Fluke And Geo On Joining The Major Broadcasting Team And Post-COVID R6 Esports
Geo "Geo" Collins and Em "Fluke" Donaldson are two of the most recent additions to the Rainbow Six broadcasting crew. The two have worked on quite a lot of events in the past, but their big breaks came with the European League and the August Majors. While Geo was already a part of EUL, Fluke got her big shot with the APAC Major, where both got the opportunity to work together in the new Paris studio. Recently, Fluke has joined the EUL broadcasting team as well.
We talk to both of them on casting, players, and the pandemic's effect on Rainbow Six esports.
You two are pretty new to the big leagues and events in Rainbow Six. How did you make your way there and how has it felt casting EUL or the Majors, for instance?
Fluke: I came in at the ground and grinded up! My first casts were of friends' games, which got me into the ESL Community Caster program. There, you could pull some games on the brackets. I had to solo cast and do all the production. Oof, chaos. But it taught me a lot, I got to grow with the scene. That was about three or so years ago now. Working retail, then doing that after work, then getting a couple of hours of sleep, and heading back to work.
Kept on it, kept grinding, got some opportunities and lost some others, but just kept at it and tried to improve my work! I'd done international Minors and was a steady face on our T2 scene for a year or so before this. I worked on all the Minors, but I was still kind of 'underground'. I can't call myself that anymore, I guess! Doing the Major was amazing, it was a strange year for me, but I guess it's just proof that you got to keep working sometimes.
Geo: Well, I had a long lead-up to this point, as I've been a professional caster for nearly two years now. My first ever Siege broadcast was in May 2019 on ESL Prem, and then I came back in January 2020 after quitting Overwatch for good. I started off on Challenger League Qualifiers for Season XI, and moved on to do ESL Prem and EU Challenger League XI. I already had a presence in the scene and lots of friends involved, so I wasn't as much of a new kid as some thought I was
You both worked the August APAC Major together. In his interview with GGRecon, Milosh already described how great the chemistry was between all the broadcast talent in the studio in Paris. Judging from your Twitter posts, you both seem to be getting along really well. How was the experience of casting together in the studio?
Geo: It was a lot of fun! Fluke and I have known each other for quite a while, but being in Paris together was the first time we'd met in person. We casted quite a few games together, and I didn't really know what to expect at first, but the fact we can irrevocably make one another laugh definitely helped make it a fun experience.
Fluke: Yeah so, I found out not long before it all kicked off that I would be joining the team out there to help cover, due to some of the existing talent being unfortunately stuck in quarantine. I hadn't worked with most of them before, I arrived, and they told me "yeah they want a fun atmosphere", and I said "...ok", and then they never told me to stop.
It was amazing, everything clicked. I think we all had a bit of pent-up energy from being cooped up a little and being able to get to the studio, enjoy each other's energy in person. That was rad. No one missed a step, and it was just working with friends in a really well put together studio space that encouraged us to lean into the fun.
Right now, the coronavirus pandemic makes it impossible to carry out Ubisoft's plans for 2020. We've already seen lots of events being scraped or remodelled as online competitions. What do you think Ubisoft will do once the esports scene is allowed to go back to normal? Are there any events that you are specifically hyped for?
Geo: It's hard to judge what they'll do because I don't think anyone can fully predict how things will change over the next few months. I know they'll have everyone's health and safety as their priority, so who knows when events will be back properly. I'd love to believe we could have SI 2021 in Montreal, but I think that's wishful thinking.
Fluke: Gimme that World Cup, to be honest. I am SO excited for that. I think a lot of people are treating it like the Olympics—very serious, which is fair. I just want the banter that comes with it, especially because the UK are in with a great chance. The UK in international competitions is always up for a laugh, I'm all about it. I think once this is all over, Ubisoft are going to full steam into LANs and Majors again. They adore the community, the international aspect. Their whole idea with the scene is community and competition hand-in-hand, and knowing the team, they are probably close to bursting in wanting to get out there and get the community back together.
In the meantime, Ubisoft have definitely provided us with a lot of new additions to the game. Let's talk Ping 2.0, the reinforcements pool and all the changes in Operation Shadow Legacy. Do you like them? Would you like to see anything done differently?
