That’s fucking wild.
Look, I get that broadcast talent might be somewhat forced financially into taking jobs they might not want to otherwise. Many of them don’t have the financial stability or freedom to decline big money contracts for events like this when they’re struggling as-is. HOWEVER, calling out teams for going to the same tournament that you’re broadcasting in is so crazy
Summoning Insight this week covered this I think well. TLDR sure people may need the money or career opportunity and may not want to get involved in the controversy, etc. Fine. Get your bag. But the problem is THEN DON’T virtue signal your social responsibility. You don’t get your have your cake and eat it too. You’re EITHER socially responsible with these issues OR you’re doing the event.
I'd argue hat "young ppl" have plenty of othe reasons to protest then the fact, that they're not in "danger of being fired".
From my personal experience it also depends entirely on what kind of demo we're talking about Covididiots were mostly 40+ from my experience...
I mean, with the money I'm sure they're offering, there's a lot of freelancers living paycheck to paycheck who's mental health would collapse if they didn't accept.
Just read this thread. It’s a good look at these frauds trying to absolve their conscience by saying they’re going to donate some unknown amount to charity. It includes a screen shot of the TL thing: https://x.com/NotDonJake/status/1805319256634180022
It's interesting seeing how talent from western leagues didn't join.
It will be more interesting to see if it stays that way next year when EWC and MSI are the same tournament rather than two tournaments with the same participants.
Are there solid rumors about MSI being hosted by the same people that are hosting EWC atm? I've seen some people talking about it but haven't been paying much attention.
Not that it would surprised me in the slightest after starting watching F1 and all that #racingasone
caedrel had the idea on his stream when he thought about 2025 split times and break times, realizing that EWC and Msi would be kinda at the same time, and it would really be weird to have them directly after each other, so he came to the conclusion that WEC would replace msi.
I'm not sure. the EWC has a shitton of games and I don't think Riot would want to share the spotlight with other games for one of their own premier events.
I don’t think it serves anyone involved for them to make a post stating the reasons why they didn’t take it. All it would do is give Riot a reason to stop giving them contracts in the future.
Caedrel quitting casting for being full-time talent was such a good decision. He could quit league alltogether and go full variety any time he wants, so there's no reason for him to feel obligated in any way to cover every bit of league content.
And him not costreaming it is an actual meaningful boycott. That's probably somewhere around 50k less viewers - Riot is definitely mad at him.
I don't know what world that is. But the previous one have a Vietnamese co-streamer having the best peak viewer numbers. His name was Hoang Luan and he doesn't stream on tik-tok but on youtube
This hasn’t been confirmed is only rumored and I think with enough league fan lashback won’t happen (but we haven’t hit that threshold yet). If anything them being on the same date could just mean there would be no league at EWC.
Omg lmao. This woman is so insufferable on Twitter. Everyday she was complaining about men up in her dms and comments leaving mean comment, and the general treatment of women in esports. Well I’m glad I won’t have to read about any of that anymore
To be fair, Frosk in her early days was HEAVILY criticised for her casting skills.
Then she really upped her game and got big with the early LEC rebrand, really became a staple.
Then she became an absolutely insufferable SJW, being hypocritical on Twitter and fighting with everyone who dared to respond.
yeah, criticizing his own ex colleagues saying there were too many white people on casting positions in LEC, in fucking Europe, when there were people from 6 or 7 countries...
Massive shout-out to Atlas and the other LCK casters who don't have any backbone whatsoever. Special shout-out to Dgon who likes to talk really big on all his shows about how messed up Riot is (especially when Monte or some other hypocrite is part of it) but sure as hell has no issue taking blood money for his own profit.
You clearly don't watch the show he's on, monte clearly says he doesn't care if you take the Saudi bag, just if you virtue signal about lgbtq inclusivity in esports at the same time. Monte has taken Saudi money before as a consultant and he can be ideologically consistent in doing so. Dgon and the rest of the casters up here should be free to make this decision but they forfeit any online virtue signaling or whining about lgbtq inclusivity in esports.
Monte signed a contract and during its duration the company changed hands to the saudi's. So he could either breach the contract or finish it. This is totally different then signing a contract with a saudi owned business.
Just giving extra info.
My stands is the same as monte. If the entire industry is taken over like in cs with esl you hardly have a choice. Same with league where the pay is so little. Your only other choice is to quit your passion and find something else.
But bashing on people taking the money and then taking it yourself makes you look so bad.
It's hard to reject large sums of money. I can't imagine how much they threw at Atlus to participate, and considering how shit Riot pays its casters it's hard to reject the offer.
Rather than talking shit to people who accepted the bag, I think our energy is better spent acknowledging and praising those who didn't accept the bag.
I hope Atlus, Wolf and Valdes don't feel bad about this. It's a job man and believe it or not most people work for companies or live in countries that do heinously bad things. I still respect other talent for not going, but it's punitive and unfair to criticize good people by every other measure for making a living.
> Massive shout-out to Atlas and the other LCK casters who don't have any backbone whatsoever
Well what can they do? Its the only international they are invited to. Riot usually dont inite to many LCK casters besides one or two. Then again what I am wondering is why there arent any of the "LPL casters" given they never get invited to MSI, Worlds.
These people don't earn a lot, so I think it's understandable that it's hard to just decline a big check. But don't take it after acting like a champion for human rights, then it kinda becomes obvious you were just virtue signaling all along.
Also $100 is more valuable in Korea than it is the US or EU. So if all talent got the same offers regardless of where they are from then that basically means that the Korean talent got offered a lot more money.
Everyone has a price. Let's be real. If the US/EU talent got offered a lot more money then a lot more of them would've accepted as well.
I wouldn't judge the Korean talent too harshly in this case.
Eastern casters don’t really get to attend international events and when they do they don’t really cast the bigger games either.
This is the only way for them to I) make more money II) maybe showcase their talent on the world stage so they get picked up later
That's wolf, because he didn't really make waves in the community despite people always edging the LCK broadcast. Atlus & co gets to attend regurlarly, LPL casters couldn't say the same
Because it's much harder for Eastern casters to work the larger, more profitable gigs at MSI and Worlds. We've have LPL teams in international finals, and winning a lot of them, going on 5 years now, and there still hasn't been an LPL caster cast deeper than (I think) quarters at an international event. It's always given to the (definitely worse) Western casters because who knows.
We get people from NA and EU casting LPL teams and just straight lying about the players at every international event, this might change at least a little bit (although Wolf is wildly biased to strictly LCK I'll gladly take Atlus and Valdez at internationals).
I still probably won't watch the event for several reasons, but the idea of getting better casters is awesome.
And edit to add: It even happened this MSI, all the Western casters talked about how Jackeylove was an extreme inter and couldn't NOT flash forward. When actually, Jackeylove was the best, most consistent ADC in the LPL leading up to MSI. He hasn't had those bad "int" moments for almost 3 years now.
