Finding the Next Generation of Australian CS2 Talent

The main intention of writing this article is mainly to highlight where the next generation of CS2 talent is going to come from. Our Main Studio Talent (minus Mac) are all over 30 other than Komodo/Pilski (26/28 respectively) and to be fair like two of them only turned 30 recently.

The other thing is that a lot of them are either getting further in their personal career or will need to consider moving for their Esports Career.

This will be an article of people who are already in the scene or I believe will be a good fit for the scene. This is not an exhaustive list so please enjoy!

The Next-Up

The Next-Up are fairly simple. They already step in when talent are overseas or have conflicting gigs where they are pulled in.

Flamboyant

Given Flam's antics in Dreamhack Melbourne and from pictures online, you may think that he wouldn't be the type of person to be a member of talent. Flam has been on various events and B streams for casting CS2 and Rainbow 6 Siege.

Flam is quite knowledgable about the CIS scene in particular where he pointed out that Aurora would go pretty far in ESL Challenger Melbourne.

It is incredibly likely that Flam will most likely to be introduced as a future member of talent for LAN events.

However, the one downside that could hurt him is making sure that his fun and jovial style could lead to negative implications for sponsors. However, I don't think the one-off event where he did jokingly make a negative comment about a sponsor will hurt him in the long run. He was hired for many events after that.

Mattse

Mattse has been in the CS2 scene for a number of year casting for AEL and ECL. He has already casted a few ECL Australia and Asia games already.

Mattse's main ability is his versatility being able to do both play by play and colour casting. He is a bit quiet on the socials and isn't up and about compared to Flamboyant.

He is quite knowledgeable about the Australian and Asia CS2 scenes and would simply slot right in if needed for any arena lineup. The big thing that could let him down is the socials aspect and that ain't too hard to fix.

TwoTapTony

Tony is generally Mattse's duo in the AEL and various other tournaments. Tony has started moving into observing but I still think he still wants to get in as a caster.

Tony has casted Valorant and CS2 at a Tier 2 level and has done various LAN events both in CS2 and Valorant. He'd be definitely next in line given that he has the experience in multiple roles.

He is also a video editor and was involved with Fury at one stage. I don't think there is any real downside other than the ultimate decision whether he wishes to stick to the casting route or go into the observing route.

2sbs (Luther)

Luther is "retired" but they keep dragging him back in. Luther has been a staple in BrisVegas tournaments as a caster consistently for multiple events with Flam. He has lots of LAN and Online experience as he also has casted for LPL. The calibur is there.

Luther has been involved with the Australian CS scene overall but hasn't been involved from a casting perspective for quite a bit. He could be a bit rusty but I think it could be shaken off within a few casts.

HazDaddySlim

Haz has casted various Tier 2 events both online and at LAN. He casted the XSE Pro League with myself and Flamboyant.

Haz has a nuance for the game and for some of the funnier jokes and stories which works incredibly well with Flamboyant. He also casts with him in Rainbow 6 Siege.

He would definitely have an easy fit with the existing talent and would soak in all the knowledge and experience as he went along.

And that is the list so far on who I'd look at bringing in within CS2, there are plenty of talent like ZenoxCasts and various others from the Rainbow 6 and Valorant scenes respectively that could fit right in aswell.

The Rising Stars

These are the people that are or I'd like to be in the scene whether it is amateur or professional in the future. I believe they can add a different perspective and opinion within the scene overall.

I've also haven't included people who have started casting this season or is mostly casting from their organisation perspective.

Viridian (Eddie)

To be fair, I think he should be in the Next Up. I just wanted to put him in here so I could use the How? caption. If you do not know, viridian used to be in a team called Caught Off Guard and their clan tag was How?

Eddie can cast, produce and observe and he is also in a similar situation to Tony. I reckon he can get in there as a caster and offer his POV as not just as a player but as an ingame leader.

Get him to duo with his brother, Maika ha!

Konii (Connie)

Connie would definitely be a good fir for CS2 especially with her overall experience within the Women's CS2 scene. The other part is that she has shown that she cares about the scene immensely.

She can offer a different POV similar to Eddie's on the inner workings of a team and experiences in playing overseas.

BiBiahn

I think this might be a given for ESL Impact if she retires from FlyQuest RED that she would be on every desk. A star fragger who has taken the ESL Impact scene by storm.

She has the experience from ESL Challenger Melbourne and well, casting or analysing lesser events have a lot less daunting prospects compared to talking to an entire arena.

Ishmahl

He has been casting various games and fitting in when others are unable to. He is definitely starting out as a caster and will definitely improve as time goes on.

I was definitely pretty awful when I first started. I did the good ol reading the kill feed hard in my first few years (as well as having the map on the side)

Big things to improve on is definitely getting a good photo and a good webcam! Let's identify the voice with the name!

BackpackBrain

He has been casting for Dust2 India with their various English coverage of Indian Tournaments. He also writes about CS2 on his substack with some very insightful articles especially on the differing and new roles of certain utility.

I think we need a lot of analytical and colour sort of characters in the scene as the Australian scene has the Play By Play casters in surplus.

ProfoundRice and Gem

They are a commentary non-cis male duo from Overwatch/Valorant which I was pretty impressed with when listening to Valorant GameChangers. They mesh well with both the play by play and the colour casting.

The major aspect that I'm trying to tackle in regards to the Australian CS2 scene is the lack of non-male talent. I'm not saying this to meet a diverisity quota as every dimwit will probably cry out in relation to this. I am more saying that we need some casters covering the female scene and if they make it, they make it and if they don't, they don't!

RareWolf (Emily)

RareWolf has hosted BrisVegas, casted various fighting games in particular and is also a massive fan of CS2.

I'd love nothing more than Emily to hop on to do a few casts or to play her hand at anything to do with CS2 whether it is hosting or casting.

She also has a large amount of experience in the Australian Music scene as well. We tried to get her on for XSE Pro League but she was far too nervous. Come on next time!

OmiPotence

I thought i'd mention you but I haven't heard you cast yet. I am always happy to see ex-players to have a go which leads me to the next one...

Nappster

Keep going, it was fun to listen to you casting for Vantage/Hoackz while I was driving back home.

And that is the overall list, if you have any feedback or any other potential casters that I may have missed. You can talk to me on my X, Twitch and Youtube.