This year’s All Star Event saw players show their skills outside of their typical roles, from Supports competing in the Widow 1v1 tournament, to Tank mains flexing their hitscan abilities on McCree.





Dusttin "Dogman" Bowerman of the Atlanta Reign entertained viewers with his talent as a broadcaster during the Talent Takedown. Upcomer talked to Dogman during All Stars weekend to discuss his relationships with other All Stars, thoughts on the Talent Takedown, and his advice for hopeful OWL professionals.





Congratulations on being named an All Star! How has it been interacting and playing with members of the New York Excelsior, who you beat twice in Stage 2?





Dogman: I don’t think it’s awkward, because I have a lot of respect for the New York players. Even when I was coming down for an interview after our second match against each other, I saw Jjonak and Andrew, one of NYXL’s coaches, in the hallway. I told Andrew to ask Jjonak if I could get his jersey. It’s important to not overrate your opponent, or think “oh, these guys are so much better”, you have to be competitive. I have a lot of respect for them, but I don’t overthink it. I think that’s a big issue with some other players who maybe don’t beat some of these top teams, like maybe they think they’re so outclassed that they can’t do anything. But realistically, their talent is of that or better, potentially. Reputation matters a lot.





Apart from playing, you also had the opportunity to cast the Talent Takedown. Who was the player who impressed you the most?





Besides Bren’s Widowmaker, I was surprised that on Necropolis he played really well on Junkrat. He was bringing it back for the Atlantic side when things were going down, he was the x factor. Definitely Bren - you know how Jayne does vod reviews on Twitch? If Jayne watched him for his “Guess My SR” series, maybe he would guess that Bren was a Masters player, he played really well.

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Did you enjoy casting with “global icon and national treasure” Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez?





It’s definitely amazing because he’s so good at his job, like I don’t know how you can come up with so many witty nicknames, or things to say in general at the top of your tongue because I can’t do that. All I could do is, the best part that I’m at is saying things in a certain tone, and that’s all I’m good for! But that’s why he’s so good because he’s easy to flow and stuff like that with him and that's why he does so many esports, he’s amazing at his job. It was fun.





Have you been able to branch out into other sides of esports apart from playing?





A couple of things actually, I guess casting was the first one, because I did that with Tespa, with the collegiate scene for part of a season. It was consistent work with them and that was a really invaluable experience, it was so fun. Besides that, I also had an Open Division team, Dogman Akita, I ran one of those with Jayne. We both had the teams Akita and Beagle, but Beagle eventually fell apart. It was definitely interesting, that side as well, doing the team managing. It’s fun to branch out because this job, playing, is not indefinite. You can’t do it forever. So it’s important to focus on your future for sure, and diversify your portfolio.





Would you suggest that to upcoming players as well?





Yeah, for sure. The biggest thing is in playing or even looking at jobs generally is that it’s important to not shut things out. Obviously do what you like to do, and if casting isn’t something you like to do, don’t do it. But if you think you can do everything, and you don’t mind doing everything, then it’s important to just keep your options open because you never know when one of them will call you up. When I was doing casting for Tespa, at that time I could’ve just been full-on casting, but that might not have gone anywhere if I didn’t go into playing. If things aren’t working on one side, then maybe look at your other options.