In the Philippines, Dota 2 games are often cast in the Filipino language, which is why I was both excited and surprised to find out that the scene has a budding English Dota 2 caster: Allen “Lentropy” Silva. He recently made his debut cast at SMM Cyberslam and while he hasn’t immediately become a superstar, hearing an English cast from a Pinoy caster was definitely refreshing.
While he may be new to the Dota 2 casting scene, he’s definitely no stranger to casting in general. Interestingly, though, he gained his casting experience from an entirely different game genre—fighting games. I got a chance to sit down with him recently to ask about his experience.
What game titles did you previously cast?
To be honest, not much. I mean, in total I’ve casted Street Fighter IV (SF4), Dota 2, Ultimate Marvel versus Capcom 3 (UMVC3), and Gundam EXVS.
It started out as me doing some on the spot shout-casting for a friend’s game booth at a few conventions. That friend of mine was actually working for SMM, [so] later on they asked me if I was interested in Dota 2 as well. And well, I jumped on the chance.
Was it difficult transitioning from fighting games to Dota 2?
It was! From two players to two teams! That’s a total of ten players each with unique traits like role, play style and resources! I also have to watch over an entire map versus having only to watch a screen. On top of that, there’s out-of-game details you should remember like player names and rules. It’s so easy to make errors because of the sheer amount of information you have to process, all while talking to entertain people.
How long have you been following the Dota 2 scene?
Let’s just say I started playing Warcraft III (WC3) Dota [at] version 6.18. As for the scene itself, I got involved when I heard [about] an ominous event called The International 2012 (TI2). I watched the live stream, then I looked for the first International. And then The Defense. Then before I knew it, I had been spending a week watching Dota2 VODs. As you might guess I still watch VODs, or at least listen to them while at work.
Do you look up to any Dota 2 caster?
At one point, I realized I didn’t watch Dota 2 matches simply because of the teams, I watched it because of the rather impressive casting from Toby “Tobi Wan” Dawson. He just got me caring about everything in a game that would have me bored otherwise.
Apart from that I also enjoy Aaron “Ayesee” Chambers who adds interesting color to his casting, like the moment when Alliance finally lost a game in The International 2013 (TI3). He shouted “Even Gods can bleed!” and it just really gets you into the moment.
Also, recently the more casual Shannon “Sunsfan” Scotten keeps things light and fun, which pairs up with the calm analysis from Troels “SyndereN” Nielsen; their contrast complements each other really well.
Who was the third caster at the Asian Cyber Games 2013?
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