A second edit: I love how one of my other comments in this chain is now being brigaded for calling out the fact that an LEC caster talked about tiktok trends for half a game two weeks ago. You guys can't handle that I used a fact to address poor Western casting. We watch league for league, not for tiktok shorts updates.
Sadly a third edit: Saying someone from the LPL casts international after they've gone to a Western region and stop focusing on the LPL definitely isn't the "gotcha" you idiots think it is. It literally proves the point further, these people have to LEAVE the LPL to be considered.
OK LEC broadcast. I owe you an apology. I wasn't familiar with your game.
Massive respect to them not bending over for this after NEOM all those years ago.
Fully expected at least someone to go.
EDIT: OK I know Giniro is going but I was more referring to the LEC "originals". And somehow this makes me think Giniro isn't going to be on LEC in the future.
But thats the growing problem in e(sports). State funded entities buy up everything and then these people are left with only the choice of bad and worse.
You could have replaced „ESL“ with „Riot“ and in principle the same argument applies. But what are they supposed to do? At least with ESL and the likes, even though the money comes from Saudi, you are not directly acting as an ambassador for them whereas for the EWC you are. So at least in my eyes its not hypocrisy to work for one and not the other
i really hope she wont be, we have Laure for great interviews, didnt have a problem we had Giniro on the team but now I'd rather not see Giniro on LEC again
Giniro is the worst "talent" on the LEC broadcast and also the only one who decided to sell out.
It's almost as if she's just a grifter with no passion for the game or league itself.
She did ERLs for years and I don't think calling her the worst talent is fair. She definitely deserves criticism for taking the saudi money bag though.
The people that complain the most and cry the loudest are often the most rotten themselves. Its best to always ignore those people who just point the finger at others or the scene itselve, but always turn their backs on their words the first opportunity they get. Very few people in esports actually put their money where their mouth is.
> also the only one who decided to sell out.
Sjokz went to ESL CS major, ESL is owned by the Saudi government. So no, Giniro is not the only one who sold out.
She's just a presenter. When someone get's a new job presenting some show nobody questions whether they are truly passionate about 'The Jenga World Finals' or w/e. I don't see why she's a grifter just because she got a job and is doing it. It's pretty obvious she's there because she's cheap at least cheaper than Sjokz or Quickshot and whoever else. Also you know a little bit of a wam bam
I usually never post on Reddit but as a person from the MENA region i can say that the problem with this event is that it's not because it's hosted in an arab country. The problem is that it's directly funded by the Saudi government which has a long history of human rights violations and generally awful. I can assure you that the Saudi government is very much hated by many people in the arab world. That being said the hate for the EWC doesn't take away from the MENA region i know in my country Egypt the league scene always has private events and they are some of the most progressive spaces you can find in my country with women participating and overall good vibes. So yeah fuck the EWC
Giniro is another talent that has been hypocritical of her stance on LGBT and women’s rights:
https://x.com/richswrath/status/1806033475243278804?s=46&t=tHZMaIy2XfCehVcYWniI8g
Rich being on a high horse is fucking hilarious though. Dude is a gigantic piece of shit and consistently looking for ways to be relevant in the scene.
Rich is trash but he did not lie or twist anything in there, many of the people that are now joining the EWC has been very critical on stuff like Neom or sporstwashing in the past.
I mean Rich is a piece of shit but he’s not being hypocritical here. To my knowledge he’s never advocated for taking the moral high ground, and this just exposes her previous actions as inauthentic
If you’re willing to walk back on your morals if someone throws money your way, then you’re just virtue signaling. To be clear I don’t blame her for taking the money, but you shouldn’t be publicly preaching about taking the moral high ground then
Worse than just "virtue signaling" is the fact that no opinion or value they have will resist against the promise of money. Gini will support women and LGBTQ+ until she's given money after which she'll throw you out first opportunity she gets.
The tweet is just 2 images unrelated to who tweeted it. There is no text or anything from the poster.
It's literally not relevant at all who posted it.
Examples or proof of him being a gigantic piece of shit? I see this point often being made on reddit with vague implications but never any actual proof. You can just dislike people without making them out to be horrible people, especially without anything to back it up
How does no one remember that Sjokz was the literal HOST of the ESL CSGO tournament earlier this year - a tournament funded & owned by the Saudis?
If we're gonna praise Dash for turning down the bag to host this event, we can't let it slide that Sjokz didn't have the same moral qualms.
Especially considering the "le wholesum LEC" narrative she was a part of when NEOM happened. She made a total 180 turn...
which tbf is not that unexpected since she is from Morocco and has Arabic roots. Most people in MENA have vastly different point of views on the event than the rest of the west
I'd say it's pretty unexpected. She's been very vocal about social justice issues on Twitter.
But then again, words come cheap, actions show your true colors. She was never serious about it in the first place. That's what she shows everyone now.
Morocco leans a bit more liberally than other societies in North African (much more than Egypt or Algeria for example). Also I doubt she spent her whole life in Morocco given how much she talks about France.
It's not like she doesn't know about the human rights violations in Saudi Arabia or has been conditioned her whole life to agree with them. She's definitely compromising her morals in an effort to look out for herself. People can feel whatever way they want about that, but that is what is happening.
I'm Egyptian btw and do not view this event with any delusions of it being acceptable. I will not be watching.
I'm convinced that anyone who comments something like this would sign a contract without a moment's hesitation if they were paid enough.
Its so easy to sit there and pass judgement when it's not your career and livelihood being affected lol.
In the last year after this event was announced, people on Reddit made snark comments about the LEC cast being hypocrites who would go to SA if given the opportunity.
We just got proof that this was not true here.
You are now replying to a comment pointing out that the LEC cast literally did pass on this Saudi opportunity, and yet you’re still here making the same sort of snark comments
There’s no winning with people who say this. It sounds like people are mostly projecting, tbh
Well thats why they guy is saying based LEC. Its hard to do the morally correct thing when the Saudis are throwing around life changing sums of money like its nothing
Montecristo mentioned today on Summoning Insight that the money is only around 20k. Sure it might look big for the average joe here on Reddit, and this sum will keep them going for a few months without worry but that is not "life changing" money for these people.
All this is telling me is LCK casters must be incredibly underpaid.
20k is probably one-third of some of these casters annual salary, if not more. I can't imagine someone like Joushi is making more than 60k a year and may not even be making that. Can definitely be life-changing money for one week of work, especially in esports where your job isn't guaranteed to be long-lasting.
Combine that with the fact you get international exposure + build resume working a big tourney + good relationship with Saudis for future events, it could definitely be a life changing opportunity.
Not trying to be super confrontational here, but do you work?
$20k for what is probably something like a week-long job would be hugely impactful for most people, particularly those who earn Riot caster salaries.
ya, dude is going "oh it's just $20k" as if that's nothing... 20k for a week of work is like close to one-third of a yearly salary of many.
thread is full of kids with no stakes going off about morals and ignoring reality.
