I had the pleasure to interview John 'Blu' Mullen on a variety of subjects. In this article he discusses his switch from Guild Wars 2 to CS:GO, a typical day at an event, his ambitions and expectations for the upcoming year and gives an opinion on the recent clarification of the match-fixing bans by Valve. Hope you enjoy!

You got started with Guild Wars as most people know, so what got you into that and more importantly, what made you switch to CSGO down the line?

Blu: So I got into Guild Wars right before the game came out as they advertised the game with this whole idea of ESports, and I’d really enjoyed MMOs at the time. I had a fairly low level team and played in that for a while, but ultimately we broke up around the time they added a sort of spectator mode to the game. I figured I’d try out casting the game, being pretty much the first person to do so. Partially because of that and partially because people seemed to like it so much, my casting career took off from there! I did that for around two years, and right when I was getting into Counterstrike, I started getting frustrated at Guild War’s lack of progress and it just seemed like the developers were taking no feedback to improve the game as a competitive title, and that remains true to this day even looking at it now. Ultimately, I decided to give it all up and dedicate my time to CS:GO, something that was working out so much better for me. Essentially, there was lot of nonsense going on in that community and I got tired of dealing with it. Counterstrike seemed like a lot less stressful game as a somewhat outsider, and so far my opinions of it stay pretty much the same! In terms of the CS:GO itself, I had done virtually nothing before jumping into it. I had never played 1.6, had played Source fairly close to the time and only played Global Offensive around 6 months prior. I made the jump to the game to essentially become a play by play caster.

As a reasonably new personality in the scene, how did you gain knowledge in such a quick fashion?

Blu: Playing a lot of the game! Fortunately I had a lot of free time as I was coming near the end of the semester, before ultimately deciding not to return next semester, so I could really dedicate my time to grinding the game and begin looking into the deeper mechanics of CS:GO. I’d always struggled with school in regards with taken an interest in it, and had been juggling it with the stuff I had been doing in Guild Wars and ESports in general for quite some time. However for me ESports had always taken priority given it was my dream to work in it fulltime, whether as a caster or behind the scenes. When I made the switch to CS:GO, I had the opportunity to leave school and take up ESports full time, with the knowledge I could return to school if needs be. Up to this point, it’s been going fairly well! I also began watching a lot of tournaments and obviously soaked up a lot of information from that.

How have you found your community feedback? Did you feel welcomed when you made your switch by the community, or did you find getting accepted quite hard for you?

Blu: I think for the most part it was a lot more positive than I was expecting. To be honest I was expecting a lot of people to really hate me and want me to leave for the first 4 months, but it actually didn’t seem that bad! There were plenty of fair criticisms about my game knowledge and this and that , so I took them to heart and used them to help me become the best I can be. There’s definitely still some feedback I get in regards to improving my style which is totally valid. The biggest thing people say with me is ‘slow the hell down’, which is something I’ve struggled with forever! I think the main problem was that I was one of the first casters in Guild Wars, and because of this factor and its size, I was much less likely to be criticized on this point. Also the game was much more chaotic than CS, so to a certain degree you had to speak fast if you wanted to get a lot of detail in. Sadokist is someone who has really mentored me about it and given me some great tips to slow down a bit. I think knowledge is something I’ll gain in time, as I play the game and watch more.

Could you talk about how you got into working for ESEA ESL Pro League (EEPL)?

Blu: ESEA was actually a very big part of how I was able to get into Counterstrike. I had met someone who works at ESEA whilst I was still in Guild Wars. We had a nice chat about how I would get into CS:GO, and when I eventually made the decision to switch away from Guild Wars, he actually contacted me and asked if I would be interested casting some games for them. So really he gave me a huge shot to do the biggest league in the world with virtually no game experience. The first thing I actually did was work for CEVO, doing a couple low-level NA events, like a few relegation matches. Very soon after that ESEA contacted me and I didn’t get to stay with CEVO for very long.

Coming to your most recent event at EEPL Season 2, can you give some insight into your preparation for the tournament?