Fluke: Ping 2.0… I get it, I love that they want to add more utility to those less able to communicate, or to lower the thresholds and intensity of the game itself. The changes in crosshair, the colour blindness? Amazing. But in Competitive, that's when personally I think you've got to remove the utility that makes the game flatter, in a way easier. Ping 2.0 removes that communication, that intensity. It snips at the ankles of the ever-present roamers and for me, dampens the hold-your-breath moments and clutches our game is synonymous with.
It's tough, they want the progression of Casual to Unranked to Ranked to Competitive. But to be honest, Ranked to Competitive, removing utility and UI? That is the skill jump you should be making. I think Competitive could lose it. Reinforcement pool is great though, unless I am playing ranked and my team just 'nope out' and leave me to do a whole site.
Geo: In the lead-up to EUL starting again, I sunk a ton of hours into Shadow Legacy, knowing I wouldn't have as much time once the Stage began. My favourite change to the game has definitely been the reinforcement pool; it just allows prep phases to be so much more efficient. The sights seem cool, but as a hardcore holo-user, I haven't really explored many of them for myself. I think Ping 2.0 is the most controversial change - from an accessibility perspective, it's great. But a lot of pros felt like it reduced the skill of communication a decent amount. In my games, I'm fine with it. But I guess we'll wait for some time to pass to see how the pros feel after it's been around for a bit longer.
We're already knee-deep in EUL Stage 2. Who do you think will make it to the November Major?
Fluke: Can I defer this question? I don't know. I mean, Rogue sitting down after three games already? New rosters coming together? I can't start pointing fingers, it is too early for me. Is this me being a coward and not answering? Maybe. Yes. Probably.
Geo: At this point? Way too hard to call. I'd like to believe Rogue can rectify the problems they had in the August Major and claw their way back, but after their first game against Empire, it looks like they may have a steeper mountain to climb than anticipated. Then we have teams like Secret who made some changes and came in with a vengeance - G2 got totally destroyed by them on Day 1. I suspect BDS will remain comfortably in the top 4, but it's still anyone's game for the other slots right now.
Click to enlargeI think the EU wants their crown back, and they are done playing around.
- Fluke
Lastly, is there a way right now to compare the different regions? You probably watch a lot of NAL and Brasileirão too. When the time comes for all of these teams to meet up on LAN again, which region will have the upper hand?
Geo: I think it's super interesting how the metas in each major region have diverged in the last few months. NA would typically be characterised by more methodical, objective-oriented play, while EU has become more aggressive. APAC North started off very chaotic, but after Day 1 it feels like teams who haven't learned to be more thorough and strategic will fall short. I don't get to watch a lot of Brasileirao, but from what I've heard, it's still the good old LATAM style we know and love. Seeing all these different skillsets clash on an international stage will be very interesting because right now there's nothing to definitively say which will come out on top.
Fluke: I've been very lucky that I have worked on every scene across the years of casting, You can definitely see how the game has shifted and how all the different regions have learnt from each other. It used to be that regions had pocket styles, but now everyone has, in a way learnt from each other and the scene is much richer for it.
I fell in love with LATAM working on the OGA Minors. Their playstyle is electric, it is just all go no limits. Honestly, you can never really predict how a LATAM game is about to explode, but they almost always do, and I don't know how people like Jenna [Twitch moderator on the main R6 channel, fan of Team Liquid] can emotionally keep up with their teams. Every game is all-or-nothing, high emotions, you can feel it in the play.
NA used to be a little light in terms of the region, it was EG at the top, and after them, it fizzled. But the region now is so strong, solid, way less shuffle. I'd say their scene skill growth over the past 16 months or so is unparalleled. And the personality of play is so deep now, you have DZ and SSG with the lockdown on a map, you have OxG and TSM with that 'last-man-standing still all to play for' mentality. Modern NA is such a fun scene.
APAC I think is about to go huge too. I love that we are seeing names outside of the two OGs FNATIC and Nora Rengo setting the standard and the bar. Obviously, the scene has just had mass-expansion, with the splitting across multiple leagues and a new introduction into the world circuit they didn't quite have before. But there are names and hidden gems amongst those leagues that are going to be on the back of shirts on Major stages sooner rather than later.
EU is a sleeping giant right now. I might get heat for saying that, on paper, we have the skillset to take it. We have fallen a little short recently. Is it a curse from Dezachu? Maybe, either way, you can feel the atmosphere here is reaching a boil. We are a region that reverse sweeps. All I am saying is, the rest of the world best look out at the next International Major. I think the EU wants their crown back, and they are done playing around.
Images via @sebstangel on Twitter | SiegeGG
