Top 5 eSports Commentating Duos of All Time

A lot of attention is given in eSports to the players playing the game, but just as popular are the commentators who talk about them. These fine folks devote themselves to knowledge of the game including terminology, prevalent strategies, keeping up with hot topics within the community, and fan interaction!  Today, we’re looking at my Top 5 eSports Commentating Duos (with one exception) of All Time!

These are in no particular order, as I had a hard time ranking them against each other – each duo brings something unique to the table. You’ll also notice that a great percentage of these casters participate at least in some degree in Starcraft 2 commentary – this is because the community for Starcraft 2 is so well developed.

For these, I’ll do a brief description of who they are and what they’re best known for, in addition to a sample of their commentary.

James Chen and UltraDavid

Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy many different fighting game commentators, such as the folks over at iPlayWinner or Team Sp00ky’s commentators. However, while they are fun to watch, they simply aren’t serious. They clown around a lot on the air – this is fine if you’re just looking to goof around, but if you’re looking for in-depth, on-the-fly analysis of the game with casters who still know how to get hyped when necessary, look no further than James Chen and UltraDavid, the two commentators best known for their work during the yearly Evolution Championship Series.

HDStarcraft and Husky

HD and Husky started the YouTube Starcraft 2 phenomenon back during its Beta days from February 2010 to July 2010.  It started with the HDH Invitational, in which they invited 16 of the greatest Starcraft Brood War pros to duke it out on YouTube. This event rocketed both HD and Husky to a truly astounding number of followers and introduced many major companies to sponsoring Starcraft 2 events. In fact, without the success of the HDH, it's difficult to say where the modern Stacraft 2 eSports scene would be. That tournament, coupled with Razer’s King of the Beta, were two of the first Starcraft 2 tournaments to be played.

Though they no longer commentate together (which I’ll go into detail over on below), HD’s play-by-play, coupled with Husky’s raucous nerd peels of excitement in color commentary, provided some of the best Starcraft 2 moments to date, and there have been a large number of them.

What ended up happening between these two has not really been gone into in great detail, but the general gist of it is that Husky attempted to take credit for the HDH Invitational and in turn, tried to have HD written out of the deal with GOM for the Global Starcraft League. This, of course, ended up backfiring on Husky as the job was given to Tasteless and Artosis in the end, but as a result, these two no longer commentate together. Husky works on various projects including the GeForce Invitational and MLG, whereas HD has stuck with the IGN Pro League. Either way, its a shame they don't work together anymore, as I really enjoyed their work.

Tasteless and Artosis

These two are former Starcraft Brood War legends in their own right, but now they have mostly shifted to casting. Interestingly enough, they were selected for the job of commentating the GSL over Husky and HD after the whole debacle surrounding the HDH2 subsided. This is just as well, as the chemistry that these two exhibit has led the community to refer to them as the “Casting Archon”. For those who don’t get the reference, an Archon is created when two templar units merge together.

TotalBiscuit and Whoever he Happens to be paired with.

A decidedly more European choice than the rest of the commentators on this list – maybe that’s why I enjoy his work so much – TotalBiscuit has a unique way of speaking about the games and is just plain funny.  TotalBiscuit first got his start commentating World of Warcraft videos back during the Cataclysm beta, but has recently stepped up to the plate in many other games including League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Street Fighter 4, and much more. He also does walkthroughs and community nights with his fans. It’s great to see a commentator give back to the community that got him as far as it has.

Day[9] and djWheat

A staple of MLG Starcraft 2 events since their inception, Sean “Day[9]“ Plott and djWheat have brought epic commentary to millions of fans at MLG events and around the world.  These two casters both have extensive backgrounds in the Starcraft 2 community. Day[9] does a daily VoDcast going over prevalent strategies in the competitive scene and does many community events. He is tirelessly working towards bettering himself and everyone around him, and as such, is one of my favorite commentators. Some of the other folks on this list could take lessons from Day[9]‘s generosity, as he is genuinely in this for the love of the game.

That wraps up this edition of the [e-Sports Dail-e] Special Report. This is Dustin Steiner for GameZone.com, signing off.  Stay classy, GameZone.

Dustin Steiner is GameZone's eSports Correspondent! Follow him on Twitter @SteinerDustin