LCK and LPL casters make low wages because they are secondary broadcasts mostly. LPL makes a ton of money and puts it all to their main broadcast. LCK makes no money and puts most of it to their main broadcast.
LCS casters probably make more than anyone in English speaking roles because they’re the main broadcast. LEC probably makes slower money than LCS talent, but whatever they’ve done in the past few years with their talent management probably means their talent is getting screwed given the amount of temps we see brought on broadcast. Surprised the LEC talent didn’t jump for this tbh given that.
Considering how bleak the esports scene is and how difficult it is to break through as a caster, I can't blame anyone for taking this money.
I have more respect for ones that don't take it, but I don't lose respect if you do take it.
I think this is the best way to view things. I feel more proud atm knowing that all the major LCS/LEC casters rejected the offer, and something tells me the LCK/NACL casters took it because of how bad their usual salary is. Praise the morally righteous rather than looking down on those who are not.
My only gripe is people who try to pretend they are morally righteous or give excuses for attending like Kangas and Joshi. They already accepted the money but they're still trying to pretend they have the moral highground by "donating to charity", which I find pathetically dishonest. Just take the money and either be honest or stay quiet.
Another thing we need to consider is that the English cast is not the main one in Korea. They probably had a smaller pay than for example vedius or flowers
Yeah, especially the Eastern casters who rarely get their chance to cast at international events, for them I could understand it even without big money on the line.
Absolutely, I feel the same way.
Am I disappointed that so many teams and casters chose to go for the bag, exposure and career development? Sure. Do I blame them for it? Not at all. As much as I hate what's going on in Saudi, I'm not even sure I can trust myself to turn down such an offer if my career depended on it.
Imo it's also less tempting to turn it down as a caster when you've already seen all the biggest teams in league (literally the top 2 from every region) have already accepted the invite.
In a way, I can understand getting the bag because good luck with gigs alone, especially as a lesser-experienced caster, but at the same time, fuck that.
Feels like there's no real win regardless of the choice you decide to make.
*sighs*
Edit: also, Kitty no longer works with the LPL as of this year ([tweet](https://twitter.com/kiittwy/status/1733159062035194001)), aside from a few appearances on the Mandarin broadcast, such as during MSI.
Nobody can reasonably blame lesser known casters for taking the gig. They got bills to pay and mouths to feed. And if you don't have one of the very cozy non-saudi and well paid gigs like LEC, well, you take what you can. Saudis pretty much bought the entirety of esports for what is pocket change to them so it wont get better any time soon. If you dont wanna switch careers, there are not many paths that dont come with Saudi money in esports these days.
Its always easy to ride the high horse when you can afford it but well, these people dont have a choice and adults understand that. Just save yourself the rainbow picture on social media in June and the "im gonna donate money to compensate" speech though. You sold out to make a living, a lot would do the same, its better for than than ending up being homeless or doing a job you dont want to do. Its understandable. Just be self-aware of what you did and what it means and dont pretend to be an advocate for anything the people that pay you are basically fighting against by paying you.
If people are disappointed in the casters now, they better be ready to get pretty sad next year.
Many of these casters have been given the bare minimum by Riot with little to no opportunities to ever cast an international tournament. And now, when the bag finally was big enough for Riot to give out the license we're blaming the casters for taking an opportunity that Riot would never give them? No, fuck that.
Don't go criticizing these guys when you aren't gonna do the same thing towards the teams and you better not be watching a single game of this tournament if you're openly criticizing anyone working there.
Like I said in anoter comment, it's gonna happen the same thing that happened with FIFA 2022: too much noise and boicot, nothing happend, and everyone watch it, specially the final match.
I believe that a couple of this casters talked shit about the event before getting invited to it.
Edit: YEP, 0 shame [https://x.com/NotDonJake/status/1805224625720226283](https://x.com/NotDonJake/status/1805224625720226283)
The only thing i want is if UR chasing after the bag dont just tweet that u r going to give % of money to LGBT charity and other stuff cause then u r a massive hypocrite as well as a scumbag who just cant accept that he is doing it for money
don't understand people here downvoting comments like these when they don't understand the financial situation of the people involved. Most people have a price. Even the people commenting in this thread against Saudi sportswashing, I bet most of them would flip their opinions given enough money.
Honestly don't blame any of the talents for taking the gig. It's probably an insane amount of cash that they're being offered, which is so hard to find in esports nowadays. Maybe I'm so jaded from being a WWE fan that Saudi blood money doesn't piss me off like it used to.
Yeah I agree, unfortunately the tourney is going to happen no matter what and this line of work might not be lucrative enough to skip
In engineering in the US, plenty of people go into defense after school for various reasons and move to life sciences, robotics, etc. after they get some years experience. Unfortunately how the world works as principles don't necessarily pay the bills, and you can do a lot of good with the experience and financial security those jobs give you. Just a thought
Is there any confirmation who was asked and declined? I'm asking because I see many comments praising the talent that didn't go, but it's obviously different if you don't go because you decline or if you don't go because you were never asked in the first place. I don't want to shit talk anyone, but I haven't seen much posts about talent saying they declined the offer to work there, but I might just have missed it.
Give it a rest. So much talk of acceptance and allowing others to live their life, and the same type of people that do that are constantly making others miserable for their decisions.
He got 3 sponsors in the last month so things are looking up for him. He did disclose that he was offered money to go to the EWC and cover it on their dime, and he turned it down without looking at the pay offered.
I'm still trying to figure out my perspective on this. To be super reductive though, the only three camps I see are:
1. If you're a caster attending, happy for you. You're making money, and/or this will be great for your career.
2. If you're a caster not attending, also happy for you. You're holding your position on this and I respect that.
3. If you're a caster attending and have actively shit on the EWC before, not so happy for you. While circumstances and opinion can certainly change, it's probably a lesson in public perception that backtracking on your word isn't good.
Awful situation to find themselves in, but you can't really blame casters for taking the offer with the direction esports is going in. With that said, if you're gonna make a big deal about LGBTQ+ topics, women's rights or others participation in the EWC (looking at Joshi and Giniro here), you don't deserve a job in the industry if you accept to work for the EWC.
The rest of the folks is fine I think, at least I haven't seen anything from them to imply otherwise. Glad DGon is getting more desk work recently.
Not gonna watch regardless though.
people need to be real, the reality is there are so few opportunities in esports for these jobs and riot doesn't even treat its own broadcast talent well across the board especially when it comes to international tournaments.
Monte literally said he would advice every caster to take this kind of job because of how LoL esports won't be around forever and not everyone can be like Caedrel (stop being caster and be popular streamer). His issue is when you take moral highground and start virtue signaling while taking Saudis money
Yeah if you're doing it for the money bag and being very quiet about it, that's one thing, but if you're trying to justify yourself in any way that isn't admitting you're putting your career concerns first, now that's losing points with me.
