Frodan will be back to emcee the action
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By the Hearth: Frodan, Conscience of the Casters
Hearthstone casting is in a rut, and Frodan wants to help it escape.
By Julian Bischoff
7 min readPublished on
Casting in Hearthstone has been a major topic for discussion in recent weeks. With the first half of Blizzard's third Hearthstone Championship Tour already being completed, distinct casting styles have started to take shape, for better or for worse. In response to the community's criticism, one of biggest casters in the history of Hearthstone, Dan "Frodan" Chou, tried to address those flaws in the second edition of his column "Casting Call."
It’s a conversation that has riled up other casters, players and community members. Casters give a competitive game its voice, and these questions of style and approach are much more than an abstract, academic debate. That’s why Frodan’s perspective is so important: Perhaps more than anyone else, he’s the individual that revolutionized Hearthstone casting.

Nothing comes from nothing

Knowing Frodan’s roots is key to understanding his work in the Hearthstone community. "My start as a commentator began with broadcasting our collegiate StarCraft competitive league, known as CSL, where I covered our team's matches. Years of networking within the community doing events like CSL led to an opportunity to work full time for a then-prestigious broadcast studio, which then brought me to the opportunities I have now in Hearthstone," says the multi-talented 26-year-old.
In his early career, he worked for eSports powerhouses like MLG and the ill-fated ESGN, where his Hearthstone work proved to be a bright spot in the network’s rapidly darkening prospects. Most of his longtime fans know him for his creative work with NASL, the North American Star League.
The best of times: NASL’s “rat pack”
The best of times: NASL’s “rat pack”© Morgan Stone
As is often the case with newly released eSports titles, numerous shoutcasters tried to jump onto the Hearthstone bandwagon over two years ago. Unfortunately, due to the game's uniqueness, only a few of them knew how to approach casting in the what seemed to be "correct" way. One of them was Frodan.
"I partially take responsibility how the 'casting meta' has developed in Hearthstone. I feel like I was one of the big proponents of maintaining a positive vibe on broadcast, leading to a specific style that was copied by other broadcasters."
What may sound like a very healthy development of Hearthstone casting evolved into its central issue: "I wouldn't say at all that other casters are Frodan clones, but I do think my success gave them an idea of what guidelines to follow when casting. This combined with the heavy public backlash whenever a commentator attacked a play from a popular player went hand-in-hand to scare off the casters from saying what they want."
Poor reactions to critique and a lack of stylistic variety have created a somewhat stifling atmosphere within Hearthstone. Casters imitating Frodan’s approach maintain a blandly positive neutrality, and departures from the norm provoke quick backlash.
It’s not only casters who are affected. When asked about the lack of storylines within the game's competitive scene, Frodan replies: "Players are afraid to express their personalities because they don't like being hated. Specifically, personal streaming in Hearthstone is almost synonymous to success, so if you're a hated figure you won't become popular. Thus your career is cut short. Hearthstone players have plenty of personality. No one wants to show it though for fear of backlash."
While that backlash may hit players and casters in other esports titles as well, it most certainly hits particularly hard in Hearthstone. Extremely young players get up to a virtual stage for the very first time because they managed to qualify for Blizzard's World Championship Tour. That stage is filled with thousands of stream viewers and potential critics which will not only thoroughly focus on their plays, but perhaps even more on their looks and personalities.
One might think that taking a look at more senior eSports titles like MTG, CS:GO or LoL could be helpful. But in general, Frodan adds, Hearthstone is in the right place at the moment: "Hearthstone is pioneering a new front in Twitch eSports entertainment that is accessible, fun and also has depth for those who seek it. It needs time more than anything, but people have low amounts of patience these days. MTG for example had more than 20 years to flesh things out and they definitely went through rough periods when their fanbase was unhappy."

The best of both worlds

Frodan's statements perfectly show his longtime experience as a shoutcaster. But besides that he is also known to be a very strong Hearthstone player and deck-builder in particular. While his time may be limited due to his travels, he regularly manages to play at events such as Seatstory Cup 5. Just like last year, he crushed his group consisting of top-tier full-time professionals, showing that Hearthstone casters can be more than just game commentators. And that is what he would expect from every caster: "Hearthstone is a game where your mechanical skill doesn't really prevent you from playing compared to a fast shooter or a fighting game. Thus, if you understand the game well enough to communicate, there shouldn't be an excuse why you cannot play at a high level. Players don't all need to be good casters, but I think casters all need to be good players."
While this may not be absolutely mandatory for each and every shoutcaster in the scene, it surely would help with some of the issues of Hearthstone casting. Analyzing the game includes uncovering mistakes, something that gets a lot easier if you made those wrong plays yourself at some point in the past. If that does not happen, the game's cast gets very one-sided, Frodan thinks.
"The only obvious climaxes in Hearthstone are through the RNG elements, so if the commentator lacks understanding of what's going on, that is the only thing they can talk about. The audience is then led to believe that the winning player is merely luckier than his opponent and while on occasion that is the case, the vast majority of the time the outcome of the match is within the player's hands."
Frodan is known for providing top-tier insight.
Frodan is known for providing top-tier insight.© Patrick Strack / ESL

Looking into the future

If playing and casting on the highest level did not keep him busy enough, Frodan also works his "normal" job at Twitch, the world's best-known streaming platform for gamers. As a Partnerships Manager — or as he calls himself "Hearthstone guy at Twitch" — he communicates with Hearthstone players and content creators streaming on their website.
Few jobs put someone more inside of game’s community, and that’s why Frodan’s analysis of Hearthstone as an eSport should be considered highly reliable.
"I expect Hearthstone be to freaking amazing in about two to three years from now when everything settles. Wild will be more of a legitimate format because of the vast difference in card pool and more social/competitive features will be added. All things considered, Blizzard has done a fantastic job this year. Hearthstone could have crashed and burned when Standard came in, dividing the community and changing too much. I'm glad everything worked out."

Don't paint it black

With all the criticism and issues the game is dealing with at the moment, Frodan's points find their mark. Viewership numbers for both competitive events and community streamers are stable and show healthy growth, and the release of different formats was well-received. Besides that, Blizzard, just three months after their latest expansion release, announced its fourth adventure, "One Night in Karazhan."
Looking at the game's evolution as an eSport, playing and casting in Hearthstone seems like a safe bet. Nevertheless, making a living from it remains a struggle, Frodan says: "There's no secret shortcut to getting to the top and those who do manage to find a shortcut often struggle maintaining their position there. Many young people only see the destination, but fail to understand the journey is also equally important if not more."
Asked for advice for upcoming players and casters, he adds: "My best advice to those who are already casting and want to join me on the big stage is unfortunately rather generic: Work really, really hard. Also, stop making excuses, whether for why you don't play the game or why you can't get opportunities. Put yourself out there and don't give up."
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