Chapter 82: Caster Curse?
“It’s KG on the Blue team and Legend on the Red team! We start Worlds this year with a top game between Europe and China! I’m Qinghe, your host! And with me I got Stone and Lolo! We’ll be your commentators! But that’s enough about us. Let’s dive right into Champion Select! KG is first to ban a champion!”
“Yes! Let’s dive into it already!” Ouyang shouted back at the TV.
On the large TV screen in the private booth rented by Ouyang at the NetCow Cafe, the Worlds stream showed the Champion Select for KG versus Legend. There was a live video feed of three people standing behind the caster desk on the bottom half of the screen. Qinghe stood on the far left of the table, with a TV behind him, while Lolo and Stone stood a bit further down the table. They were the two special guests.
Everyone who’d watched the LPL at any time over the last few years knew who Qinghe was. He was the caster of the LPL! He had more experience casting competitive games than any other casters! He knew how to share his knowledge of the game and get the fans excited! And the fans loved him for it. They loved his quick wits and sense of humour. There was never a dull moment when he was on the caster desk!
The second caster on the desk was Stone. He played League of Legends professionally back in Season 1. After leaving the professional scene at the end of Season 1, he started making guest appearances on the caster desk. The fans had welcomed him with open arms. He gave them insightful analyses and explained the thought processes of professional players in an easy-to-understand manner. But this wasn’t why people wanted to see him on the desk. They wanted to see him on the desk for his unbelievable ability to deliver the caster curse! The Chinese fans called it honeyed words. Whenever he said something nice about a player or team, disaster would strike them!
The most famous case of his caster’s curse was way back in Season 3. Stone was commentating on a match in the LPL. He complimented the Blue team for the advantage they’d gotten in the early game. Not even half a minute later, a team fight broke out. The Blue team lost this fight and with that the gold lead they’d built up over the first 20 minutes of the game. Then he praised the Red team for mounting a phenomenal comeback. It wasn’t even 10 seconds later that they gave away an uncontested Baron Nashor, the most powerful monster on Summoner’s Rift. With the buff gained from killing Baron Nashor, the Blue team took control over the game again. In the next team fight, Blue team’s Vayne popped off and got a triple kill. Stone was a little hesitant but still gave a compliment. The caster’s curse struck again. Vayne was wandering through his own Jungle a minute later and got caught out by two players from the Red team and died.
This still wasn’t the end. By the time Red team won, the caster curse had struck another four times for a total of seven times! Seven times in one game! This was still a record today! As a direct result of this game, Chinese fans had nicknamed Stone “Prophet Stone”.
The third caster for the official Chinese stream of Worlds was Lolo. She was a vivacious young woman who enjoyed playing League of Legends in her free time. She also dabbled a little with streaming on Huya, mostly League of Legends games. She was most known for her occasional guest appearances as a shoutcaster during the LPL, just like Stone. But there was a pronounced difference in what they brought to the commentary. Stone was there to provide insights, game play predictions, and reasoning behind player decisions. Lolo brought a more bubbly enthusiasm to the commentary. She didn’t have the deep game knowledge that Stone did, but she more than made up for that with the entertainment factor she added to the shoutcasting. It also didn’t hurt that she had fantastic knockers and a preference for skin-tight low cut dresses. Beyond the lighthearted moments she added to the commentary, she appealed to a very specific demographic of League of Legends fans.
While KG and Legend were taking their time deciding which Champions to ban, Qinghe steered the conversation on the caster desk to the upcoming game. “We’ve already talked a lot about the different groups this year at Worlds, and who we believe will make it through to the next round. But we haven’t really talked much about the individual games yet.” He turned to Stone and nodded at him, smiling. “Let’s take a look at the game in front of us right now, shall we? It’ll start in only a couple more minutes. What do you think, Stone? Who’ll win this game? Which team gets your vote?”