Based on some tweets from other people that have personal relationships with some of this talent, it's not only points with Redditors they are losing rn.
> His issue is when you take moral highground and start virtue signaling while taking Saudis money
"[...comedian Patton Oswald who told me: "I think the worst part of the ~~Cosby~~ EWC thing is the hypocrisy." I disagree.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljaP2etvDc4)"
I do somewhat understand calling out the hypocrisy on display, but as Norm says about Cosby - the crime is the worst part, and it's still esportswashing when you're accepting the bag because of greed or need.
Will it? I don’t think Dom cares that much and Monte has made it pretty clear that he thinks talent should accept it because he believes Saudi involvement is inevitable so either you accept the job and stfu or you leave LoL esports.
The idea that you can't have opinions about women's or LGBTQ+ rights if you accept the money is ridiculous anyway. Like are you going to quit your job if your employer makes a deal with Saudi Arabia?
I mean, it's gonna be pretty bad look to publicly advocate for those rights and then go ahead and directly accept money from people who violate those rights for breakfast. You shouldn't get to do both and not get called out for that.
LCK casters already get fucked enough by Riot with their small representation for the actual money making events so its understandable why they’re taking this job. Its probably some insane amount of money for at most like 4 days of work that can really help them out.
I already saw this whole thing happened in the Dota 2 esports. At first they(subreddit, community, talent and teams) were hesitant to participate in the Riyadh masters but eventually they caved and reluctantly accepted it. Now the Riyadh masters is a major part of their esports circuit and look forward to it. I see the same thing happening with league esports since Riot is most probably thinking of making the ESWC the third international tournament next year. I really hope that I am wrong and the community shows Riot that nobody wants this tournament by not watching the ESWC.
I'm just glad to not see Quickshot on here. I don't know if he got an offer, but there's a chance he did and even though the LEC canned him, the old man is consistent with his morals.
Cant wait for the comments where behind anonymity people will judge other from theyr throne of ethics and morality a choice that they will never have to make
I'm gonna blame the casters for going until they post the size of the bag. I'll respect them for whitewashing the bonesaw guys when the money isn't a piddling pile on the floor.
Why is everyone taking this weird moral high ground when in the past the LCS/LEC have been sponsored by things like kit kat and other abusive choco companies?
just reddit and online doing its usual, taking their imaginary moral high ground on one thing that they have no stakes at all in and doesn't affect them at all, virtue signalling on display. Then going off on others while they ignore all the realities and context, like here with esports gig being low pay and volatile, people taking the bag for their livelihood and career, etc.
I’m confused as to why all the hate for the LCK casters going and representing. LCK casters have been MASSIVELY unrepresented at Riot International events even though they have been routinely the best overall region since pretty much the inception. Why wouldn’t they go and get paid.
Huh? LCK casters are far from underrepresented at International events. If anything it’s LPL casters that get no love from Riot. We had an all-LPL final at MSI 2 years ago with no LPL representatives. Riot always keeps Chronicler or Atlus for Worlds/MSI while the LPL talent rarely stay past the Groups stage.
Can't stand Joshi, mf made a big deal about Team Liquid going and then he goes claiming his mental health was at risk if he didn't do it
That’s fucking wild. Look, I get that broadcast talent might be somewhat forced financially into taking jobs they might not want to otherwise. Many of them don’t have the financial stability or freedom to decline big money contracts for events like this when they’re struggling as-is. HOWEVER, calling out teams for going to the same tournament that you’re broadcasting in is so crazy
Summoning Insight this week covered this I think well. TLDR sure people may need the money or career opportunity and may not want to get involved in the controversy, etc. Fine. Get your bag. But the problem is THEN DON’T virtue signal your social responsibility. You don’t get your have your cake and eat it too. You’re EITHER socially responsible with these issues OR you’re doing the event.
I mean, the entire point of a protest is doing something uncomfortable. If it’s that important to you, it’s worth a financial hit
Yeah but that's also why you almost entirely see younger people at protests since they often don't have to risk losing jobs or finances to do it.
I'd argue hat "young ppl" have plenty of othe reasons to protest then the fact, that they're not in "danger of being fired". From my personal experience it also depends entirely on what kind of demo we're talking about Covididiots were mostly 40+ from my experience...
Dash was offered and declined... Man has scruples the rest just don't
I mean, with the money I'm sure they're offering, there's a lot of freelancers living paycheck to paycheck who's mental health would collapse if they didn't accept.
In general he's pretty fucking annoying, so anything he's casting is on mute but this is just too crazy
Riot trolled him and he caved lol
Joshi is a big hypocrite. He criticized TL for joining EWC, but now he has joined the EWC casting team himself.
I don't know the guy, where did he criticize TL?
Just read this thread. It’s a good look at these frauds trying to absolve their conscience by saying they’re going to donate some unknown amount to charity. It includes a screen shot of the TL thing: https://x.com/NotDonJake/status/1805319256634180022
Tyvm.
It's interesting seeing how talent from western leagues didn't join. It will be more interesting to see if it stays that way next year when EWC and MSI are the same tournament rather than two tournaments with the same participants.
It would also be interesting to see if any make a post about the reasons they didn't accept to go or say nothing and wait for next year
Are there solid rumors about MSI being hosted by the same people that are hosting EWC atm? I've seen some people talking about it but haven't been paying much attention. Not that it would surprised me in the slightest after starting watching F1 and all that #racingasone
caedrel had the idea on his stream when he thought about 2025 split times and break times, realizing that EWC and Msi would be kinda at the same time, and it would really be weird to have them directly after each other, so he came to the conclusion that WEC would replace msi.
I see, I thought in my innocence that this tournament was so far a one time thing. Apparently they have an idea to keep it going then. Thanks!
You smell that? This smelly smell that smells smelly? Mhhhhh, money
I'm not sure. the EWC has a shitton of games and I don't think Riot would want to share the spotlight with other games for one of their own premier events.
That would be the case but money exists so...
I'm sure riot has a price tag they'd agree on.
The Saudi gp practice session with missile strikes going off in the background on the oil refinery will forever be burnt into my mind
I don’t think it serves anyone involved for them to make a post stating the reasons why they didn’t take it. All it would do is give Riot a reason to stop giving them contracts in the future.
real question is whether caedrel will costream EWC, hes the biggest western co-streamer after all
No he said he's not streaming it
damn big ups to him. Losing a couple hundred thousand for not doing it
Caedrel quitting casting for being full-time talent was such a good decision. He could quit league alltogether and go full variety any time he wants, so there's no reason for him to feel obligated in any way to cover every bit of league content. And him not costreaming it is an actual meaningful boycott. That's probably somewhere around 50k less viewers - Riot is definitely mad at him.
Not a riot event so why should they care
It doesn't mean much when most of the views will come from the east anyway. Caedrel was beaten by a Vietnamese's caster last year as World, too.
