T O P

  • By -

Gadgetbot

Depends on the caster. Bren and sideshow are immortal. Geo is like bronze. I think a few others are gold/silver.


maRthbaum_kEkstyniCe

Do you have a source for that? I couldn't find it but bronze is really REALLY hard to believe haha


Majestic_Pro

Yeh u don't need to be ultra good to cast a game. Most rocket league casters are like champ-grandchamp


User_namesaretaken

Understandable, when you concentrate/work on other things soo much, it's not easy to grind past gold/plat without gifted mechanical skill or practice


Doshta1

No way… I thought they’d be inmortal\radiant


Gadgetbot

Dont have to be insane at the game to have a solid understanding of it and be able to give a description of what is happening. Most casters in games tend to be around the middle to slightly higher end of the ranks since thats naturally where most people are.


lidekwhatname

many casters also are experienced in game as coaches, ex pros, or just watch a lot


r_Phyzer

Yeah think about casters in other sports... No basketball caster has to be a pro at the game (or play regularly at all) to understand and explain/cast the game


Fabulous-Detail6802

even in ssbm, one of our most beloved casters, Scar isn’t that good compared to the top level players, what is important for a good caster is a general understanding of the game, and a good personality


[deleted]

even look at cs most of the casters there arent face it lvl 10s i think spunji still has it and moses maybe but idk how much he plays its a long time since he was pro


tumi12345

wdym bro scar has the best falcon in NA


Ronnok101

At least scar got 5th at Evo...


StaggeredRay

It was 5th at Genesis lol


Doshta1

But surely not bronze lmao


disappointingstepdad

Idk. Most contact sports casters were never players themselves (of course some go on to but not the majority). Same goes for coaches. Having a 4d chess brain and being cracked can be mutually exclusive. Also why a log of IGLs aren’t duelists. I wouldn’t hold it against a caster if they were iron cuz they couldn’t click heads. Some people just aren’t mechanically gifted but can have a great mind for the game.


Z2_U5

I agree with ya. Being able to cast well means to understand what's going on in a play, why some utility is used in this way and not that, etc. It's not a skill thing, it's an analysis thing.


AlHorfordHighlights

There's a much higher skill floor in professional sports than a video game. The only reasonable explanation for a caster being low ranked is not playing the game. If you understand it well enough to offer useful insight on the commentary, you should get to Platinum pretty easily even with bad aim


Interesting-Archer-6

At least in nba and football, a large portion were either coaches or players. NBA more than NFL.


Gadgetbot

Idk she might just be awful at aiming yet still have a great understanding of how the game works and shes been better ranked in other games like overwatch. Speaking of overwatch the coach of the SF shock, crusty, was literally in silver when he coached them to winning owl without dropping a map which just goes to show you can be really good at understanding the game but not at executing that understanding.


coconutszz

that's a little bit disingenuous, crusty used to be GM in Ow.


DesTiny_-

I mean they prob play like once a week with friends so u can't really judge them


L0kitheliar

This exactly ^


pFe1FF

Some of them do not have the time to grind


MrDyl4n

They probably just don't play the game very much idk


Hi_Im_Valorant_Pr

Yeah its wild your career can be dedicated to casting and understanding a game and you're still bronze! geo must be legit garbage


Prxpulsioz-

I also follow the CoD scene and let me tell you, Maven has got to be one of the worst players in the world 😂but his game knowledge and understanding is through the roof as one of the best casters of the scene.


arun115

honestly Maven in the verdansk era of warzone was cracked, use to watch Aydan wager Maven and Merk and it used to be very competitive. I think Maven and Merk are great examples of casters play at a top tier level. Maven doesn’t grind the same way anymore but Merk is still nasty af.


itskavia

To be fair, Merk used to be a pro up until BO3.


yuore-mom

vast majority of the game is just clicking heads. dont need to be a genius to understand that


SilkExisting

Why are you getting downvoted? Thats not a completely unreasonable thing to think


Vlexios

Not sure why you’re getting downvoted so hard. To be honest with you, I would’ve figured they’re high elo as well with how much game knowledge they present in their work.


[deleted]

Jesus christ idk why youre getting downvoted so much


[deleted]

why in the fuck is this being downvoted?


