If you’ve ever watch or consumed any esports content, I am positive you’ve heard Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat’s voice. Semmler started off with a small game called Bloodline Champions (BLC) and transitioned from BLC into Starcraft 2, but found his niche within Valve’s Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Semmler had quickly become one half of the commentary team that many people still associate with CS:GO. Now, he has challenged himself once more and has joined forces with Blizzard Entertainment and the Overwatch League. Semmler stopped by Esports Heaven to chat briefly about his career in commentary, how he has enjoyed casting Overwatch and working within the Overwatch League, and much more.

One of the biggest things that has been echoed in many of your more recent interviews is “happiness” and really pursuing stuff you enjoy. That said, what has your time been like within Overwatch and the Overwatch League, thus far?

It’s been fantastic so far. A big reason why I decided to join the Overwatch League was the roster of talent that I would be working with on a daily basis. Surrounding myself with positive, driven people is a goal I’ve set myself going forward, and I felt that everyone on the Overwatch team would facilitate that aim.

The overall sense of adventure, that this is a massive undertaking that we’ve all embarked on together, and that there’s a lot to learn and experience, is a big part of it as well. You don’t know what the next day will hold, and that’s exciting. Now what I’m waiting to see is whether that sensation lasts once the enormity of the league finally settles in, but I’m taking it a day at a time right now and not worrying too much about the future. Blizzard have provided me with an awesome opportunity to stretch myself and change, and I’m enjoying every moment of it so far.

As an avid climber, has there been something that you’ve taken from climbing and added to your commentary career? On the flip side, has there been anything that you’ve taken from commentary and added to your climbing?

I’ve learned to be very methodical with my climbing, by taking my time with the grades, focusing on technique over just developing more power, and listening to what my body is telling me. That last bit is important, because if you rush in climbing, like I did at first, and just try to do all of the powerful moves too quickly without building your base first, you get hurt, and that stalls out your progress. If you’re patient, and focus on climbing with a small goal in mind each day, that’s when I’ve found that puzzles unlock and real progress is made.

With that in mind, I’m trying not to overthink my commentary, instead focusing on letting everything flow out naturally, whatever comes to mind, whatever my gut tells me is right. I have to be patient with myself, and know that mistakes will happen and are just a part of the process of breaking habits I’ve formed over the past 5 years while casting CS:GO. A big challenge so far has been internalizing all of the new Overwatch information, so that I don’t hesitate over an ability name, or a hero name, in the midst of rapid fire play-by-play. I have the commentary basics, the base, to build off of. I just have to let the power come naturally through the work.

I will add that I feel extremely fortunate to be casting with Hex. He’s totally on board with flowing commentary, not sticking to a mold, and just bantering when we feel like. He’s a perfect match and I’ve been having a great time learning how to cast Overwatch with him.

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For me, I’ve listened to and watched my fair share of CS:GO. I’ve heard you cast in other games and the transition has been utterly seamless. BUT, we all know the artist is the harshest critic. If you had to give yourself a report card for casting the Overwatch League, so far, what grades would you give yourself and why?

I need to improve my knowledge of the history of the players and the teams. The Overwatch veterans in the broadcast, like Hex and Sideshow, know everything to do with everyone going back to the beginning. That’s a strength that I need to develop for myself, so that I can comfortably add more color to the broadcast. I give myself a D in historical knowledge for now.

Unlike in CS, where there aren’t really any ability names to learn, in Overwatch, I made roughly 300 cards with terms and mechanics and names to learn in preparation for casting at the Overwatch League. Learning everything and having no hesitation when calling it up on the fly is a major strength that I’m working on now. It feels better a couple of weeks into the broadcast, but that’s a point I can definitely improve on. I give myself a C.

In terms of hype, I don’t want to overthink things, I want to shout as loud as I feel like shouting, and just let it happen. Only thing I need to work on there is pacing, because it won’t do to lose my voice at the end of a match either. I think that that will improve naturally with more reps. It’s just a matter of getting used to the pace of the fights, what’s available to each team, and when the natural luls in the action occur so that I can take a breath and not put too much strain on the voice. I give myself a B on this point, as this is what comes naturally to me.

I give myself an A for Sparkle-Beard Game.

On JP McDaniel’s Dropped Frames podcast, you mentioned a possible rebirth of the GD Studio or something similar? I bring this up because you also now work alongside Jonathan "Reinforce" Larsson. With two survivors of the GD Studio, have you both been scheming? Is there a chance will we see an Overwatch League content house in the future?

I highly doubt it. At least, an Overwatch centric content house that I would have to run. Room on Fire, the brand that Anders and I formed several years ago to unite CS:GO talent, taught me that there’s only so much I can take on outside of commentary before things start to fall apart and I lock up. Putting myself into the position of having to manage others as well as myself is not an appealing idea right now. For the foreseeable future I plan on focusing solely on my commentary, and leaving myself time in the day to challenge myself with my hobbies outside of the work.

For my own perverse enjoyment, I’ve got to ask; did Bruno ever teach 2GD how to do a wheelies on his sick red bicycle and do you know if 2GD still owns that bike?

When I think of James riding a bike... I just picture a bear riding a bike in a circus. James never leaves his lair these days. He probably sold the bike in order to buy more frozen pizza and kittens.

