Source
r/starcraft•
CKF

Getting caught up on the DH ATL matches but, respectfully, who the hell are steadfast and beomulf?

(To be tagged...)

Maybe it’s the last few months or so that I’ve been following ESL and the scene a bit less closely than usual, not had my finger on the pulse as much, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of these guys? Last big event I watched were the later brackets and other select matches from that big Saudi tourny, so it’s very possible I’m just not keeping up with the cool kids anymore. What do people think of their casting, generally? In the first 2.5 games I’ve seen of the Clem/Serral match, they seem to be doing a lot of hyping up of seemingly miserably unwinnable positions (game 1), which is a bit of a pet peeve, but maybe I’m giving them an unfair shake and rushing to judgment, so wanted to see what others thought?

Posted Dec 21, 2023, 3:09 AM UTC

124
Crabuki•

First and foremost, you guys correct me if I’m wrong on any of this since I bet you’ll read it. Steadfast and BeoMulf have, to borrow a phrase from Springsteen, paid the cost to be the boss. They absolutely cast pretty much anything when they started off to get experience and “grow the brand.” They used to do collegiate SC2 tourneys and they even cast a corporate SC2 league together, in addition to separately doing the weekly Cups ESL introduced. I know Beo did the NA Apprentice tourneys. During this period, Steadfast had a day job and Beo was (still is, but almost done!) a full time doctoral student.

For well over a year, Steadfast would solo cast 12+ hour days on Mondays (casting the weekly EU and NA cups), then do the PsiStorm Cups when that was a thing (because Steadfast was on PsiStorm at the time), and then the ESL KR Weekly Cups on Sat night (they’re now crack of dawn on Mondays). During the World Team League seasons he also be up early on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for each day’s pair of WTL team matchups. He was easily putting in 25-35 hours every week casting SC2 on top of his day job.

Beo I’m not as up on, but I know he did the NA weekly cups every Monday night, and would time shift the WTL pairings from the weekend to more Americas-friendly times. This in addition to the aforementioned Apprentice tourneys, etc. Beo also does production work creating overlays and a lot of the cool graphical presentations (I’m sure there are better ways to describe this) you’ve seen when he’s worked big tourney B-streams and I feel like some of those were used for DH-A this year.

So that’s a thumbnail resume for them, professionally. Beyond that, there are just like us. They love the game, they love playing it, and they love casting it. And IMO they are very good at it. They were both super excited to be working on-site, and rightfully so. It was the culmination of a lot of grinding to learn the craft and get noticed. I think the DH-A live crowd fed off their energy, and that helped the broadcasts.

24
Husyelt•

They have been in the scene for a long time grinding away like many of the casters. I think pairing them together didnt quite work as well as some of the other duos, both have too similar of a vibe imo, or maybe they were both just nervous a bit. They are quite good solo afaik from briefly watching on stream.

15
CKFOPOld Generations•

Appreciate the answer. I thought I was aware of most of the casters who had a decently sized audience and were putting on events, but ya can’t keep track of everything.

Any idea how they landed that gamers8 thing as their first gig (so says liquipedia, they could obviously be missing smaller community things)? Wasn’t like they had other casters in short supply. Solid first gig, for sure.

2
Omni_Skeptic•

Beomulf I think has at least the capability of producing the best production value of all the casters, even though I think his casting is not the best. I think Steadfast is a really underrated caster who has ridiculously rapidly improved. Beomulf reminds me of early Apollo actually now that I think about it.

12
3d-win:Protoss_logo:•

SteadFast is one of my favourite casters. He arguably got his first really big gig at TSL9 last year, and independently casts the EU and NA Open Cups every week as well.

BeoMulf does tend to overhype lost situations sometimes, but he's still a pretty good caster.

10
Bennito_bh:zerg_logo:•

Personally: Love Beomulf, could do without Steadfast. But plenty of people have the opposite opinion. They do lots of AlphaX stuff and other random/smaller tournies that I can't be bothered to look up right now. If you only follow GSL and ESL you won't have heard of them before.

They do both put in the work and have the passion for SC2 though. I give props to anyone with the commitment that these 2 have shown, so I'm personally very happy with the Atlanta talent lineup.

9
CKFOPOld Generations•

I definitely follow my share of twitch and youtube stuff (pig/winter and such) on top of the GSL/ESL thing, but it sounds like I’m probably in the group you’re indicating. My days of watching online open cups every night are, for better or worse, behind me.

Their pairing is the first I’ve heard, unless I caught something they did at gamers8 and just entirely forgot it (very plausible). I could see them being solid with other casters, but together sounds a bit like too much of the same thing, as another commenter suggested. Idk, didn’t want to rush to negative conclusions, but happy to hear they’ve actually put in the work.

1
aranderson43ROOT Gaming•

I remember hearing them for the first time on some B-stream maybe 2-3 years ago and their styles have grown on me. I actually prefer them over some of the old-guard casters. I still have my favorites, but I'm never upset when Steadfast and Beo are on.