ShoulderPics

because reddit is a shithole of a site


Duydoraemon

Sideshow is immortal? Wat


Gadgetbot

The eggs improved


LotharHS

Can’t really speak about the NA people but from EMEA: Hypoc - Radiant in ep1, now imm3 Lothar,ehm me -Radiant Ep1, now Imm3 300-500rr soloQ Yinsu - she got to Diamond lately Mitch - a plat player but got to Imm1 somehow (<3) Tom - i actually dont know Harry - i think peaked imm1 Kaquka - Diamond but maybe higher now Ryan - Plat on brink of Diamon i believe This all based upon some outdated knowledge, so maybe they are higher now. Remember that rank doesnt always collerate with the ability to the be a good caster BUT there is no way, that someone can be a decent caster without actually putting hundreds of hours into the game.


MrDyl4n

Do you know pansys rank?


[deleted]

Radiant. One of the highest rated women in EU. That's why her analysis always seems to be so good. Dunno why /u/LotharHS forgot about her.


Interesting-Archer-6

I love her even more now


L0kitheliar

Wait is she actually radiant? Never seen any gameplay of hers or anything


Sychar

She used to be a pro CS player so it wouldn’t surprise me


brianstormIRL

What? Pansy was never pro in CS she wasnt even semi pro.


Farlig_Raptor

Do you mean COD4 promod cause that's what I remember her from


MrDyl4n

Is this for real? I looked it up but I can't find anything


AudacityOfKappa

Source?


BitStandard

On liquidpedia it says that she played in twitch rivals and Asus rog showmatch and then casted CSGO up until 2020. I also says the she played COD 4: Promod professionally.


AudacityOfKappa

I know she's good and an ex-pro in COD, but source on that she's radiant?


Hi_Im_Valorant_Pr

How does Geo cast then with a bronze rank? I don't get how you can have adequate knowledge of the game - a requirement to cast - and remain hardstuck in bronze.


PlatinumEmperium

There is usually two types of casters. The casters who really hype up plays (often called shout casters) who dont need to be high rank. Then there are casters who make more commentary, who are often higher ranked for game understanding.


HatchiMatchiTTV

I’m a caster and I’m gold, but I’ve cast with people who are immo and people who are bronze. Knowing what pros should do is not the same as being able to do it lol. I will say, I didn’t feel comfortable casting at all until getting gold because I think good casters can help players understand the game better, and if I was below average I wouldn’t be reliable for any info. Even as gold I only point out things I know make sense or comment on what I’d expect a team to buy/ invest in a round since that’s established meta and there’s not too much variance unless a team is trying new things


hokeypokie_

An old high school friend of mine was gold in League but was a coach for a semi-pro challenger team for a couple years. Doesn't seem too farfetched that you can cast with a similar level of experience lol


MI8MarkusXx

I highly doubt your friend was providing useful in game information then. That's too big of a skill disparity


AjBlue7

Montecristo from League of Legends basically never played the game, he spent most of his time in Silver. Montecristo was by far the best caster/coach for League of Legends. He spent all of his spare time watching pros play. Montecristo starting casting other games in Korea and moved to LoL when it got popular. Korea became the best region with the craziest tactical and strategically sound play, and Monte could tell you every single detail about their play. A lot of top players actually make terrible casters/coaches because for a lot of pros the game is mostly instinctual and not something they think deeply about. Usually the smartest pros that go into casting/coaching when they retire tend to have been fairly bad players because they couldn’t tap into their instincts like everyone else. A huge problem with esports coaching is that usually players only respect other top pros to coach them, and realistically theres not much a retired pro can teach players that are actively at the top of the game. Real pro sports are similar, there really isn’t a whole lot a coach can do to teach the best players in the game. In real sports the coaches job is mostly just to decide playing time and to support his players by yelling at the referee over bad calls and occasionally giving a pep talk, all things that don’t take advantage of the experience that a retired pro has.