Blu: As a play by play caster you don’t need to do too much preparation beyond recognising general styles of play, but as someone who does some colour and actually some analyst work at this event, there’s a little bit more I had to do. There’s this really good website I use called csgopher where I can get general statistics, and from there I just find demos, taking a look at the teams themselves on different maps. Specific analysis on different player’s game styles is something I struggle with, so instead I try to analyse the teams as a whole.

You talk about how being analyst is a new thing to you, so could you talk about how you got a role as analyst at the upcoming MLG minor?

Blu: Well that’s actually quite an interesting thing to be honest with you. I didn’t quite expect to be on the talent list as a straight up analyst, so we’ll see how that goes! I think I’ll be there casting as well based on the talks I’ve had, but if not, it’s not like I’m completely opposed it, just not what I was expecting! It’s kind of out of my comfort zone, as someone I think that specialises in play by play, but apparently I’ve impressed as an analyst. As for prep for the tournament, it’s been pretty much the same as previously mentioned, looking at demos, etc… My main struggle in preparation for the minor has been finding demos of the lower tier teams, and I have mainly had to look at their matches from the qualifiers for the event.

Blu casting alongisde Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson (right) at the recent ESL ESEA Pro League Finals (Image Courtesy of ESL ESEA)

For someone who may be unsure, could you explain a typical day on ‘set’?

Blu: You normally fly in around 2 days before the event itself starts and have a rehearsal the day before, where you typically run through your schedule and a game or two. During the actual event, being live essentially consists of either casting or analysing, watching the games and in what little down time we have is spent talking to the players, going around the event and just generally hanging out. Obviously it’s great working with other more experienced casters in the game, who have really helped me better myself and given me great tips on how to improve my style. For instance, as I said earlier, Sadokist has given me 3 or 4 great pieces of advice on how to slow down my commentary.

What do you think the future holds for CS:GO in general and the NA scene in particular? Some titles coming for NA teams?

Blu: From the rosters I’m hearing, probably not! But then again, a lot of that is just rumours at the moment. I’m very interested in how well Optic does during the year, mainly because they made the decision to stick together as a roster, which is something I think will end up being very key, especially given how often line ups seem to change in the NA scene. I don’t think constant change is a good way to build a team, and it will be fun to see how well Optic, and Enemy also, build upon the foundations they set last season. I don’t expect any NA teams to become particular powerhouses however and to see any begin to really challenge the top EU teams. As for CS:GO in general, it is probably going to be the biggest year yet! With the new Turner league alongside the larger prize pools Turner hopefully force out from other organisations, it should be a great year. Also a lot more LAN events, especially in North America, have already been announced with hopefully a lot more to come. It’s going to be a really good year overall, hopefully with greater involvement from the Asian scene also.

So what are your plans for 2016?

Blu: As a caster, you very rarely know much more than 3 weeks ahead in time in terms of events. You may be told by an organiser that they plan to take you to an event, but that means very little in a scene where plans change so much. So I never really know what I’m doing, so I just go with the flow and take whatever work I am given for the most part. By the end of the year, I would like to cast a major obviously as it’s the end goal for pretty much anyone entering the scene, but I wouldn’t consider the year a failure if I don’t. If I could be able to do that though, I could really look at myself and think I made it, especially given it was my main goal from the start of my time in CS:GO. I would have gotten to the top; looked at as the cream of the crop, my dream would have been achieved. Then again I’ve still got a lot of work to do, and I’m not sure if I’ve actually done enough to earn a spot at a major as of yet.

Image Courtesy of ESL ESEA

Finally, could you give an opinion on Valve’s recent announcement surrounding their match fixing bans?

Blu: Wow, that a tough one. You’re going to drop that bomb on me?! So here’s the thing, in concept, I kind of agree with the perma-ban. However what I don’t agree with is how Valve skipped around making a final decision for so long, an entire year, before informing all these guys that they’ve been banned forever. You see people like AZK, who may have been sitting around waiting rather than going back into a regular job, who really got screwed over by that. Maybe not so much Steel and Dazed, as popular streamers, but it really sucks for the others. It just took Valve far too long.

Final Thoughts? Advice? Shoutouts?

Blu: Thank you for the interview and thanks to everyone for taking their time and interest and reading the article!

Be sure to follow him using the links below!

Twitter: www.twitter.com/blucsgoTwitch: www.twitch.tv/blu42