With roughly 2 weeks until the Shanghai Major kicks off, teams are already preparing to make sure they can prove their worth. Bootcamps have been set up and teams are working to optimize communication, cohesion, and new draft strategies. Everybody is readying to deliver the best Dota they can possibly play.

Behind the scenes is another sect of people, also tirelessly preparing--casters, analysts, and the production crew. They’re our explainers and companions, being able to translate action into words so the general audience can comprehend the experience. They simplify the complexities of Dota and enhance our viewing experience. They carry us through the dull moments and hype us up for the exciting ones. What is being said is just as important as what is happening on screen. We approached some of the casters headed to Shanghai, as well as Esports veteran, Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner, to get a look behind the microphone.

How much time do you usually have and take to prepare for a LAN event?

Austin ‘Capitalist’ Walsh, caster for joinDota: “Preparation for casting never really stops or starts, a good caster is always trying to figure out the patch or the current meta game. That said, a couple weeks before a Major or TI, I'll usually do write-ups for each team in the tournament. These will include everything from top picks, signature picks for each player, special drafts or strategies. I'll also do write-ups about the meta and the highest priority heroes/counterpicks through my own experiences with patch, pro games & talks with pro players.”

Jorien ‘Sheever’ van der Heijden , caster, interviewer, host and panelist: “My preparation before a LAN event usually starts about 3 weeks before. You got to understand though that I generally (preparing for a specific event or not) keep track of what is going on in the dota scene and watch a lot of matches by default.”

Dakota ‘KotlGuy’ Cox, caster, interviewer and host for BeyondTheSummit: “Typically, I'll binge-study a week before I travel.”

Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner, veteran & freelance Esports host, commentator and interviewer, formerly of ESL and Gfinity: Depends on the tournament, the game, how many players or teams are attending, whether there are qualifiers for the event, what role I am doing. There is no typical amount of prep as each tournament is very different.

Tournament – how long is it? The longer the tournament format, the longer the prep (working out potential matchups etc). Prize money, prestige, audience size – all of these things have an impact on how much time is required to prep. The game – How well do I know the game? Is it a new game or an established one, how deep is the meta etc. Players and teams – producing detailed profiles for each, highs and lows of career, statistics for each, both good and bad, any historical storylines, reading player interviews and making notes of any key issues they bring up, who they don’t like playing against, any previous rivalries, disputes among players, form, who they match up well against, recent losses and wins and how they won or lost, age, personality, nicknames, country, previous teams etc.

For TI5 for example, I had to catch up on the meta, learn previous patch changes since I last did an event for dota, watch every qualifying game that I hadn’t already watched live via vod, learn new teams and specifically familiarise myself with some newer players, team changes, roster changes, changes to positions of players, talk to other pro’s about predictions, read reviews and previews of the tournament, spend time with the stats guys talking over which historical points might get hit during the tournament, develop storylines around stats, read up on any recent player interviews, watch any associated videos, films or documentaries, frag movies, build a database of all teams and players, add in statistics for each, top 5 hero picks and win rates, form guide, put a binder together on all teams and players, including age, country, pictures, win rates, losses, hero picks. I’d guess all of that took around 200-250 hours or so of prep, but usually I find around 40-60 hours is enough for a big tournament where I know the game and have watched most of the matches already.”

What does your usual preparation look like?

KotlGuy: “4-5 hours each day studying each team and filling out my notebook. I usually cover 2-3 teams a day, doing everything from memorizing rosters to fiending replays and everything in between.”

Sheever: “I have to admit that I am continuously changing my way of preparing for an event, and this also differs based on what role I will have at the event itself. At this time my preparation is going over teams, talking to people who know a lot about them and getting information that goes beyond most picked and other statistics that are obvious for most. If I know I will be having a more analytical role (or basically a non-host role) I try to talk to players and get their info on certain heroes, playstyles, patches, etc. This without them revealing any team specific things of course. I try to find interviews of players that will be playing at the event and listen to them to see if they hold new information. I typically will look for information on players that are not as well known as the tier one superstar players. I still look at statistics too, but less than normal, depending on how much information and talking topics I have found via the other methods. Recent results, drafts, game plans, pace of the game, warding, these are all things I pay attention to when preparing for an event. As said though, this is an ever changing process. New ways of gathering information are always sought for.”

Redeye: “I released a spreadsheet or two on what I did for Blizzcon a couple of years ago for SC2 which can be seen in the book I wrote, that gives a good idea of the type of statistical and storyline prep I do for every tournament regardless of how big or small it is.”

