BluemoonSC Profile Joined November 2010 SoCal 7987 Posts Last Edited: 2016-12-08 16:30:30 #1 Capitalist:

"I never want to top out"

We had the pleasure of sitting down with none other than Austin "Capitalist" Walsh during the first day of the Boston Major. We found a Cap who thinks about branching out and explain why he never wants to peak.



— Bluemoon: I'm here with Capitalist, who just finished casting EG vs Wings.

That was quite the series. It looked for a second like a possible comeback, it was a bit back and forth. DId you think EG was going to 2-0 Wing?

Austin "Capitalist" Walsh: The way it was set up, it kind of felt like it. EG seemed to have a better draft and they also just kind of countered whatever Wings were trying to do. What Wings did, still was exciting and really smart. They would have lost 100% if they tried to defend that bottom push, so it was the best possible response to push with Lycan in top lane. The created some pressure there and saw if they could trade, while still keeping enough heroes in the bottom lane to see if they can catch some players from EG. We talked about it, they got Disruptor. They don't have high ground defense, but they just have that one thing, which they played out. That allowed them to kill Luna twice and got them the BKBs and everything. Ultimately, they were still behind by a good amount, but Wings gave themselves a little bit of a fighting chance.



— Indeed, it looked like they were about to turn it around but couldn't close it out... Let's go on to talk about some of the things I wanted to discuss with you, which is for example starting from the bottom. Starting with TI1, you were just an attendee.

Yeah, I was just watching.



— You were just watching, and now all of the sudden you are the premier caster of Dota. How does that sound? How does that make you feel?

I guess it makes me feel pretty good. The one thing that I never ever want, is to peak out, I never want to top out like a TI team. However, I think in some ways as a duo, Blitz and I reached the top. We were the best duo out there. I can say that with a lot of confidence because we worked really hard as a duo. But I don't necessarily think that either one of us was at their peak individually. I think individually, Synderen is better in that he has broader appeal. If you look at Synderen as a co-caster, he's a little more free with his emotions and he gets into games a little biit more. Blitz has a very hard time getting amped up or getting into games he doesn't care about or are very one-sided. So individually Synderen might be a better co-caster.



Individually, Tobi or OD would be better casters than I was. I think both of them are extremely talented as play-by-play caster. Individually they might be better but as a duo, we absolutely topped out. That was either fortunate or unfortunate, I still am not sure which way to take it. My feet are never on solid ground. Since we peaked out with that duo and then Blitz went into coaching, I lost that thing which amplified the... It make us better... What is that phrase? The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.



— Synergy? Dynamic?

Yes, it was kind of like that with our duo. So Blitz leaving was something that made me think, "now I have to grind this again with someone else." I have to get better as an individual caster.



— So do you have that person that you would like to grind it out just as much as you did with Blitz?

Blitz, I love Blitz, but he was never really into casting. Not really. So while we spent a lot of time talking about casting, we definitely spent way more time talking about casting, how to do things, how to do things correctly than any other duo, but Blitz is never someone that would be 100% committed. We are never going to be 100% the summit. We're not going to move onto other games and do stuff there. I would still like to find someone who would be my co-caster, who I would think that we can built synergy... for like the long term. But for right now, my personal favorite co-caster is Merlini because we are really good friends. We go back quite a bit. Playing on Veggies was probably one of the better bonding experiences.



— Yeah, you have to learn a lot of teamwork in order to be on a team, so I feel like that is really good.

Also we have similar ideas on how Dota is. We're able to play a lot more back and forth when it comes to ideas about strategy, because we learned from the same errors.



— It turns into a conversation instead of just talking about the game, which is interesting to viewers.

Yeah! I think people really enjoy what Blitz and I were able to do because of the fact that we were able to have a conversation. We were both more interested in it and we were able to delve deeper into the game and discuss topics that even... that honestly I don't think the general public usually appreciates.



For example, there recently was a post on reddit and it should have been the by-far most upvoted thing ever. You know what it was? It was that guy smellyferret, I think his name was, no following what so ever. He did this post on map movement, and it was by far the best analytical piece that I've seen from a non-pro player. It delved into a topic that the general public doesn't really talk about at all.



I listen a lot to pro players, I talk to them and get their insight on things: They talk about issues like these all the time, but the general public doesn't really think about this sort of thing, so they don't really appreciate it.



So that should have been way upvoted, but it just kind of went by. I don't think people appreciated it as much as they should, because it was so well written. I talked about it with Blitz afterwards. I was like "Holy shit! This guy knows what he's talking about." I was like, "Is this actually some nobody?"



— Someone is smurfing.