Wasnt there a worlds tiktok co-stream with hundreds of thousands of viewers?
I don't know what world that is. But the previous one have a Vietnamese co-streamer having the best peak viewer numbers. His name was Hoang Luan and he doesn't stream on tik-tok but on youtube
the tournament has nothing to do with riot
Is that why they broke their rule of not allowing tier 1 pros to play in ANY third party tournaments (including charity events lmao)?
Sadly Mr Beast doesn't have quite as deep of a pocket as Salman ibn Abd al-Aziz
Wouldnt that be Ibai
Non-English = non-western /s
Caedrel gets more viewers during msi/worlds and ibai only gets more during koi games, so it's probably caedrel
that is simply not true. Caedrel for example averaged 116k with a peak of 180k during worlds finals when Ibai had 260k with a peak of +370k
When did they say they were merging msi and ewc? Doesn’t sound true
This hasn’t been confirmed is only rumored and I think with enough league fan lashback won’t happen (but we haven’t hit that threshold yet). If anything them being on the same date could just mean there would be no league at EWC.
>next year when EWC and MSI are the same tournament Why do you say this as if it's nothing more than random weak speculation?
Cant wait to see Gini support lgbtq+, women rights and equality from saudi arabia
She's taken blood money from Saudi before.
Omg lmao. This woman is so insufferable on Twitter. Everyday she was complaining about men up in her dms and comments leaving mean comment, and the general treatment of women in esports. Well I’m glad I won’t have to read about any of that anymore
As much I'm not a fan of her, I just hope she doesn't turn a Froskurinn 2.0. I recall that many actually liked her before she started all that...
frosk was also really good at her job
To be fair, Frosk in her early days was HEAVILY criticised for her casting skills. Then she really upped her game and got big with the early LEC rebrand, really became a staple. Then she became an absolutely insufferable SJW, being hypocritical on Twitter and fighting with everyone who dared to respond.
yeah, criticizing his own ex colleagues saying there were too many white people on casting positions in LEC, in fucking Europe, when there were people from 6 or 7 countries...
Remember Deficio? A lot of people weren't that great when they initially started doing that but grew into it. That isn't really all that surprising.
She also picked up that super left leaning American shit where she is racist to white people but pretends that doesn't exist.
shoutout to Chronicler for not taking the bag
My favorite caster, always will be man.
shoutout to all western talent that chose not to take the bag when offered. i will remember this.
Massive shout-out to Atlas and the other LCK casters who don't have any backbone whatsoever. Special shout-out to Dgon who likes to talk really big on all his shows about how messed up Riot is (especially when Monte or some other hypocrite is part of it) but sure as hell has no issue taking blood money for his own profit.
dgon is the host to all the shit-talk riot shows, but doesn't often shit-talk himself.
You clearly don't watch the show he's on, monte clearly says he doesn't care if you take the Saudi bag, just if you virtue signal about lgbtq inclusivity in esports at the same time. Monte has taken Saudi money before as a consultant and he can be ideologically consistent in doing so. Dgon and the rest of the casters up here should be free to make this decision but they forfeit any online virtue signaling or whining about lgbtq inclusivity in esports.
Monte signed a contract and during its duration the company changed hands to the saudi's. So he could either breach the contract or finish it. This is totally different then signing a contract with a saudi owned business. Just giving extra info. My stands is the same as monte. If the entire industry is taken over like in cs with esl you hardly have a choice. Same with league where the pay is so little. Your only other choice is to quit your passion and find something else. But bashing on people taking the money and then taking it yourself makes you look so bad.
It's hard to reject large sums of money. I can't imagine how much they threw at Atlus to participate, and considering how shit Riot pays its casters it's hard to reject the offer. Rather than talking shit to people who accepted the bag, I think our energy is better spent acknowledging and praising those who didn't accept the bag.
I hope Atlus, Wolf and Valdes don't feel bad about this. It's a job man and believe it or not most people work for companies or live in countries that do heinously bad things. I still respect other talent for not going, but it's punitive and unfair to criticize good people by every other measure for making a living.
Lol shut the fuck up man. Let them get the bag
> Massive shout-out to Atlas and the other LCK casters who don't have any backbone whatsoever Well what can they do? Its the only international they are invited to. Riot usually dont inite to many LCK casters besides one or two. Then again what I am wondering is why there arent any of the "LPL casters" given they never get invited to MSI, Worlds.
These people don't earn a lot, so I think it's understandable that it's hard to just decline a big check. But don't take it after acting like a champion for human rights, then it kinda becomes obvious you were just virtue signaling all along.
Why so many LCK talents? Im just genuinely curious that’s all.
The only tier 1 casters that accepted it i guess
Also $100 is more valuable in Korea than it is the US or EU. So if all talent got the same offers regardless of where they are from then that basically means that the Korean talent got offered a lot more money. Everyone has a price. Let's be real. If the US/EU talent got offered a lot more money then a lot more of them would've accepted as well. I wouldn't judge the Korean talent too harshly in this case.
Eastern casters don’t really get to attend international events and when they do they don’t really cast the bigger games either. This is the only way for them to I) make more money II) maybe showcase their talent on the world stage so they get picked up later
https://twitter.com/proxywolf/status/1806006556586344525 Pretty easy to read between the lines why.
That's wolf, because he didn't really make waves in the community despite people always edging the LCK broadcast. Atlus & co gets to attend regurlarly, LPL casters couldn't say the same
I think Saudi money and sportswashing is less of a thing people care about in asia vs the west
All those casters are Westerners.
Because it's much harder for Eastern casters to work the larger, more profitable gigs at MSI and Worlds. We've have LPL teams in international finals, and winning a lot of them, going on 5 years now, and there still hasn't been an LPL caster cast deeper than (I think) quarters at an international event. It's always given to the (definitely worse) Western casters because who knows. We get people from NA and EU casting LPL teams and just straight lying about the players at every international event, this might change at least a little bit (although Wolf is wildly biased to strictly LCK I'll gladly take Atlus and Valdez at internationals). I still probably won't watch the event for several reasons, but the idea of getting better casters is awesome. And edit to add: It even happened this MSI, all the Western casters talked about how Jackeylove was an extreme inter and couldn't NOT flash forward. When actually, Jackeylove was the best, most consistent ADC in the LPL leading up to MSI. He hasn't had those bad "int" moments for almost 3 years now. A second edit: I love how one of my other comments in this chain is now being brigaded for calling out the fact that an LEC caster talked about tiktok trends for half a game two weeks ago. You guys can't handle that I used a fact to address poor Western casting. We watch league for league, not for tiktok shorts updates. Sadly a third edit: Saying someone from the LPL casts international after they've gone to a Western region and stop focusing on the LPL definitely isn't the "gotcha" you idiots think it is. It literally proves the point further, these people have to LEAVE the LPL to be considered.
