Earlier this week Kieran “Smithh” Smith sat down with our latest Hearthstone player, Vincent “Deathsie” Chu, to talk about his history, his future, and his TV appearances on The Bridge.
Smithh: Vincent, some people might have seen you on GinxTV, how did that opportunity come about?
Becoming a regular character on GinxTV’s The Bridge has certainly been a great contribution towards furthering my Esports career. One of Ginx’s talent scouts, Balint, offered me this opportunity after doing some Hearthstone segments for them on one of their older shows, Ginx Esports Live, and seeing the enthusiasm I had to offer in an ESL cast.
Smithh: You mention a previous ESL Cast? Can you talk more about your casting history?
I’ve taken up quite a lot of casting gigs over the past year including work for Multiplay, ESL UK, GinxTV, and GosuGamers.net. It was never the main plan, but thanks to a few pushes from friends, I found myself calling myself a caster and now I get regular casting jobs that I’m forced to turn down because of previous commitments with other gigs. Not only have these events improved my brand but also these jobs pay surprisingly well which is a huge bonus.
Smithh: What are these events that you have done with these companies? Where would some of the Reason fans know you from?
In my first casting gig, I cast GosuGamers.net community cups, alongside UK’s very own AquabladUK, three days a week and about 6 hours each of those nights. Anyone who’s ever grinded through a GosuGamers open cup will recognise my name! In addition to that, I’ve done ESL UK’s Hearthstone Premiership along with Munch and FalconePunch55. Also, I’ve done Multiplay’s UK Masters alongside former pro player for Dignitas, Blackout. Currently, nearly all my ESports work falls to GinxTV’s The Bridge where I’m their resident Hearthstone specialist and anime personality.
Smithh: So how did you get more involved in casting? Did you practice and build upon it or did it come naturally from a player to a caster like other players such as Firebat/Strifecro?
I think it took me a while to get used to talking about Hearthstone in an entertaining way along with a co-caster, but overall it came naturally to me. I’m still figuring out the “host” role, but when it comes to gameplay, I have a unique way of looking at the game which many viewers have told me that they find it refreshing!
Smithh: I know a lot of casters have a preferred style of casters, either the hype style of Frodan, or the methodical approach of Firebats. Which one do you favour?
I think that I have a good balance between the two. One of my biggest problems that I’ve had in casting is that sometimes I’m too much more enthusiastic than my co-caster which makes it awkward. I would like to say that my style is maybe somewhere between Noxious and Firebat currently, but I hope that over time I will refine my style to offer something unique to the scene.
Smithh: Lets talk about your playing history and how you joined up with Reason Gaming last month. What’s it been like? What did you do before Harthstone?
I’ve been playing Hearthstone for nearly 2 years now, but only started to play competitively at my first LAN event i57 in the Truesilver Championship II last year in March 2016. I played on a small UK CS:GO team called Devine Esports as their only Hearthstone player. After my contract ended with Devine, I left myself open to new teams as I was looking for better sponsorships. I’ve had about 2-3 offers per month over the last half year with offers from big orgs, however there were always some issues regarding what events they would send me to. My patience paid off though as now I’m playing for Reason which will be sending me to many events this year.
Before Hearthstone, I was a pro player in many games, however Hearthstone is my first true Esport. I competitively played games such as Tetris, Magic the Gathering, and multiple styles of the ancient game of Mahjong at an expert level. These games surprisingly translated over to Hearthstone well and even from my first few days playing I was better than all my friends and brothers who have been playing since the beta.
Smithh: Lastly, if you could save one of them, would you save Blanks or Naysayerz from dying?
I would save Blanks because Naysayerz cannot be saved feelsbadman