A lot of people might not know that originally you come from a game called Bloodline Champions, which was an isometric battle arena PC game, and there is one person whom you’re very familiar with from that esports scene and that would be Chipshajen. I believe it was Dreamhack Summer 2011 where you said, and I quote;  “Chipshajen is a God.” “...I know the answer. Chipshajen is actually omniscient. He is a god-like being put on this earth to play BLC (Bloodline Champions) at a level we have not yet seen.” What do you remember from that tournament and could you give a little more context to Chipshajen’s BLC career?

Ah, those were wild days. Chips was an absolute beast. He could have played DPS if he wanted to, but he always took the role that would benefit the team most, and that means that he chose to play Alchemist. It’s fun to see that he’s so good at Ana in Overwatch. It’s natural, because Alchemist is pretty much Ana but in BLC. Sleeps, Grenades, and a main ability that deals damage over time, and the healing with precision. The skills Chips developed in BLC carried over naturally to the support role in Overwatch. Positioning, awareness of your teammates, hitting clutch sleeps, it’s all the same. He had the perfect support mindset of always setting up his teammates for the big plays, and doing whatever it took to win, and hell, styling on the opposition the entire time. Chips’ teams were always at the top of the pack, competing for the gold and most of the time they got it. He is a joy to watch play.

I can only imagine that casting certain players for so long, you kind of get attached in a way. How does it feel having both of your careers coverage together almost 7 years later?

It’s crazy to think that it’s been 7 years already. I lost track of Chips after BLC died down and I started to focus more on Starcraft 2, but when I heard that he was in Overwatch, I wasn’t surprised to learn that he was on a top team and wrecking house. What’s also fun is that Johnny (Reinforce) is here. He’s an ex-GDling and used to moderate my stream way back in the day when I was streaming SC2 for 30 viewers. He wanted to make something happen for himself in esports, focused on Overwatch and now has a career as an analyst. Everything comes full circle in the end.

You mentioned before that Overwatch fits your casting style a bit more, similar to what Bloodline Champions was. Does Overwatch feel a bit more like “home” in that sense? With the high tempo of Overwatch, have you had a hard time returning to your roots, in a way?

I’m amazed, knowing what I know now in terms of voice control and maintenance, that I didn’t do irreparable damage to my voice with all of the shouting I did back in the BLC days. It was nonstop action and hype casting that game, and I loved it, but I would regularly lose my voice after a long day or two casting. I think I lost it for a week after my first Dreamhack, casting 12 hours a day without breaks.  

Casting Overwatch does feel like coming home in a way. CS:GO has its hype moments, but in general they’re explosive and over quickly, with the lull between rounds to cool down and bring everything back to that idling level before the next fight in 45 seconds etc. BLC was several minutes of sheer carnage, when you could be shouting at the top of your lungs for a long stretch. With the current meta in Overwatch, and with how long fights can last, and those fights can be tense through and through, it feels like I’m getting to tap into my original voice more. I’m just waiting for my term knowledge to get fully integrated into my casting brain, then I’ll really get to have fun. I’m too worried about tripping over my words right now to fully commit to the flow. This will change with practice.

From what I can tell, it seems like Valve and Blizzard can’t be more different. From a caster perspective how does that change your job on the microphone? Would you say it’s a pleasant change?

Long and short of it is that you worry more about what you’re saying, or at least I did in the first week. Valve are very hands off when it comes to what happens on camera and in-game. I’ve never worried about what Valve thought of my commentary, or what I was saying. I never worried about cracking a joke.

The only time that I tried to change my commentary, really overthink what I was saying and how I was framing things, was when Anders and I were casting for the first and second seasons of ELEAGUE on TBS. Then, it wasn’t Valve, it was this behemoth of a TV broadcasting company and, despite them assuring us that we were free to cast however we felt, it just happened naturally that Anders and I overthought our casting and weren’t ourselves. We just didn’t want to fuck it up, so we ended up eliminating risk and becoming sterile. No fun.

Now with the Overwatch League, I plan to have fun. I want to be able to say whatever comes to mind without pausing first to think if that’s a good idea. The intensity of the game fits my natural casting style more, and I want to tap into that. Blizzard have put themselves on the line with this venture, and they’ve hired me for my brand of casting, but in my line of work, there has to be room for improv, for mistakes, for spice. I was worried in the first week about what I was saying, and how I was saying it, and yada yada yada. At the start of the second week, I decided that I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over Blizzard or anyone else. I was going to loosen up and say whatever came to my mind. If I’m having fun, the audience will have fun, and that’s all I care about.

You’ve gone from being a contracted commentator and now have a full-time salary gig within the Overwatch League. I’ve got to ask: does it feel like a weight has finally lifted off your shoulders? Do you think the freedom, from the security of the Overwatch League, from the “game of casting” will impact your casting positively as well?

The short answer is yes. I have the freedom and time now to fully focus on casting Overwatch as well as maintain some hobbies. I feel comfortable casting the game and think that with time I will improve further. I’m able to visit with my family and friends in Los Angeles every week, which is definitely something that I’ve been missing these past 6 years, and the guys and girl that I’m working with here are awesome. Everything is groovy right now.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLG’s of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.