As the Dota 2 casting talents for TI are announced, some accuse Valve of nepotism

The biggest annual tournament of Dota 2, The International, is only two weeks away.

As the participating Dota 2 teams are flown in, so are the people who will be hosting the prestigious event. Valve announced its finalization of the English, Russian, and Chinese broadcast talents for TI this year.

Other than familiar faces like Jorien "Sheever" van der Heijden and Kurtis "Aui_2000" Lang, this year will also be the debutant TI for several newer prominent casters like Mira "Ephey" Riad, Michelle "Moxxi" Song, and Alvaro "AvoPlus" Sanchez.

However, some within the Dota 2 community have spoken about how Valve's selection process for the TI broadcast talent allegedly reeks of nepotism.

---

Over-reliance on the BTS clique means less representation for the eastern Dota 2 regions

The mainstream of The International, at least in terms of popularity, is the English broadcast. The Beyond The Summit (BTS) studio have nearly monopolized their stranglehold in this area. Nearly all the recurring TI broadcast talents, from its inception up till the upcoming tenth year, are in some way or the other closely related to the BTS proponents.

The impact of BTS on the international Dota 2 casting landscape is undeniable, as is their attempts to bring the eastern regions to the western audience through the English streams of regional tournaments. However, BTS has crystalized itself as the sole cornerstone of Anglocentric Dota broadcast. This indeed creates an environment ripe for nepotism.

A big reason behind complaints of the Dota 2 community about TI 10's broadcast talents is its exclusion of many deserving people. The absence of Benjamin 'bkop' Kopilow, in particular, was a big surprise. The centralization of broadcast talents on mostly known faces also leaves little space for casters and analysts from Eastern regions like SEA.

The result was very apparent in the recent WePlay AniMajor, where the broadcast crew seemed wilfully obtuse about the Chinese and South-East Asian Dota 2 scene. The controversy regarding this, among other things, led to Brian "BSJ" Canavan's new community nickname, "BiasJ".