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This could be a personal gripe, but many of my friends feel similarly, and I think the rise in popularity of costreaming shows that this isn't an isolated occurrence.

I think there are two big factors here. First, being jaded from listening to the same casters for so long. Second, that I simply don't trust most of the casters to be accurate.

Let's start with the first point. I have been watching the LCS since it started in spring 2013, I watched through the super week era, Bo3 format, and most international games, so I have been listening to the same casters for a long time. Phreak, Kobe, and Riv have been casting for longer than I've been watching and honestly I'm probably jaded. But I think that's why so many people love CaptainFlowers and Dash, because they were fresh voices that brought so much to the cast. Dash in particular made the analyst desk something I would actively tune into watch, but the lack of casters, notably color casters has really hurt.

As for the second point, let's talk about what I mean by trust. Let's look at a few examples to create a definition. If I'm watching the LEC and a game is looking like it's set up to be a "Fiesta" or overly silly, I really don't want Ender casting, because I don't trust him to not go overboard. However, I think he's amazing on the analyst desk and works really well with Quickshot because he is given stats that he analyzes and breaks down into very digestible and accurate points.

Another example is PapaSmithy. The LCK English broadcast is really a niche show, and he was aware of this. The target audience is engaged pro lol fans that wanted more competitive content, but likely were unfamiliar with full LCK history. It was always obvious that Papa was aware of this. A moment that really stuck out to me was in a GenG game, where Ambition comes for a gank as Gragas and ends up just sorta pushing the wave. He takes this moment that most would just call out as a failed gank, and relates it to Meteos' jungle Nasus in S3. He highlighted the merit of what seemed like a bad play and tied it into a story that he knew his viewers would be aware of. Moments like that continually reaffirmed my trust in his game knowledge.

To me the LCS cast feels directionless, a lot of the calls are just stating the numbers on screen, or really just saying things that aren't right. I think this in part also ties into the observers and graphics team. It feels like any game I watch in the LEC the staff is prepared. Soraka becomes meta and day 1 they have a graphic ready highlighting the build paths. MarkZ has been begging for Wukong all split, it gets picked and then there's nothing to be said about it. The LEC observers feel like they're working with the casters as they casters call out certain things to be highlighted, or they show things that most people miss. Watching LCS I'm left wondering so many questions, a fight breaks out and an ADC doesn't have flash but we never saw it burned. There's a fight going on top but by the time the camera pans to it the fight is done already.

There's a lot of problems with the LCS and I feel like a lot of the production issued have been acknowledged, but to me the larger issue is that the actual show, that is the casted game, is not enjoyable to watch.

Edit: some people seem to interpret this as I want the casters to sh*t on the game all the time. I have watched a lot of bad league, and the LCS level of play has really only gone higher over the years. This isn't what this post is about, you can have interesting engaging shows even if the games are bad without calling everyone trash.

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over 4 years ago - /u/endercasts - Direct link

Originally posted by PhillipIInd

I want him on both, I like the variety and I actually like him going overboard and super energetic. It adds to some of the more boring games and some of the small plays.

If you read this ender, love you lots <3

I read everything :)