Yeah. Is this maybe some analyst in the scene that is just smurfing? Because he knew what he was talking about. Of course from the pro player perspective, they looked at it and "eh"



— So it is common knowledge?

Yeah, this is "common knowledge" but to be honest, it is only common knowledge among pro players and some analysts. Then it just completely goes by, the whole entire post. Because knowledge is something.... I don't know what it is, but people, once they are gifted this kind of knowledge, they think "Oh. Oh, I knew that." But they don't really cognitively sit down and think about what this means and what it means strategy-wise. "Oh yeah. That makes sense. You push a lane and it puts pressure."



There are all sorts of subtle things, the little nuances, that makes someone, the difference between say a pub-star and a pro player.



So in some way - as a caster and analyst - you have to make that information more accessible, even to some hardcore dota players. Because otherwise, it's not that interesting to them and they don't appreciate it.



I think that's where the conversations come along. The genuine enthusiasm of being able to delve deep into a topic, I think the audience feeds into that. Even if they don't actually appreciate what is being talked about, they can at least feel the general enthusiasm that both Blitz and I had.



— Yeah, just talking to you now, the enthusiasm and passion that you exhibit is just really apparent. So I can see how you can feel that way. Did that sort of affect how you left Freaks? Because Blitz left, was it more or less "Now I realize I'm on my own casting-wise. Now maybe it's time for me to go out on my own, like really on my own." for you?

No, I was always going to leave Freaks, I think. There were some problems with my situation that I did not feel comfortable with. I wanted to move back home and everything else. I didn't ever have to think about it as "I am leaving Freaks and therefore I am leaving the duo." because I already knew Blitz was going to quit casting after Shanghai. And even before that, I knew that he wasn't going to stay. It's just unfortunate, it's not something that needs drama at all.



— Did your experience with Freaks open your eye to the need for your new venture with Code Red? Did that influence your decision to "Hey people need representation to make things better."

Umm. Actually, this stuff already came up when Redeye talked to me long before. Well, I guess that I was thinking about leaving Freaks already; I just hadn’t set myself on "I'm definitely going to leave." yet. It was more of thinking about leaving joinDOTA. Redeye didn't know about this at all. He wasn't even offering me anything. He just told me about it, when we were having a drink after epicenter and I thought it was pretty interesting. When I left joindota, I contacted Paul and I told him, because I really wanted to be part of this: I don't just want to be represented, I wanted to be a part of the agency. I want to be able to do something outside of casting Dota. I decided for this year, no matter what happened, I would go independent, I would work play by play, I would do Dota full-time, as an independent. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. I could still say “At least I tried. I fully committed to Dota, only. I didn't try branch out to other games. I didn't go join another company.”



There were opportunities like that, but I stuck with Dota. But I just wanted something else just to give me security. Really ever since joining the industry, it's been about diversifying my talents. First of all, as talent, I did host and co-casting, stage host, interviews. I did all that stuff to diversify my talents. But now I want to diversify outside of being a talent. That's where Code Red gives me a lot of opportunities: I get to do something that I would probably never have been able to do anywhere else.



I guess in esports in general, it's better to be diverse than specialized talent-wise, because you don't know what's going to happen. If you look at the situation, even RedEye not coming here to host is an example for that. It's nothing personal, obviously, but someone like Machine, who is diverse and able to come in and able to excel, can take your spot. That is beneficial, I suppose.



I think hosting is the best position to be, at least from my perspective, because you can work on being a great host and be in any game, but being a caster within a game is the most stable position, for now just because games have relative longevity. I figure I will probably have a job in Dota for at least another three years. While as RedEye, he can go onto whatever new game.



— He plays everything.

Yeah, he can go on to host Overwatch. He can host a VainGlory tournament if he wants to. He could do all those sort of things, so he's always available. It's a better position to be in long term because you will alway have a job no matter what, but it may not be the most stable thing from game to game. I thought about going into hosting, also.



— I was just going to ask you. So you thought about it. Did you also think about pursuing other games?

Yes, I also though about pursuing other games, specifically Overwatch.



— Didn't you cast Overwatch.

No I haven't cast Overwatch, yet.



— I think something recent. An Overwatch tournament.

It was probably LD. Their Overwatch tournament.



— Oh right, the BTS Open.

Umm. I thought about it. And the only reason I thought about it was because Overwatch is literally the only other esport that I play. It is the only other esport that I enjoy playing. And for me in order to cast, I feel very strongly that you have to be very passionate about the game before you cast it. I decided that I wasn't passionate enough yet about Overwatch, so I just stuck with Dota. I thought about hosting, but I ultimately decided that hosting wasn't something that I wanted to do yet, either. Both going into another game and going into hosting are ok, but they are not what I am passionate about.