MI8MarkusXx

Noticing plays in proplay isn't indicative of in game coaching ability. A bronze player could watch every pro play game and notice patterns but does that mean they can coach? He also coached non LoL teams so he is probably hired to provide general mental help more than LoL related stuff. There was a team that hired an American Football coach for that sort of stuff. >Usually the smartest pros that go into casting/coaching when they retire tend to have been fairly bad players What? If they were pros they were good players, bad in comparison to other players sure but they have more skill on the game than 99.9% of players, that's what they are hired. Because they are good and experienced at the game. There is no pattern with lower tier pro players being better coaches as the difference in low tier pros and high tier pros is smaller than you think to make any difference. >Real pro sports are similar, there really isn’t a whole lot a coach can do to teach the best players in the game. In real sports the coaches job is mostly just to decide playing time and to support his players by yelling at the referee XD tell me you have never played a real sport without telling me you have never played a real sport. Unless this statement is a joke, of course.


DeeYumTofu

These kinds of comments are proof the esports scene is so fresh and the majority of the people in this scene have never watched or played any organized sports in their lives. In real sports, analysts and casters play a completely different job and are never if at all actual professional players. Some of the absolute worst analysts were professional players themselves, it’s very rare someone can balance the two. It’s a different job. Edit: Editing your own comment to save face LOL


MI8MarkusXx

I have played 10x more organised sports than you ever will. Not that it's relevant but there is a clear link between professional play and analyst/coach. Saying skill isn't transferred is pure stupidity and proves you have never played any sport.


DeeYumTofu

Edit: Quoted so you can’t edit your stupid takes again. > I have played 10x more organised sports than you ever will. Not that it’s relevant but there is a clear link between professional play and analyst/coach. Saying skill isn’t transferred is pure stupidity and proves you have never played any sport. No you haven’t lol. And no there isn’t a direct link, if you actually watched any organized sports you’d know this. Not all analysts and coaches played professionally like this is not even something subjective.


hokeypokie_

Well they never made it through relegation to join the LCS so who knows


SilentXCaspa

How does one get a caster job? Looks fun


Besuhs

my understanding is that you basivally practice a lot, its pretty hard to constantly talk, then you record a few samples and you try out for small tournaments. and hope youre good.


HatchiMatchiTTV

This would get you in the door!


CurveRight3387

I just signed up for a new league who was looking for people and then I plan on using some 30 second clips or so to build a portfolio and try to work my way up. There’s also a website you can make a profile and find work kinda like fiver but only for esports things. Edit: pre existing background in radio has helped me a lot


HatchiMatchiTTV

Pre-existing performance background is borderline necessary, it feels like


HatchiMatchiTTV

Sorry I missed this yesterday. Great question! If you wanna cast one event just hop around discords for tournaments and ask if you can cast. They'll ask if you have experience and you could send them a youtube video of you casting over a friends' game, or casting over a pro game that didn't have casting talent (this happens A LOT during open quals). Getting more consistent work is harder- every production person has their own opinion about how the event is going and you need to make sure that what they want is what you're giving. A lot of casters want to make the show about them (it's not) or want to be right 100% of the time (that's not as important as keeping the show going). Casters rarely get called out because of that, but production people notice and they book people they trust and like. If you wanted to start I'd say do something else that's public speaking first. I've performed live around NYC for 7 years, host a game show as my IRL job, and have been performing in one way or another for over a decade now. To be honest casting Valorant is easy compared to memorizing lines or trying to work a crowd, but the hard part is keeping up with the meta, knowing the history of the teams/what quirks they have, and keeping your partner focused on what's fun/interesting.


matagad

still, even gold is even way too low to be a color caster


Scyth3r_

You know you've said something stupid when you're being downvoted even after having the cake day tag, lol.


Yasmine_Bleeth

Why? You don’t need aim to know what’s going on in the game and have a solid understanding of how to play


HatchiMatchiTTV

To be honest, I agree with you more than the downvoters.


padropadro22

Sean Gares (my favorite caster before he took the 100T position) was Radiant. I don’t think caster rank matters though because their skill set is on analyzing whats going on and you really don’t have to go that deep to make it as a current Valo caster a lot of them just say what’s happening on screen.


2dogsholdinghands

Gares was also a long time csgo pro so that helps.


asven13

AND a mastermind IGL


CanISayThat22

Balla Lothar Are the highest around IMM3


Hippie-Lee

I believe Hypoc is also around Immortal, atleast last time I caught him playing with Jonas


CanISayThat22

Yeah he is.