7
CKFOPOld Generations•

The match I was watching that they were casting just finished. Nothing about their cast was, like, offensive or anything, but I feel like the other commenter who said they pair together badly was onto something. Think they may both be bringing the same strengths and the same weaknesses to the table. I feel like I’d have a more positive reaction if either were paired with someone a bit more analytical. Definitely feel it’s worth reiterating that I’ve watched both of them cast a single match, so any take of mine is the hottest of hot takes.

-1†
voronaam•

I can recommend ZG's "Real Talk Strategy" to you. Steadfast and Beomulf are the regulars there and the show itself is the best window into the scene.

6
PeragoreAxiom•

You know, I was pretty happy with the cast I did of the Serral Clem series when I walked off the desk, but the more I VOD review and listen to it, the more I think I let the moment get to me and tried to rise too hard to the occasion - one of the biggest matches of my rookie LAN will do that.

That being said, we've been working together for the last 2-3 years now, consistently B stream as far back as IEM Katowice 2021. I've been producing and casting the two online regionals this past season, and we did the B stream for Jonkoping this summer as well as the Gamers8 you mentioned in the comments.

4
Crabuki•

For what it’s worth, the crowd came up noticeably when you guys brought the hype. We just haven’t seen that in ages. I thought it made the show more exciting.

2
davetesta•

Both of those guys do fantastic work. I recommend checking out their Twitch channels. Although admittedly a bit biased from working with them, on that note I can be critical as well. Steadfast happens to be one of my favorite casters, and is a very dedicated caster of many events. Beomulf has incredible work in production, and theory crafting. Overall both are very articulate with their own spins on things.

On the other hand, what would you get if we didn't have these guys and they needed someone from NA? Some nearing middle age guy who chain smokes, and drinks to much with a nasaly upsate NY accent swearing? Nah man they are great! Top tier casters and dudes.

(Also the other guy is me, and you don't want that live for Dreamhack haha)

4
heavenstarcraftROOT Gaming•

Idk how you could not know who they are considering they do b steam usually

3
ArchivesTraveler•

Steadfast is my favorite caster right now. I don't have any caster that I dislike. They're all great to me, each with a unique interesting personality, but Steadfast has the best combination of high level game knowledge and casting persona to me.

For me, I prioritize game knowledge more than personality/presentation, though the latter is still important. He always exudes excitement when excitement is warranted, and doesn't overhype normal, uninteresting situations, while still maintaining positive demeanor. In other words, he keeps it fun and positive, but keeps it real. He's precise and accurate; goes into the deep details of everything, and is bang on. I've never disagreed with any assessment he's ever made. I've occasionally disagreed with other casters. That doesn't mean my own knowledge is perfect, but sometimes a caster makes a premature (and incorrect) determination that isn't warranted, and it kinda blows up in their face...I haven't seen this happen with Steadfast.

2
AeceusZerg•

I haven't watched SC for over a year and I know them quite well, how do you not know them?

1†
Dingz26•

I kinda like Beomulf, steadfast a lil bit less but he’s decent enough.

Personally, for bigger events I think a casting duo like Rotti + Artosis or ToD brings a different vibe and analysis to the table.

It’s even weird to say as I’m typing it out, but ToD doesn’t seem to cast sc2 very often but he still makes very accurate analysis

1
Key-Banana-8242NoBrainNoPain•

They’ve been in the scene casting for some time, rising up through the ranks it’s not really new news

1
Ian_W•

They are casters.

For my money, Beomulf is the best solo caster working at the moment, but he's better at solo casting than as part of a pair.

And yeah, sportscasters in general tend to hype up seemingly unwinnable positions, because that magic comeback is a lot more memorable than 'it looks like they are in an unlosable position they won't lose from'.

-3†
rebatopepin:Terran_logo:•

If you don't like money, then give me some

6
CKFOPOld Generations•

Well, yeah, I’m listening to them cast a match. I understand that they’re casters, just not where they came from. According to liquipedia, looks like the $400,000 Saudi event was the first tournament that both of them casted? What community events, or similar, did they do, that seemingly went entirely under my radar, that helped them get that gig? I imagine there must be some background info here.

Sportscasters in general might hype up totally lost games, but most sc2 casters have gotten a lot better about not condescending to the audience by pretending like some one in a thousand defense has a decent shot of working. This was shit most cut out of their casts like a decade ago.

-2
Gemini_19Jin Air Green Wings•

Steadfast has been grinding for years on his personal stream similar to Wardi, doing all the ESL Open Cups and other small cups. Eventually got invited on to do the B streams for WCS/EPT regionals and then got the A stream for them and now he got invited to do this offline event.

Same with Beomulf but he was part of AlphaX doing their community tournament casting with the other AlphaX community casters. But he eventually broke off and started doing more of his own casting of the open cups, GSL qualifier replays, etc. until also getting the same slow progressional invite treatment that I mentioned Steadfast had.

4
CKFOPOld Generations•

Do they generally have smaller communities/audiences than a wardi or winter sized creator? Or are they about the same size and I just happened to bypass their content? But haven’t played/watched any open cups in ages, same with anything alphaX.

1
Gemini_19Jin Air Green Wings•

Steadfast will usually have like 200-400 viewers depending on the tourny. Beo's individual stream doesn't get as much but the AlphaX tournies would get good viewership.

2