gnar was a new champ and before frozen mallet became standard on him, I remember a Korean toplaner building it on gnar first item instead of cleaver and getting flamed by the caster for it (because he wasn't the favored toplaner in the matchup). There is just no logical reason to build that item on gnar is basically what the caster claimed and ranted about it for over 5 min - I saw the logic of it within 20 sec of the item being purchased. Next week, a favored toplaner builds it and he is a genius.

Miror B6/5/2017, 3:40:02 AM2 votes

Yeah, SKT has won 3 world championships and theoretically has the best roster money can buy right now. If the casters want to suggest that their parents are better than the players in the other regions, who are we to say otherwise?

PyroAeroVampire6/6/2017, 6:30:28 PM2 votes

I have noticed this quite a bit with TSM in NA. I've noticed that if a team sends 4 bot to tower dive the duo lane and gets both kills but burns like 5 summoners except the supports flash, the casters will make note of the fact that "That many summoners on just two kills may hurt them in the next 5 or so minutes," especially if they can't get a drake or the tower off of it. But I remember when TSM did that, they burned EVERY summoner to burn, including Hauntzer's TP (which he cancelled) and yet credited TSM for their smart map play, even though then didn't get any objectives off of it.

For example, in Week 1 of this split, in the TSM vs IMT game, Bjergsen got a 4 man E because Xmithie kicked him towards the team and the rest of IMT didn't have the time to split up before getting CC'd. However, Kobe, not noticing Xmithie's kick, instantly credited Bjergsen with an amazing flank that IMT never saw coming, and only corrected himself when he saw the replay of Xmithie's kick.

I think it's just because the casters are not just professionals, but are, at heart, fans of the teams they watch. It's simply unfortunate that they can't keep themselves from slipping and accidentally showing caster bias every once in a while.

YambrinZ6/5/2017, 11:58:07 AM1 votes

Its no different in regular sports. If your team is the Lakers or the Cowboys or the Yankees or the Patriots, your team is garbage and inferior.