ELEAGUE: Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat on the casting landscape
Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat is one of ELEAGUE’s best-known casters, and spoke to FanSided about what the esports casting landscape looks like today.
One of the most prominent names on Turner and IMG’s ELEAGUE roster is Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat. Semmler’s casting reputation precedes itself, as he’s been there for some of the biggest moments in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history.
He’s also been very open about what it takes to be a top-tier caster and what the business of casting looks like as esports continue to explode in popularity. If you want to know what being a caster is like when the stream is off, Semmler is the man to ask.
During the current ELEAGUE CSGO Premier, FanSided spoke to Semmler about the things that you might not know about casting, and the one team that stands out to him in the current pro scene.
Check out what Semmler had to tell us below, and be sure to catch him casting in the ELEAGUE CSGO Premier playoffs this week on Twitch, YouTube and ELEAGUE Game Command.
FanSided: You made an excellent video in February about the length of broadcast days in esports. How do you handle what can be extremely long work days?
Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat (Semmler): There’s several ways. It’s been a long time since casters had to work that hard. We’ve actually had some criticism from some of the OG commentators, where they say, well, I don’t think they work hard enough. Because back in the day when we first started out, you were the only guy casting or maybe you were setting the stream up first before you even start casting. You had a 12-hour, 14-hour, 16-hour day. No breaks, no one there to relieve you; you were just there casting the whole time.
So when it comes down to caster mentality today? It’s more you have to kind of keep perspective on where you are and where you came from. Analysts and hosts have it a bit harder, because tournament organizers tend to skimp on analysts, they don’t get as many as they should. So you don’t have the full rotation on analysts [and] analysts don’t really get a break. That’s where it gets long still for those guys, where they have to stay on top of everything.
I think analyst and especially hosts have it harder than casters right now. Casters show up, do one best of three or maybe two best of threes in a day, but then that’s your day. Whereas analysts and hosts get no breaks. They’re there the whole day. I think those guys have it harder.
FanSided: ELEAGUE operates within the structure of TV, so does having that defined structure help you as a caster knowing that there’s more of a set plan?
Semmler: Yeah, in a way, because it lets you structure your day. It’s more like two days a week and we’re all here anyway so there’s no real planning around it. It’s just like, those two days you know you’re working. It’s simple.
When we did the [PGL] Krakow Major, for example, you were there for a week and you didn’t know which game you were going to cast, so you didn’t have to be there before a certain time and after a certain time. You could take off again once you did your game.
That’s something we’re getting more structured going forward, where we try to get a tournament organizer [and say] like a week before, is it possible to give us a rundown at least of the group stage, so that I know okay I can get a couple extra hours sleep here or I can go out here and come back and be ready. It lets us structure things a bit more.
FanSided: One of the neat things about the ELEAGUE CSGO Premier is we’ve gotten to see you not just casting but also on the analyst desk. How has that experience been?
Semmler: It’s interesting. I haven’t done it since 2015. But now with ELEAGUE, I’m happy we’re getting this rotation because that lets you shake off a bit of the rust and try something different again.
It’s a totally different beast being on the desk. You don’t have all the time. I used to say that when you’re commentating you don’t really have the time to express yourself, because you’re talking about the game and you don’t get to get your personality across as much, whereas when you’re on the desk, you do have a bit more time. But when it’s as structured as ELEAGUE, it’s like the flip side [of that], where you don’t have time.
My ideal desk is that it’s banter and you’re joking around and having more of a conversation than anything. But because we have so little time in ELEAGUE, you don’t want to interrupt your co-analyst. Instead it’s kind of turned into punchlines and where it’s like here’s my point and I’m just going to get it across and it’s your turn and that’s it. So it’s a little frustrating with ELEAGUE, because we don’t get much time on the analyst desk.
FanSided: And speaking of PGL Krakow, we also got to see you as an observer for the Team DDK vs. Team Bardolph showmatch.
Semmler: Talk about shaking off rust! (laughs) That was definitely a throwback, because when you’re casting from your bedroom, you’re controlling the stream and everything about it. You’re doing the observing when you’re casting. It was really fun to get back into that. Super hard to do in a showmatch, though, because there is no structure to it so there’s no way to say this is what they’re going to do and this is where the action is going to be. It was challenging in that sense.
FanSided: ELEAGUE has a lot of casters who can also be analysts or hosts like yourself, Jason “Moses” O’Toole and others. Do you feel that versatility is important for an esports career?
Semmler: No. You can be a pure commentator or pure analyst. You don’t have to be able to multitask. I think that’s just a strength. And here at ELEAGUE they have the best. We’re the most experienced, we’ve been in all the different roles before, and that’s because we’ve been doing it for so long.
I’ve had tournaments where I’ve only done the analyst desk. I’ve had tournaments where I was only the desk host, tournaments where I used to do interviews, I used to do all this sort of stuff. So that means I can just go back and reach that experience and bring it into my ELEAGUE role. All of us are capable of doing that. We’re capable of doing it because we have those years of experience to draw from.
Is it necessary to succeed? Definitely not. You can just be a commentator if you want to only commentate. It just means you’re kind of forcing yourself into that competition where you’re only going to be competing against commentators, and that limits you in the eyes of the tournament organizers. I’m freelance so I have tournament organizers reaching out, being like do you want to do interviews for us, or host, or do you want to do this or that. It just broadens my opportunities.
FanSided: What’s the one CSGO team that you’re most interested in right now?
Semmler: I’m always interested in Virtus.Pro. To me they are one of the most interesting [teams], because they’re showing determination to actually make something work. To find a solution and work together as a team and stick it out as a team. That to me is so much more challenging.
Like anyone that’s been in a relationship, it’s going to take work. It’s like so things got hard, that’s it, I’m bailing and I’m going to go on a honeymoon with another chick. That’s essentially what teams do when they do roster changes. They’re looking for that honeymoon period to carry them forward and get another tournament or two and then they still haven’t learned how to solve problems on the team.
I have a lot of respect for Virtus.pro. They get a lot of flack, and obviously a roster change would be the quick solution. But I think it’s interesting [that] they decided to stick it out and actually problem-solve. They have all the tools necessary, they have great minds for CS and they have the heavy hitters. They persist and try to tweak things, instead of going okay we need to nuke it and start over.
Next: ELEAGUE's Daniel Kapadia on his career longevity
For more with Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat, be sure you’re following him on Twitter. The ELEAGUE CSGO Premier playoffs continue this week on Twitch and YouTube, with the Grand Final Friday on TBS.