Purge Explains Why Valve May Have Not Invited Gorgc to TI10 as a Caster

Valve announced the English talent lineup for The International 10 (TI10) earlier last week. The list made up of 32 people included hosts, observers, analysts, and commentators. In response to this announcement, a debate erupted regarding whether the most popular Dota 2 English streamer, Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski, deserved to be included. Kevin "Purge" Godec, a Dota 2 commentator, who is a part of the 32-member talent crew, has now explained that Gorgc normally does not cast official games which may have been the reason for his exclusion. Furthermore, Purge noted that Gorgc's personality, which he maintains on stream, would not be ideal for a professional space like TI10.

Purge lists the potential reasons behind Gorgc’s absence at TI10 as a caster

According to Purge, since Gorgc does not usually cast games, he would not possess the professionalism required to discuss Dota 2 in front of the TI10 camera. In addition, Purge mentioned that Gorgc's casual Twitch personality and appearance would lead to him saying some random things that wouldn't appeal to non-Dota 2 viewers, something Valve is very conscious of.

“He is a very talented streamer obviously but he does not work as a caster typically. Plus does he appeal to an average non-Dota playing person? Valve cares a lot about pitching towards non-Dota players. So, if you bring in Gorgc and he is very well known, he is a big streamer but he says weird shit, no one is gonna fu**ing see him there. They are gonna be like, “Who’s the fu**ing weird guy with the shitty large hair,” and the one who says goofy things instead of being mega professional. That’s probably what he will be like, I imagine because it will be his first time on camera and panel. It can be different to him streaming. It’s just safer for Valve to invite somebody else.”

It should be noted that, following the announcement of the TI10 English talent lineup, Gorgc had an extensive discussion with his Twitch chat explaining how he felt about being excluded from the list. He went on to reveal that Valve had indeed invited him to TI10 free of cost but he wanted to guest cast at least one game at the event. Valve declined the request, and Gorgc decided not to attend TI10. He said that he would not be going to TI10 to do some "weird content shit" that Valve had planned for him.

The 32-member talent crew will perform at TI10 from 7th-7th Oct 2021 in Bucharest, Romania.

The Main Event of the tournament will be held at the Arena Nationala Stadium from 12th to 17th Oct 2021.