— So down the road, maybe?

Yeah, maybe. It just depends on what I continue to get as a Dota commentator. Am I able to get gigs, first of all? It's a little weird of a concept: We have three studios in the scene. I'm staying independent for a reason, so I can go to anybody who wants me for an event. I also don't know who wants me for an event. BTS has their core crew with Merlini, Sheever, and stuff. Joindota, I don't know if I burned any bridges there and they are down to hire me, I really don't know. Moonduck, I've been great with. The future is really open and in some ways kind of scary. But I think that keeps me motivated.



— Sometimes that fear of what happens next is a motivating factor that make you rise to the occasion, too.

Yeah. For example, like Tobi. No shots, I like Tobi, but he definitely stagnated as a caster at one point, then ODpixel came in. There are two different kinds of play-by-play casters in Dota. I don't compete with Tobi and Owen, I rather compete with LD, it's just our styles. Tobi and Owen are pure hype casters. They are entertainers, right. LD and I, we're hype casters, too, but we want to listen to the analysis. So I think Owen was a direct competitor in many ways to Tobi, and I think that kind of gave him the kick in the ass. It was great. Tobi got a lot better. But there was definitely a point in time where he had stagnated. Maybe it was just burn out as well, which is kind of natural. The king doesn't need to get better. He's the top. He's the top of the pool. But once you get people underneath you, they start pushing their way to the top. You've got to do something to hold the throne.



— Is there anyone else that is up and coming?

Unfortunately, I think Dota is maxed out. I think that is the best way to put it. If you think about it, Valve doesn't even necessarily want to hire more play-by-play casters. They set the pace. They sometimes need it for group stages and stuff. But they set the pace with TIs. They have four play-by-plays: me, Owen, Tobi, and LD. They are never going to stop inviting Tobi and LD. Now Owen and I are permanent fixtures as well as hype casters. If you are an up and coming play-by play caster, how do you bring one of the four down.



— Yeah, they are all four great casters too, so there is not one that is to beat, either.

You can be really good. That's why I am also trying to diversify myself because if someone really good does come up, then I can step up into the analyst role. I can step into co-casting. That's why my focus since TI has really been “learning” Dota. I want to be better than Ben. Honestly, Ben and I play together. People see Ben as a analyst. They see me as the hype caster and maybe some in between. I can go toe-to-toe with Ben on analysis. With time, I hope to go toe-to-toe with Winter, I can go toe-to-toe with Synderen, with Blitz. That's what I am working on right now, just being the best analyst I can possibly be. If needed, I want to be able to go into an event as analyst. Maybe TI rolls around and they are like "We only want three play-by-play casters. We decided with OD, Tobi, and LD." I do not want to miss TI.



— Of course not. No one does.

So if I diversify my talents enough, then Valve would still hire me on the desk. I think that went really well.



— You did a great job.

Thank you. I think if I can prove myself as analyst further, co-casting positions, drafting panel are also available if I want it. So that's my focus right now.



— Cap, thank you for your time. Most diverse man in the game right now.



Editor's Note: The article Capitalist was raving about during the interview can be found here . Enjoy deepening your understanding and appreciation of Dota.