How has your process to prepare for LAN events changed since you first started working at LAN events?

Sheever: “My first ever LAN event was the international 2 where I was interviewing for Gosugamers. I had never done anything like that before and so preparing was like a big question mark for me. How to prepare! I ended up writing full questions before hand, and tried to memorize those. I watched other interviews to see what questions people normally ask and interviewed players that I knew things about already to keep it easier for myself.”

Redeye: “I’m much more detailed than I was years ago and much more focused on storylines to develop in the show, which comes from great preparation.”

Capitalist: “My process has always been the same since I did my first write up for ESL Frankfurt 2014. Since the Frankfurt Major though, I've had to put extra work in studying & analyzing drafting as that's something I have to work with more now that I also do panel work.”

KotlGuy: “Once more opportunities opened up to be a host rather than just a caster I started adding more into my preparation as far as storytelling. I like finding the extra fun details about players and teams to bring more hype and story into a match, whether it be former teammates squaring off or a young midlaner's first time leaving home for a gaming tournament.”

Do you have a "ritual" that you do for good luck?

Capitalist: “One ritual from TI was that Blitz and I would always hug it out before our match started. Blitz used to get pretty nervous before matches at big events like ESL Frankfurt or TI so I always tried to calm him down & boost his confidence with a hug and some words of encouragement. Other than that, it's pretty cheesy but before TI main event I would listen to "Lose Yourself" before I went on stage to cast.”

Redeye: “I need to be left alone to gather my thoughts for the opener just before the show starts, usually a couple of minutes out is my quiet time to compose myself and do some breathing exercises just to reduce the excess adrenaline.”

What expectations do you have going into the Shanghai Major from a talent perspective?

KotlGuy: “It's hard to say, to be honest. It's natural to assume that, with all of the issues on-site English coverage teams have had in the past during Dota 2 events in China, it may be a bit dodgy. But having our team already assembled with some extra help on the production side makes me confident this event will be a success.”

Sheever: “So far every event I have worked has been very different from each other. All producers are different, some want to be more involved than others, I've done events where there was no rehearsals, and where there was tons of rehearsals, with and without rundowns. They have all been so different that I go into the Shanghai Major with a big questionmark. That being said, James is the host and I have worked with him before, and that makes me confident that no matter what it'll be fine.”

What expectations do you usually have going into a LAN event?

Redeye: “I usually keep expectations to a minimum, just the type of person I am. If I set high expectations they are usually missed and I’m disappointed, so I tend to just go in with an open mind these days, that way I can cope with things that go wrong better and I suppose I almost prepare for the fact at some point something will go wrong, its live TV with the internet and computers, something usually goes wrong! “

Are there things that go on behind the scenes that the viewer might not see that are vital in the production/commentary process?

Redeye: “There is a lot the viewer doesn’t see in production, but as long as you have productions back when things go wrong, they have yours too, it’s very much a team effort despite the fact talent gets all the credit if things go well and gets flamed if it all goes to shit. That’s just part of the job.”

What happens off camera? How much time does on-air talent have for themselves and how much goes into preparing for the next on-air time?

Redeye: “Time off screen varies depending on the role you do, that of a desk host has very little time to themselves off camera as we have to watch every game, every match and every play in order to make sure we do the very best job when the panel is called upon to review or preview a match. Preparation on a show depends too, but I tend to do it as I go along, making little bullet points during the match so we have key areas to discuss after the match ends. I’ll also tend to stay behind after the final match of a day to go through things with production, review what we did well or bad, discuss the next day, go over any videos that need to be shown so I can prepare introductions, write up scripts for teleprompter, discuss any big changes to the show for the following day and put together up to date stats, match ups and consider the storylines between the teams playing on the next day (those which you can’t do until you know who is playing who in a next round of a tournament for example).”

Sheever: “When at an event it differs a lot from person to person what goes on off camera. For myself I like to feel prepared, when I do that I will come across better, stumble over words less, and overall have a better performance. To feel prepared you will most likely always see me watching matches whenever they are on, or doing other forms of research.”

KotlGuy: “It can vary depending on the event and it's schedule, but more often than not everyone is on-site at all times either working, watching the games, or squeezing in valuable moments to quickly eat food.”

Image Sources:

ESL | Steffie Wunderl

ESL | Steffie Wunderl

GosuGamers