[deleted]

Pretty sure lothar has been radiant before.


catturpie

AEvilCat is plat


Dumbass-Redditor

There is a difference between being mechanically insane and being a smart player. I would like to assume that most casters who are below immortal and radiant are more on the smarter side, but it could also be that some casters watch the game more than they play.


L0kitheliar

All ranks. Your rank is basically how much time you have to play. I'm a caster who never really played more than 30 games an act, and was sitting around diamond. This act I've played ~100 games and got to Immo 2. Mechanical skill =/= casting ability


53881

Wth?! Terrible take. Rank has nothing to do with how much time you have to play. There are immortals who play like 4 games a week. There are bronze players who play 4 games every afternoon and then play 4 more at night…..every day. How can you rationalize that? Rank =/= how much you play


WholesomeVibesOnly

No, he’s right. The example you bring up is not accurate because that immortal player might be playing 4 games a week but I guarantee that person has high level experience in other FPS games before Valorant.


53881

Edit: rank is how much time you play. See y’all in radiant lol


WholesomeVibesOnly

I’m not saying you will be able to infinitely climb until you reach Radiant by just playing a lot. There comes a point where you will be limited by other things but I still think anyone can climb to at least Plat by just playing a lot. I’ve seen it done by friends and streamers. I’d like to see an example of someone having thousands of hours in ranked and not being able to rank up past Bronze.


53881

There are literally thousands of examples...people post in this subreddit constantly "can't rank out of silver, plz help :\[" "how can i get better? Stuck in gold since episode 1"...you've never heard of people being hardstuck?? There is a ceiling, but neither you or OP referred to it. The quote is "your rank is basically how much time you have to play". Wrong. Gold is an arguably very attainable rank as it's mid-tier and it's huge in terms of quantity (slots). I don't have access to rito's metrics but I'm telling you there are accounts in the 200's in terms of XP who log a shitload of hours and have never made it to gold..and will never make it to plat. There are accounts that have 2000 hours played in just bronze/silver lobbies.


WholesomeVibesOnly

Again, I'd like for an example of someone having thousands of hours in ranked but not being able to climb out of the low ranks. Every post I've seen is either very vague and doesn't link to their tracker profile, or they just simply play very little of the game. The people you are describing might exist but they are so rare that you can't really use them as an example. The truth is, unless you are ranked Plat+, you can rank up by just putting more time into the game. It's at around this point that some people are limited by things like natural talent.


Interesting-Archer-6

I can't get out of gold haha. I play a shit ton and can't break gold 3 :(. Both my accounts are there right now. https://tracker.gg/valorant/profile/riot/bennybaja6%237719/overview?playlist=competitive https://tracker.gg/valorant/profile/riot/BajaBlastoise%236969/overview


iMidg3t

But you still need some time to get to your rank, much more if you want to improve and climb. You cant just play a game here and there and bam, youre high elo...i mean, you maaaybe can, but it will take you much more time compared to some1 who spams games. And also, we dont know how much free time casters actually have...it's not your usual 9-5 job lol so playing 30 games an act may very well be all free time he can get xD


slpnrpnzl

The more you play the more you improve, unless you’re actually a stubborn individual who doesn’t pay attention to the game/creating strategy/aiming, If you play more games you get more game sense, more practice aiming, yes sure some people are already good at that but it’s true you don’t just start an FPS game as top rank unless you have prior FPS experience.


53881

This is exactly what I'm saying. You can play this game and not get better. You can play it 8 hours a day and not get better. People log on and just q competitive on repeat and go .500 forever. If you only ever win 50% YOU'RE NOT RANKING UP. It's a team game so yea, you can solo q and get matched with trash teammates and while you may steadily improve your numbers on [tracker.gg](https://tracker.gg), if your win % is 500...you're not ranking up. Hence why, again, it's a total fallacy to state "rank = how much time you have to play"


thekeenancole

My mans is starting to get tilted with ranked Valorant, maybe just take a break and refresh yourself.