Austin "Capitalist" Walsh: The way it was set up, it kind of felt like it. EG seemed to have a better draft and they also just kind of countered whatever Wings were trying to do. What Wings did, still was exciting and really smart. They would have lost 100% if they tried to defend that bottom push, so it was the best possible response to push with Lycan in top lane. The created some pressure there and saw if they could trade, while still keeping enough heroes in the bottom lane to see if they can catch some players from EG. We talked about it, they got Disruptor. They don't have high ground defense, but they just have that one thing, which they played out. That allowed them to kill Luna twice and got them the BKBs and everything. Ultimately, they were still behind by a good amount, but Wings gave themselves a little bit of a fighting chance.Yeah, I was just watching.I guess it makes me feel pretty good. The one thing that I never ever want, is to peak out, I never want to top out like a TI team. However, I think in some ways as a duo, Blitz and I reached the top. We were the best duo out there. I can say that with a lot of confidence because we worked really hard as a duo. But I don't necessarily think that either one of us was at their peak individually. I think individually, Synderen is better in that he has broader appeal. If you look at Synderen as a co-caster, he's a little more free with his emotions and he gets into games a little biit more. Blitz has a very hard time getting amped up or getting into games he doesn't care about or are very one-sided. So individually Synderen might be a better co-caster.Individually, Tobi or OD would be better casters than I was. I think both of them are extremely talented as play-by-play caster. Individually they might be better but as a duo, we absolutely topped out. That was either fortunate or unfortunate, I still am not sure which way to take it. My feet are never on solid ground. Since we peaked out with that duo and then Blitz went into coaching, I lost that thing which amplified the... It make us better... What is that phrase? The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.Yes, it was kind of like that with our duo. So Blitz leaving was something that made me think, "now I have to grind this again with someone else." I have to get better as an individual caster.Blitz, I love Blitz, but he was never really into casting. Not really. So while we spent a lot of time talking about casting, we definitely spent way more time talking about casting, how to do things, how to do things correctly than any other duo, but Blitz is never someone that would be 100% committed. We are never going to be 100% the summit. We're not going to move onto other games and do stuff there. I would still like to find someone who would be my co-caster, who I would think that we can built synergy... for like the long term. But for right now, my personal favorite co-caster is Merlini because we are really good friends. We go back quite a bit. Playing on Veggies was probably one of the better bonding experiences.Also we have similar ideas on how Dota is. We're able to play a lot more back and forth when it comes to ideas about strategy, because we learned from the same errors.Yeah! I think people really enjoy what Blitz and I were able to do because of the fact that we were able to have a conversation. We were both more interested in it and we were able to delve deeper into the game and discuss topics that even... that honestly I don't think the general public usually appreciates.For example, there recently was a post on reddit and it should have been the by-far most upvoted thing ever. You know what it was? It was that guy smellyferret, I think his name was, no following what so ever. He did this post on map movement, and it was by far the best analytical piece that I've seen from a non-pro player. It delved into a topic that the general public doesn't really talk about at all.I listen a lot to pro players, I talk to them and get their insight on things: They talk about issues like these all the time, but the general public doesn't really think about this sort of thing, so they don't really appreciate it.So that should have been way upvoted, but it just kind of went by. I don't think people appreciated it as much as they should, because it was so well written. I talked about it with Blitz afterwards. I was like "Holy shit! This guy knows what he's talking about." I was like, "Is this actually some nobody?"Yeah. Is this maybe some analyst in the scene that is just smurfing? Because he knew what he was talking about. Of course from the pro player perspective, they looked at it and "eh"Yeah, this is "common knowledge" but to be honest, it is only common knowledge among pro players and some analysts. Then it just completely goes by, the whole entire post. Because knowledge is something.... I don't know what it is, but people, once they are gifted this kind of knowledge, they think "Oh. Oh, I knew that." But they don't really cognitively sit down and think about what this means and what it means strategy-wise. "Oh yeah. That makes sense. You push a lane and it puts pressure."There are all sorts of subtle things, the little nuances, that makes someone, the difference between say a pub-star and a pro player.So in some way - as a caster and analyst - you have to make that information more accessible, even to some hardcore dota players. Because otherwise, it's not that interesting to them and they don't appreciate it.I think that's where the conversations come along. The genuine enthusiasm of being able to delve deep into a topic, I think the audience feeds into that. Even if they don't actually appreciate what is being talked about, they can at least feel the general enthusiasm that both Blitz and I had.No, I was always going to leave Freaks, I think. There were some problems with my situation that I did not feel comfortable with. I wanted to move back home and everything else. I didn't ever have to think about it as "I am leaving Freaks and therefore I am leaving the duo." because I already knew Blitz was going to quit casting after Shanghai. And even before that, I knew that he wasn't going to stay. It's just unfortunate, it's not something that needs drama at all.Umm. Actually, this stuff already came up when Redeye talked to me long before. Well, I guess that I was thinking about leaving Freaks already; I just hadn’t set myself on "I'm definitely going to leave." yet. It was more of thinking about leaving joinDOTA. Redeye didn't know about this at all. He wasn't even offering me anything. He just told me about it, when we were having a drink after epicenter and I thought it was pretty interesting. When I left joindota, I contacted Paul and I told him, because I really wanted to be part of this: I don't just want to be represented, I wanted to be a part of the agency. I want to be able to do something outside of casting Dota. I decided for this year, no matter what happened, I would go independent, I would work play by play, I would do Dota full-time, as an independent. