Byun vs Ryung

ive realized that the reason i dont like BTTV is because of Rifkin. I genuinely enjoy casts with feardragon and temp0 and zg while im just annoyed with the zg/rif pairing. the number of off topic interruptions that man does in his casts is unsettling. i guarantee that kid has a separate monitor just for twitch chat and social media so he can constantly respond to things w/ 2min delayed or just not related at all or something personal. youll notice in this video there isnt a ton of loud shoutouts or extremely cringey jokes; i get thanking the subscribers and donators, but its easy not to do it during commentary on the game. that last phrase is very important: on the game. feardragon does a good at keeping the discussion relevant and related to starcraft. with rif (idk, maybe they exacerbate each other? she's not that bad on her own) you get a meandering river of condescending bullshit. despite the fact that he's just not that good at the game and not very knowledgeable when it comes to higher levels of play, he could be SO much better just by sticking to the game at hand. other casters arent that great or smart, but they can be awesome simply from their overall charisma and methods. unfortunately, there seems to be a mediocre monopoly over the North American Sc2 scene that LOVE to constantly pat each other on the back while ignoring any other up and comers.



you should probably tell Rifkin these things



i dont think he takes any sort of criticism well at all. and tbh this is a huge contributing factor to why his overall performance as a caster has been sub-par to say the least. he's clearly satisfied with his level of casting since i havent seen any kind of growth or skill advancement on his part in almost any area for a year now (tho, to be fair, i dont know him that well, i just love starcraft and watch alot). also to him im just a hater; even though I bitch alot about them its only because i love the game so much. the GSL casters always deliver for me. why can't a company like BTTV, one that has a clear monopoly over small NA (they do EU as well) tournaments, strive for better standards? Its the least they could do. I'd rather them cast 10 games with great analysis, preplanned jokes or phrases, etc.., than to have them do 30 games with the same off-the-wall shit they always do. Other people are willing to step up and cast. Other people are funny and have quirks and personality; it doesnt have to be bttv or gsl and thats it. tbh this whole situation seems a little more fucked than people are willing to admit: i mean remember the NASL days (and other na/eu tournys) where mr. bitter, gretorp, jyp and others were around? Maybe it wasnt the golden years, but it had alot more flavor than this BTTV monopoly shit. the scene as a whole would certainly benefit from more diversity. i wish i could say this is the last time ill complain about them, but god knows they're going to pull some cringey shit soon and I'll feel compelled to call them out.



You're right, Rifkin could do a lot to improve. It seems he's suffered some kind of injury, and I've only seen Zombiegrub and Feardragon casting recently. Feardragon's been doing a pretty good job. I'm sure Rifkin sees that and maybe he'll raise his own standards if we're lucky.

Towards the end of Hots, SC2's scene was worse than it's been, and Rifkin put in a lot of hard work putting together tournaments by contacting players, collecting for a prize pool, casting the games himself, along with production and etc.. I'm grateful for that.

On another note, PiG and ToD and Kaelaris and I think Nathanias too have been casting the WCS Copa tournament. Unfortunately no English vids up on youtube yet.



For those who don't know about Wardiii, be introduced to another hardworking passionate sc2 fan! Absolutely worth checking out imo.
https://www.youtube.com/user/SC2Improve/videos

I also don't see Totalbiscuit's Shoutcraft event on this site. Rejoice!
https://www.youtube.com/user/TotalBiscuit/videos



@MoistNugget

There it is: http://sc2casts.com/event861-SHOUTcraft-Kings



Ah my bad



Seriously thanks for the wardii recommendation. itd be really cool if that were included on this site since its just so convenient. i guess i need to branch out more. I hope rifkin makes a hell of a comeback. sometimes i feel like im too hard on him knowing how much he has personally invested into keeping the game alive and going, but there have been many very very important people in the scene that dont cast and yet still keep the ball rolling (sponsors and observers). So its not like he's had to cast because no one else is willing to, imo. Maybe he could have contributed to the scene by organizing, etc.. tournaments and getting other quality casters to do their job instead of taking more than he can chew at the expense of other possible young caster-blood. and to add, the more i hear these feardragon/zg casts the more i like them and the more my opinions are solidified: BTTV isnt the problem for me, its more rifkin. :(

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