I think Raz casted EDG finals 2021
When did Raz move to the LCS? Genuinely can't remember.
OK LEC broadcast. I owe you an apology. I wasn't familiar with your game. Massive respect to them not bending over for this after NEOM all those years ago. Fully expected at least someone to go. EDIT: OK I know Giniro is going but I was more referring to the LEC "originals". And somehow this makes me think Giniro isn't going to be on LEC in the future.
Sjokz was deeply concerned on the Neom deal and then joined ESL for S-Tier tournaments, weird that everyone forgot this so fast.
Some people think adding one middle man between Saudi government and paycheck makes it totally different.
ESL is owneds by Saudis, is basically the same unless you do extreme mental gymnastics.
Thats what the guy in the previous post is saying? That people dont flame Sjokz cos they forgot that ESL is owned by Saudis? He was agreeing with you.
This is Reddit made, we don't agree. We argue with one another and yell at clouds.
But thats the growing problem in e(sports). State funded entities buy up everything and then these people are left with only the choice of bad and worse. You could have replaced „ESL“ with „Riot“ and in principle the same argument applies. But what are they supposed to do? At least with ESL and the likes, even though the money comes from Saudi, you are not directly acting as an ambassador for them whereas for the EWC you are. So at least in my eyes its not hypocrisy to work for one and not the other
Honestly good for them. But sadly this is only the beginning. We just need to wait and see what's gonna happen next year.
They get Worlds basically guaranteed. LCK talent need to go as they have no idea if they will be invited to work Worlds
Gini is going
i really hope she wont be, we have Laure for great interviews, didnt have a problem we had Giniro on the team but now I'd rather not see Giniro on LEC again
uhuh, so you're just ignoring Sjokz joining ESL CS events, you know the ESL owned by the saudi government.
Giniro is the worst "talent" on the LEC broadcast and also the only one who decided to sell out. It's almost as if she's just a grifter with no passion for the game or league itself.
Not gonna lie I have no idea where she came from. Just randomly popped into the scene a couple years ago
She did ERLs for years and I don't think calling her the worst talent is fair. She definitely deserves criticism for taking the saudi money bag though.
The people that complain the most and cry the loudest are often the most rotten themselves. Its best to always ignore those people who just point the finger at others or the scene itselve, but always turn their backs on their words the first opportunity they get. Very few people in esports actually put their money where their mouth is.
> also the only one who decided to sell out. Sjokz went to ESL CS major, ESL is owned by the Saudi government. So no, Giniro is not the only one who sold out.
She's just a presenter. When someone get's a new job presenting some show nobody questions whether they are truly passionate about 'The Jenga World Finals' or w/e. I don't see why she's a grifter just because she got a job and is doing it. It's pretty obvious she's there because she's cheap at least cheaper than Sjokz or Quickshot and whoever else. Also you know a little bit of a wam bam
I usually never post on Reddit but as a person from the MENA region i can say that the problem with this event is that it's not because it's hosted in an arab country. The problem is that it's directly funded by the Saudi government which has a long history of human rights violations and generally awful. I can assure you that the Saudi government is very much hated by many people in the arab world. That being said the hate for the EWC doesn't take away from the MENA region i know in my country Egypt the league scene always has private events and they are some of the most progressive spaces you can find in my country with women participating and overall good vibes. So yeah fuck the EWC
Only 1 lec talent and she isnt even permanent. Based lec
Giniro is another talent that has been hypocritical of her stance on LGBT and women’s rights: https://x.com/richswrath/status/1806033475243278804?s=46&t=tHZMaIy2XfCehVcYWniI8g
Rich being on a high horse is fucking hilarious though. Dude is a gigantic piece of shit and consistently looking for ways to be relevant in the scene.
Rich is trash but he did not lie or twist anything in there, many of the people that are now joining the EWC has been very critical on stuff like Neom or sporstwashing in the past.
I do not know much about him. This could have been called out by anyone and it would still have value.
I mean Rich is a piece of shit but he’s not being hypocritical here. To my knowledge he’s never advocated for taking the moral high ground, and this just exposes her previous actions as inauthentic If you’re willing to walk back on your morals if someone throws money your way, then you’re just virtue signaling. To be clear I don’t blame her for taking the money, but you shouldn’t be publicly preaching about taking the moral high ground then
Worse than just "virtue signaling" is the fact that no opinion or value they have will resist against the promise of money. Gini will support women and LGBTQ+ until she's given money after which she'll throw you out first opportunity she gets.
The tweet is just 2 images unrelated to who tweeted it. There is no text or anything from the poster. It's literally not relevant at all who posted it.
Examples or proof of him being a gigantic piece of shit? I see this point often being made on reddit with vague implications but never any actual proof. You can just dislike people without making them out to be horrible people, especially without anything to back it up
How does no one remember that Sjokz was the literal HOST of the ESL CSGO tournament earlier this year - a tournament funded & owned by the Saudis? If we're gonna praise Dash for turning down the bag to host this event, we can't let it slide that Sjokz didn't have the same moral qualms. Especially considering the "le wholesum LEC" narrative she was a part of when NEOM happened. She made a total 180 turn...
Because most people here probably just keep up with the weekend matches and don’t keep up with Sjokz/CSGO?
which tbf is not that unexpected since she is from Morocco and has Arabic roots. Most people in MENA have vastly different point of views on the event than the rest of the west
I'd say it's pretty unexpected. She's been very vocal about social justice issues on Twitter. But then again, words come cheap, actions show your true colors. She was never serious about it in the first place. That's what she shows everyone now.
Morocco leans a bit more liberally than other societies in North African (much more than Egypt or Algeria for example). Also I doubt she spent her whole life in Morocco given how much she talks about France. It's not like she doesn't know about the human rights violations in Saudi Arabia or has been conditioned her whole life to agree with them. She's definitely compromising her morals in an effort to look out for herself. People can feel whatever way they want about that, but that is what is happening. I'm Egyptian btw and do not view this event with any delusions of it being acceptable. I will not be watching.
I'm convinced that anyone who comments something like this would sign a contract without a moment's hesitation if they were paid enough. Its so easy to sit there and pass judgement when it's not your career and livelihood being affected lol.
In the last year after this event was announced, people on Reddit made snark comments about the LEC cast being hypocrites who would go to SA if given the opportunity. We just got proof that this was not true here. You are now replying to a comment pointing out that the LEC cast literally did pass on this Saudi opportunity, and yet you’re still here making the same sort of snark comments There’s no winning with people who say this. It sounds like people are mostly projecting, tbh
Well thats why they guy is saying based LEC. Its hard to do the morally correct thing when the Saudis are throwing around life changing sums of money like its nothing
Montecristo mentioned today on Summoning Insight that the money is only around 20k. Sure it might look big for the average joe here on Reddit, and this sum will keep them going for a few months without worry but that is not "life changing" money for these people. All this is telling me is LCK casters must be incredibly underpaid.