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. I could still say “At least I tried. I fully committed to Dota, only. I didn't try branch out to other games. I didn't go join another company.”There were opportunities like that, but I stuck with Dota. But I just wanted something else just to give me security. Really ever since joining the industry, it's been about diversifying my talents. First of all, as talent, I did host and co-casting, stage host, interviews. I did all that stuff to diversify my talents. But now I want to diversify outside of being a talent. That's where Code Red gives me a lot of opportunities: I get to do something that I would probably never have been able to do anywhere else.I guess in esports in general, it's better to be diverse than specialized talent-wise, because you don't know what's going to happen. If you look at the situation, even RedEye not coming here to host is an example for that. It's nothing personal, obviously, but someone like Machine, who is diverse and able to come in and able to excel, can take your spot. That is beneficial, I suppose.I think hosting is the best position to be, at least from my perspective, because you can work on being a great host and be in any game, but being a caster within a game is the most stable position, for now just because games have relative longevity. I figure I will probably have a job in Dota for at least another three years. While as RedEye, he can go onto whatever new game.Yeah, he can go on to host Overwatch. He can host a VainGlory tournament if he wants to. He could do all those sort of things, so he's always available. It's a better position to be in long term because you will alway have a job no matter what, but it may not be the most stable thing from game to game. I thought about going into hosting, also.Yes, I also though about pursuing other games, specifically Overwatch.No I haven't cast Overwatch, yet.It was probably LD. Their Overwatch tournament.Umm. I thought about it. And the only reason I thought about it was because Overwatch is literally the only other esport that I play. It is the only other esport that I enjoy playing. And for me in order to cast, I feel very strongly that you have to be very passionate about the game before you cast it. I decided that I wasn't passionate enough yet about Overwatch, so I just stuck with Dota. I thought about hosting, but I ultimately decided that hosting wasn't something that I wanted to do yet, either. Both going into another game and going into hosting are ok, but they are not what I am passionate about.Yeah, maybe. It just depends on what I continue to get as a Dota commentator. Am I able to get gigs, first of all? It's a little weird of a concept: We have three studios in the scene. I'm staying independent for a reason, so I can go to anybody who wants me for an event. I also don't know who wants me for an event. BTS has their core crew with Merlini, Sheever, and stuff. Joindota, I don't know if I burned any bridges there and they are down to hire me, I really don't know. Moonduck, I've been great with. The future is really open and in some ways kind of scary. But I think that keeps me motivated.Yeah. For example, like Tobi. No shots, I like Tobi, but he definitely stagnated as a caster at one point, then ODpixel came in. There are two different kinds of play-by-play casters in Dota. I don't compete with Tobi and Owen, I rather compete with LD, it's just our styles. Tobi and Owen are pure hype casters. They are entertainers, right. LD and I, we're hype casters, too, but we want to listen to the analysis. So I think Owen was a direct competitor in many ways to Tobi, and I think that kind of gave him the kick in the ass. It was great. Tobi got a lot better. But there was definitely a point in time where he had stagnated. Maybe it was just burn out as well, which is kind of natural. The king doesn't need to get better. He's the top. He's the top of the pool. But once you get people underneath you, they start pushing their way to the top. You've got to do something to hold the throne.Unfortunately, I think Dota is maxed out. I think that is the best way to put it. If you think about it, Valve doesn't even necessarily want to hire more play-by-play casters. They set the pace. They sometimes need it for group stages and stuff. But they set the pace with TIs. They have four play-by-plays: me, Owen, Tobi, and LD. They are never going to stop inviting Tobi and LD. Now Owen and I are permanent fixtures as well as hype casters. If you are an up and coming play-by play caster, how do you bring one of the four down.You can be really good. That's why I am also trying to diversify myself because if someone really good does come up, then I can step up into the analyst role. I can step into co-casting. That's why my focus since TI has really been “learning” Dota. I want to be better than Ben. Honestly, Ben and I play together. People see Ben as a analyst. They see me as the hype caster and maybe some in between. I can go toe-to-toe with Ben on analysis. With time, I hope to go toe-to-toe with Winter, I can go toe-to-toe with Synderen, with Blitz. That's what I am working on right now, just being the best analyst I can possibly be. If needed, I want to be able to go into an event as analyst. Maybe TI rolls around and they are like "We only want three play-by-play casters. We decided with OD, Tobi, and LD." I do not want to miss TI.So if I diversify my talents enough, then Valve would still hire me on the desk. I think that went really well.Thank you. I think if I can prove myself as analyst further, co-casting positions, drafting panel are also available if I want it. So that's my focus right now. Interviewer: BluemoonSC

Editor: TanGeng, Clubfan

We had the pleasure of sitting down with none other than Austin "Capitalist" Walsh during the first day of the Boston Major. We found a Cap who thinks about branching out and explain why he never wants to peak.BluemoonSCTanGeng, Clubfan Sellout @BluemoonGG_ | The past is your lesson. The present, your gift. And the future.. your motivation.