Kawa: “ I will be going to The International this year!”

 

 

 

 

 

Rapture Gaming recently sat down with Kawa and had a chance to interview him. Kawa spoke about his start as caster and his views regarding the current Dota 2 competitive scene.Kawa made his impact in the Dota 2 community as a caster and now is currently working as the producer for the BTS studio.

 

 

How did you get into Dota?

 

Kawa: It started back when I was playing ladder on WC3 with my friends. The custom map came out around 10 years ago and the first thing I ever did was play offlane Dragon Knight. I don't remember much about the game, but ever since then I've loved the game and played on and off for a decade now.

 

 

How did it all began for you as a caster?

 

Kawa: I started casting back when JeeSports was doing small community tournaments and Reddit still had community tournaments as well. Hello Moto was the benchmark of skill level that I was casting at during that time. I ran into ESFI World that gave me connections to other casters and organizations after writing about two articles. Sheever was the first person that got me in contact with Fnatic's Play Dota tournament and from there I casted for Alienware, It's Gosu, and eventually started doing my own events. The videos that I promoted them with eventually caught the attention of ESL and after that Beyond the Summit. For Beyond the Summit, my role is mostly as a producer & content creator though so I might sneak a cast in here or there.

 

 

Did you cast any other games before you got involved in Dota?

 

Kawa: I didn't cast at all before Dota.

 

 

 

So at the start was it bit difficult for you to start as a caster?

 

Kawa: Yeah starting out as a caster is brutal. You literally have to find a proper niche to accel properly otherwise you stay at a low level/ plateu and not only that, but you need to be able to do multiple things on top of it all. For instance, I thought it was the best to make a youtube channel to upload all of my casts to and I would eventually become noticed. That wasn't the case at all even after 100 uploads and months of work. I had to organize events, write articles, go above just casting in order to find a solid job which isn't even casting right now and for pretty good reason. I've fallen a bit out of practice and especially when I was doing graduate school and two jobs at the same time delaying my career just so I could do E-Sports. It was a tough decision, but its paid off so far.

 

 

Looking back a year ago how does it feel being known to the Dota 2 community?

 

Kawa: It feels just like it did a year ago haha. I don't stream and I'm not currently casting at the moment, but that might change as soon as we get things under control here at BTS. There's so much work to do to get ready for our next events!

 

 

 

 

As a caster which are the major Dota 2 tournaments you have covered so far?

 

Kawa: I've casted a couple of seasons of Starladder, the It's Gosu Asia Madness tournament, and Raidcall EMS One.

 

 

Which is your most memorable moment during your castings?

 

Kawa: The most memorable moment was when I casted one of the few Meepo games with Tobi during the EMS. It was so unbelievably bizzare not only to be casting a game with the hero in it, but it was one of the first casts with Tobi to begin with.

 

 

As you said earlier that you  were recruited by ESL and recently during the east qualifiers of the international you were working for BTS as their producer so now do you work with both these organisations?

 

Kawa: Yeah I worked for ESL for a quarter of a year, but now I moved on to BTS full time.

 

 

 

 

How different was it working with ESL and the BTS studio?

 

Kawa: ESL has many people who take care of things for you, so essentially you are set to one thing that you specialize in. The staff over there are on such an unbelivably high level. For me, I had to do managerial work and cast as well, but I took on more of the casting role at the end of the day. I found myself just researching most of the time and casting whereas with BTS I am almost working every single day doing multiple things from photography, video editing, producing, to graphic designing, and the list goes on and on. For some reason, its psychologically pleasing to be sort of a do everything kind of guy and have more control over the work and content that's put out.

 

Recently Alienware Cup tournament was announced and BTS will be broadcasting that tournament what role you would be playing for BTS during this tournament?

 

Kawa: I will be producing the event, doing photography, filming some videos with the personalities that drop by, and will probably end up creating a few graphics for our youtube and such. I would love to be on the analytical desk for a round or two, because I really enjoy doing that during games. It would also help grasp more of this new patch that was released and see who in Asia is playing the patch best currently.

 

Who do you feel can grab this Alienware Cup since we have 9 teams in this tournament which have been invited to the International 3?

 

Kawa: Its hard to pin it, but the teams playing the patch well so far are DK, Orange, and LGD. I'd say those would be your top 3, but NaVi have been doing well the past few days after a fairly long absence so we'll have to see. I'd bet on those top 3 though.

 

Recently icefrog has done major changes with the new update which of these changes attracted you the most?

 

Kawa: Killing yourself. I literally lost it when I first saw that in order to give health to your team. I'm unsure as to it's validity at the moment, but when it happens expect an uproar from whoever is casting the match.

 

As a caster do you see a change in the current meta game after this update and which heroes according to you will make their way into the competitive scene?

 

Kawa: It's still going to take some time before we see a more solid change in terms of the meta in regards to the patch, but at the very least we are saying way more heroes pop up in the competitive pool while others are starting to see more bench time such as Magnus. Since the bottle crow nerf thats a large reason for that hero in particular, but in the grand scope of it all we are seeing a lot more variety even in the Asian scene with Doom and even Bristleback. The support most of all that I want to see make it more into the competitive scene is Ancient Apparition and with his buffs recently we could be seeing a bit more of him recently with Ice Vortex and Ice Blast,  we could be seeing a bit more of him.

 

Name one team and  a player which excites you while you casting

 

Kawa: The most interesting team for me to cast and spectate right now would have to be Alliance. Bringing it down to a single player, I'd have to put the Admiral on top of the list because of how superior his mechanics are and his ability to innovate.

 

 

Are you going to attend this year’s International or Dreamhack?

 

Kawa: Yes I will be going to The International this year! Not Dreamhack though unfortunately. I've always wanted to go ever since I heard about their events.

 

What kind of role you would be taking at the International?

 

Kawa: From what I understand I will be mostly doing work for BTS in terms of videos and photographing the event and personalities at the venue.

 

 

What does Kawa look forward in future in terms of E-sports?

 

Kawa: My goals for the future is to continue creating memorable events and content and to continue to improve on my casting so that I may cast an event again someday.

 

Before we conclude this interview Any shoutouts?

 

Kawa: Shoutout to LD for going to sleep for once and Sheever for really helping me break into the scene. It's been a hell of a ride and really looking forward to what the future holds for myself as well as Beyond the Summit!

We at RGN would like to thank Kawa for accepting this interview and also wish him good luck for his first International as well as for his upcoming projects.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Kawa