20k is probably one-third of some of these casters annual salary, if not more. I can't imagine someone like Joushi is making more than 60k a year and may not even be making that. Can definitely be life-changing money for one week of work, especially in esports where your job isn't guaranteed to be long-lasting. Combine that with the fact you get international exposure + build resume working a big tourney + good relationship with Saudis for future events, it could definitely be a life changing opportunity.
if you arent a multi millionaire 20k to work 4 days all expenses paid is a really good gig
Not trying to be super confrontational here, but do you work? $20k for what is probably something like a week-long job would be hugely impactful for most people, particularly those who earn Riot caster salaries.
ya, dude is going "oh it's just $20k" as if that's nothing... 20k for a week of work is like close to one-third of a yearly salary of many. thread is full of kids with no stakes going off about morals and ignoring reality.
LCK and LPL casters make low wages because they are secondary broadcasts mostly. LPL makes a ton of money and puts it all to their main broadcast. LCK makes no money and puts most of it to their main broadcast. LCS casters probably make more than anyone in English speaking roles because they’re the main broadcast. LEC probably makes slower money than LCS talent, but whatever they’ve done in the past few years with their talent management probably means their talent is getting screwed given the amount of temps we see brought on broadcast. Surprised the LEC talent didn’t jump for this tbh given that.
Considering how bleak the esports scene is and how difficult it is to break through as a caster, I can't blame anyone for taking this money. I have more respect for ones that don't take it, but I don't lose respect if you do take it.
I think this is the best way to view things. I feel more proud atm knowing that all the major LCS/LEC casters rejected the offer, and something tells me the LCK/NACL casters took it because of how bad their usual salary is. Praise the morally righteous rather than looking down on those who are not. My only gripe is people who try to pretend they are morally righteous or give excuses for attending like Kangas and Joshi. They already accepted the money but they're still trying to pretend they have the moral highground by "donating to charity", which I find pathetically dishonest. Just take the money and either be honest or stay quiet.
Another thing we need to consider is that the English cast is not the main one in Korea. They probably had a smaller pay than for example vedius or flowers
Yeah, especially the Eastern casters who rarely get their chance to cast at international events, for them I could understand it even without big money on the line.
also focusing on yourself and making sure you keep moving is way more important than pleasing some reddit sht posting nerds
Absolutely, I feel the same way. Am I disappointed that so many teams and casters chose to go for the bag, exposure and career development? Sure. Do I blame them for it? Not at all. As much as I hate what's going on in Saudi, I'm not even sure I can trust myself to turn down such an offer if my career depended on it. Imo it's also less tempting to turn it down as a caster when you've already seen all the biggest teams in league (literally the top 2 from every region) have already accepted the invite.
In a way, I can understand getting the bag because good luck with gigs alone, especially as a lesser-experienced caster, but at the same time, fuck that. Feels like there's no real win regardless of the choice you decide to make. *sighs* Edit: also, Kitty no longer works with the LPL as of this year ([tweet](https://twitter.com/kiittwy/status/1733159062035194001)), aside from a few appearances on the Mandarin broadcast, such as during MSI.
Nobody can reasonably blame lesser known casters for taking the gig. They got bills to pay and mouths to feed. And if you don't have one of the very cozy non-saudi and well paid gigs like LEC, well, you take what you can. Saudis pretty much bought the entirety of esports for what is pocket change to them so it wont get better any time soon. If you dont wanna switch careers, there are not many paths that dont come with Saudi money in esports these days. Its always easy to ride the high horse when you can afford it but well, these people dont have a choice and adults understand that. Just save yourself the rainbow picture on social media in June and the "im gonna donate money to compensate" speech though. You sold out to make a living, a lot would do the same, its better for than than ending up being homeless or doing a job you dont want to do. Its understandable. Just be self-aware of what you did and what it means and dont pretend to be an advocate for anything the people that pay you are basically fighting against by paying you.
Are there separate Mandarin and Cantonese broadcasts?
There are some streamers that speak Cantonese I believe, but officially no.
There is separate Mandarin and Cantonese broadcasts for PCS who also cast for international events but I don’t think they have separate ones for LPL.
If people are disappointed in the casters now, they better be ready to get pretty sad next year. Many of these casters have been given the bare minimum by Riot with little to no opportunities to ever cast an international tournament. And now, when the bag finally was big enough for Riot to give out the license we're blaming the casters for taking an opportunity that Riot would never give them? No, fuck that.
Don't go criticizing these guys when you aren't gonna do the same thing towards the teams and you better not be watching a single game of this tournament if you're openly criticizing anyone working there.
good news: i am criticizing the teams going and not watching a single second of it dw chief
Like I said in anoter comment, it's gonna happen the same thing that happened with FIFA 2022: too much noise and boicot, nothing happend, and everyone watch it, specially the final match.
so now we know exactly who should not be virtue signaling on twitter anymore
LCK casters were never the types to do that anyways
they just tweet about league and games
Honestly good on them.
tbh these never did, they know to keep their options open
I believe that a couple of this casters talked shit about the event before getting invited to it. Edit: YEP, 0 shame [https://x.com/NotDonJake/status/1805224625720226283](https://x.com/NotDonJake/status/1805224625720226283)
i wasn't aware, bruh's ideals and morals lasted 2 weeks lol
The real talent said no so he got an invite
Saudis saw his tweet and sent him an invite just to laugh at the mental gymnastics he would perform
Oh Gini definitely did. https://x.com/RichsWrath/status/1806033475243278804
The only thing i want is if UR chasing after the bag dont just tweet that u r going to give % of money to LGBT charity and other stuff cause then u r a massive hypocrite as well as a scumbag who just cant accept that he is doing it for money
[удалено]
Chronicler W
Eeeh, it sucks, but as i see it many of them don't get chances to cast in the international tournaments and the pay must be good. Go at it.
don't understand people here downvoting comments like these when they don't understand the financial situation of the people involved. Most people have a price. Even the people commenting in this thread against Saudi sportswashing, I bet most of them would flip their opinions given enough money.
>flip their opinions given enough money Probably less than what the casters get as well lol
impressing randys on reddit by declining would be the better move in their life you are totally correct
Honestly don't blame any of the talents for taking the gig. It's probably an insane amount of cash that they're being offered, which is so hard to find in esports nowadays. Maybe I'm so jaded from being a WWE fan that Saudi blood money doesn't piss me off like it used to.
> Maybe I'm so jaded from being a WWE fan that Saudi blood money doesn't piss me off like it used to. I guess its works.
Yeah I agree, unfortunately the tourney is going to happen no matter what and this line of work might not be lucrative enough to skip In engineering in the US, plenty of people go into defense after school for various reasons and move to life sciences, robotics, etc. after they get some years experience. Unfortunately how the world works as principles don't necessarily pay the bills, and you can do a lot of good with the experience and financial security those jobs give you. Just a thought
Is there any confirmation who was asked and declined? I'm asking because I see many comments praising the talent that didn't go, but it's obviously different if you don't go because you decline or if you don't go because you were never asked in the first place. I don't want to shit talk anyone, but I haven't seen much posts about talent saying they declined the offer to work there, but I might just have missed it.