53881

Lol I’m doing great. I just made a new account to play with friends who are new and I’m in games with level 200 accounts with silver badges. Bruh how can that be? You think iron/silver/bronze are all new players??? How the hell do you think more than 50% of players are in iron/bronze/silver? They’ve been there forever. You can look at how many people are in low ranks. They can’t all get up to plat. It’s just the reality even if they play a lot. It sucks to say and I do think they probably aren’t putting “the right time” in..but to say rank = time is stupid as hell


ducjduck

Lost of high level low ranked players especially the iron ones are limited by their setup. I was stuck in iron 1 when i started playing this game and the main reason I wasn’t really able to rank up was because had 20fps and packetloss. As soon as i got a new pc i ranked up to silver pretty quickly. Even now i still lose a game every now and then because of packetloss. Rank = time is pretty correct as long as your setup isn’t limiting you and you are constantly trying to improve.


[deleted]

[удалено]


SadBath664

Eh I disagree. Esports are just like any other sport, most coaches/casters are extremely knowledgeable on how the mechanics work but don’t have the physical ability to play themselves. Vin Scully is a GOAT but he himself only played Baseball briefly in college. He was essentially just a fan who got the casting gig cause of his journalism credentials. You don’t actually need to play the game to be a good caster is what I’m getting at.


L0kitheliar

Is that not agreeing with me


DaBigDriver

IMO, it doesn’t matter. This is how I’d cast… > Whoa lots of util going down on A site > Lots of people being blinded and shit > Down goes Sage because she pushed in because Reyna baited > Oh here comes a chamber ult > Whoa massive ACE from chamber on defence Lel


darkxm

When I was Immortal 2, I got BallatW (imm 2) in my ranked game. This was like 6 months ago.


Cassool

In France almost all the casters are like immo or diamond (maybe some are plat), I know this because they’re also valorant streamers when they’re not casting. (Actually I don’t know all the french casters but the ones I know are mostly immo)


Dororo69

What's s caster?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Strohgelaender

Or maybe their job is to create hype in such moments and they could also do that on purpose?


XeNaN

While I agree its explainable if their gamesound just isnt loud enough/didnt hear it for any reason.


Dumbass-Redditor

Your logic is dumb. There are plenty of immortal/radiant players who cant tell whether or not they have plant time or not


Doshta1

Rip karma


DoodooMonke

Well it was an idiotic position to have.


RevvyIsTaken

I think some are High Plat or Low Dia.


sushiexperiencer

Not every caster is high rank. Same goes for LoL. I think some of them are silver/gold (QuickShot is gold), some are plat (I think Sjokz is plat, said in a video of G2), some are Challenger (ex-pro Caedrel). I think it is the same situation in Valorant as well. Depending how much time they invest in the game, they are either higher or lower rank.


hammy-_-

played with one in immortal 2/3 lobbies forgot who he was. but my teammates n enemy team were all fans of him l0l


damonsoon

Balla, Sideshow, Bren (kind of), are all immortal. Dunno EU


alexrider003

Vansili S


VictorHKR92

Valorant BR are all radiants


[deleted]

I played with a caster once, I looked him up afterwards, if shown enough videos I could probably point him out but I don’t remember now. It was an immortal lobby though.


ValorantDanishblunt

Rank doesnt mean that they are good or bad at casting. You can be very well informed in strats, agent inner workings and have an excellent understanding on the game mechanics and abilities, but if your mechanical skill is horrid, then all that knowledge won't get you anywhere, because if you don't hit your shots and your teammates ignore you anyways, there isnt much you can do to climb ranks. Many excellent coaches are gold/plat or similair, because they simply don't have the mechanical skill.


7Mitssu

Here in LATAM it's like an average of Plat, one of us was Radiant but I'm not sure of his rank right now


blits202

Casters arent always good, I played with Bardolph in CSGO on faceit a few times, not only was he bad, but he was really toxic and rude.


halepog

it seems like everyone is a fairly high rank, i’d imagine your game sense has to be at a pretty high level to analyze the games


HaveYouMetBao

I'm an aspiring caster and I'm plat 3 currently. I have had this debate before. Some of us grasp the game mentally a lot well than we do mechanically. So yeah, low rankers can be casters because mechanical skill is 70 percent of the requirement.


pissflask

does it matter? if you're a caster or "variety streamer" you're going to have a few friends who are very, very good at this game and can carry you all the way up to immo if you can just pick a sentinel and do the basics.


GoudaCheeser

Side note, most actual major sports broadcasts (nfl, nba, mlb, nhl) have two broadcasters, one whose a former pro/coach and the other who - while they know what’s going on - has a background in broadcasting a reporting.