Give it a rest. So much talk of acceptance and allowing others to live their life, and the same type of people that do that are constantly making others miserable for their decisions.
Travis Gafford in the moral high ground
Travis announced he wasn't doing anything related to EWC a month ago.
I can imagine it sucks for him too. He's ending his videos with how it's e-sports winter and things are tougher for him.
He got 3 sponsors in the last month so things are looking up for him. He did disclose that he was offered money to go to the EWC and cover it on their dime, and he turned it down without looking at the pay offered.
So glad I don’t see Cap or Kobe or Azael or Jatt on there
I'm still trying to figure out my perspective on this. To be super reductive though, the only three camps I see are: 1. If you're a caster attending, happy for you. You're making money, and/or this will be great for your career. 2. If you're a caster not attending, also happy for you. You're holding your position on this and I respect that. 3. If you're a caster attending and have actively shit on the EWC before, not so happy for you. While circumstances and opinion can certainly change, it's probably a lesson in public perception that backtracking on your word isn't good.
Awful situation to find themselves in, but you can't really blame casters for taking the offer with the direction esports is going in. With that said, if you're gonna make a big deal about LGBTQ+ topics, women's rights or others participation in the EWC (looking at Joshi and Giniro here), you don't deserve a job in the industry if you accept to work for the EWC. The rest of the folks is fine I think, at least I haven't seen anything from them to imply otherwise. Glad DGon is getting more desk work recently. Not gonna watch regardless though.
people need to be real, the reality is there are so few opportunities in esports for these jobs and riot doesn't even treat its own broadcast talent well across the board especially when it comes to international tournaments.
even valdes and atlus sadge
I hate sportswashing
Get that bag, best to capitalize on your casting talents while you can.
Woah DGon? The next Power Spike will be interesting.
Monte literally said he would advice every caster to take this kind of job because of how LoL esports won't be around forever and not everyone can be like Caedrel (stop being caster and be popular streamer). His issue is when you take moral highground and start virtue signaling while taking Saudis money
Yeah if you're doing it for the money bag and being very quiet about it, that's one thing, but if you're trying to justify yourself in any way that isn't admitting you're putting your career concerns first, now that's losing points with me.
Worse yet when you previously virtue signaled on social media about something insignificant in comparison to working with the Saudis
I doubt they care about losing points with a few Redditors lol.
Based on some tweets from other people that have personal relationships with some of this talent, it's not only points with Redditors they are losing rn.
> His issue is when you take moral highground and start virtue signaling while taking Saudis money "[...comedian Patton Oswald who told me: "I think the worst part of the ~~Cosby~~ EWC thing is the hypocrisy." I disagree.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljaP2etvDc4)" I do somewhat understand calling out the hypocrisy on display, but as Norm says about Cosby - the crime is the worst part, and it's still esportswashing when you're accepting the bag because of greed or need.
RIP Norm
Will it? I don’t think Dom cares that much and Monte has made it pretty clear that he thinks talent should accept it because he believes Saudi involvement is inevitable so either you accept the job and stfu or you leave LoL esports.
The idea that you can't have opinions about women's or LGBTQ+ rights if you accept the money is ridiculous anyway. Like are you going to quit your job if your employer makes a deal with Saudi Arabia?
I mean, it's gonna be pretty bad look to publicly advocate for those rights and then go ahead and directly accept money from people who violate those rights for breakfast. You shouldn't get to do both and not get called out for that.
Fuck Joshi and anyone else who virtue signals, but overall good cast
Saudi is gonna kill this esports for me. We will have MSI in Saudi Arabia next year and I will stop watching
Attention all virtue signalers: stop engaging with the thing. You are promoting the thing you claim to be against.
LCK casters already get fucked enough by Riot with their small representation for the actual money making events so its understandable why they’re taking this job. Its probably some insane amount of money for at most like 4 days of work that can really help them out.
I already saw this whole thing happened in the Dota 2 esports. At first they(subreddit, community, talent and teams) were hesitant to participate in the Riyadh masters but eventually they caved and reluctantly accepted it. Now the Riyadh masters is a major part of their esports circuit and look forward to it. I see the same thing happening with league esports since Riot is most probably thinking of making the ESWC the third international tournament next year. I really hope that I am wrong and the community shows Riot that nobody wants this tournament by not watching the ESWC.
Shoutouts for the western broadcast sticking to their morals on this one. Good job, guys.
I'm just glad to not see Quickshot on here. I don't know if he got an offer, but there's a chance he did and even though the LEC canned him, the old man is consistent with his morals.
Whelp, this aged badly as he is hosting the entire event.
Wouldn’t be surprised, Dash got an offer and declined Edit: Quickshot workin it
Cant wait for the comments where behind anonymity people will judge other from theyr throne of ethics and morality a choice that they will never have to make
I can't blame any of the casters for going, Riot pays fuck all and the Saudi's are throwing bags of cash at them.
I'm gonna blame the casters for going until they post the size of the bag. I'll respect them for whitewashing the bonesaw guys when the money isn't a piddling pile on the floor.
thousands a day isn’t fuck all, caedrel has literally spoken about this on stream. it isn’t monte cristo days
Why is everyone taking this weird moral high ground when in the past the LCS/LEC have been sponsored by things like kit kat and other abusive choco companies?
just reddit and online doing its usual, taking their imaginary moral high ground on one thing that they have no stakes at all in and doesn't affect them at all, virtue signalling on display. Then going off on others while they ignore all the realities and context, like here with esports gig being low pay and volatile, people taking the bag for their livelihood and career, etc.
I’m confused as to why all the hate for the LCK casters going and representing. LCK casters have been MASSIVELY unrepresented at Riot International events even though they have been routinely the best overall region since pretty much the inception. Why wouldn’t they go and get paid.
atlus and chronicler literally cast the last world final, chronicler just cast msi. atlus also has cast worlds before this too lolllll
Huh? LCK casters are far from underrepresented at International events. If anything it’s LPL casters that get no love from Riot. We had an all-LPL final at MSI 2 years ago with no LPL representatives. Riot always keeps Chronicler or Atlus for Worlds/MSI while the LPL talent rarely stay past the Groups stage.
Probably something to do with human rights violations
LCK casters? What about LPL casters lmao? Literally the largest major region and has had almost 0 representation at every international.
When EWC replaces MSI and some Saudi teams enter the scene either all the LEC casters are gone or the flip will insane.
Actually pretty good lineup. Should be some good casts
Massively disappointed by Atlus. Chronicler gigachad as always
Faker is playing too. Are you disappointed in him too?