Interview with Valorant Caster Mitch “Mitchman” McBride

Yoann: Hey everyone! Today I'm with Michman, Valorant caster! How would you introduce yourself?

Mitch: Yeah, absolutely! You got it spot on, I’m Mitch and I commentate Valorant. That's pretty much all I do! I also donate RR on the regular!

Yoann: Nice haha! When and how did you get into casting, and why in esports?

Mitch: I got into casting when I was in school. I was playing CS with some school pals, we got to play some like local Lans. The team fell apart and I decided to go to the Lan anyways. I asked them if I could help out and they said “Why don't you come down and commentate?” I had no idea how to do that. I turned up and literally fell into this career!

Yoann: That's perfect! You are casting Valorant alongside Tombizz, how did you guys meet?

Mitch: I actually met him back in CS. We were both casting, but not together. The schedule was really rough, so we saw each other the day we got there and the day we left. But yeah, he has some stories from back then. He was obsessed with the jeans I was wearing, he couldn't stop looking at them. I met him there, didn't seen him for a long time. And then Valorant came out and we ran into each other a couple of times. Then, eventually, he came in as my co-commentator and we went from there.

Yoann: Awesome! Do you have a favorite team to cast? Tom said Fanatic, the old KRU roster or M3C (Gambit).

Mitch: Yeah It’s hilarious! KRU were unreal, and the funniest thing about it was that after Berlin where they made the quarterfinals, I was telling everybody like, yeah they made playoffs, but they were not a top-eight team at that event, not even close. They had the easiest bracket of all time. And I ran with that narrative, they're trash, I watched them regionally, and they were terrible. These guys are not top eight. Not a chance.

And then they played some of the best Valorant I've ever seen at the next event. I've accepted it. I'm not going to talk shit about the South Americans anymore!

Yoann: How would you describe the grand final between Loud and Fnatic, using only three words?

Mitch: Wow, breathtaking, certainly. it's a once in a lifetime experience. The 11-3 come back, It's hard to put into just three words! I’d say the best grand final of all time within Valorant up to this point.

I think it was probably the best game of Valorant, the best clutches, the best moments, and the best story. 

Yoann: I’ll now ask you ten quick questions, and you’ll have to answer them as fast as possible!

Phantom or Vandal?

Mitch: Vandal. 

Yoann: What's the exact name of Jett’s dash?

Mitch: I have no idea.

Yoann: It’s Tailwind! Can you name the seven teams who won an international event?

Mitch: Oh, don't do that to me, man! My memory is so bad! Obviously we got fanatic, M3C (Gambit), FPX. Optic, obviously loud.

Yoann: There’s one more from Europe and from NA.

Mitch: Oh my memory is so bad, Acend!

Yoann: Yep, and the last one? Who won at Reykjavik?

Mitch: Why is Sentinels in my head?

Yoann: Yeah it’s Sentinels haha! All right, so what's your favorite skin bundle?

Mitch: I think it might still be the Reaver, to be honest. I like that it has stood the test of time. It’s not in a bundle but I would say the Ruin dagger, that's my favorite because nobody can get it anymore!

Yoann: The best map you ever casted?

Mitch: The whole series of M3C versus KRU 100%, and maybe the Icebox map!

Yoann: Sure! What’s the best region, in your opinion? An easy one.

Mitch: I mean come on, we won the last international event, EMEA! We won 4 out of 7 international events, that’s a pretty good ratio!

Yoann: What’s your favorite memory with the Valorant crew?

Mitch: I would say in Iceland where everybody came together to go to this big spa up in the mountain!

Yoann: What's your favorite team?

Mitch: The boys at Paper Rex are fantastic!

Yoann: Can you quote a voice line from Sova? I asked the same question Enzo and I’d like you to give the same answer!

Mitch: I'm going to say “I am the hunter”!

Yoann: Great! He went for the “Shockdart” one haha!

The bonus question is complicated. How many events did you cover? 

Mitch: That's actually going to be a surprise to me. Since 2018, five years later, I do like, let's say, 80.

Yoann: That’s close! The exact number is 67!

Mitch: 67 is quite a lot. All right I’ll take that!

Yoann: Let’s now go back to the classic questions. How often do you play Valorant in your free time?

Mitch: I would aim to play it every day as often as I can. I'm trying to consistently hold my immortal rank, and fill that pyramid. That's my goal. 

Yoann: Great! So, Tom told me that you have a bromance with Enzo. What can you do to tell us about that?

Mitch: I mean, obviously, there are some details we got to keep under wraps, but I'll say I've known Enzo for a long time. We were in the same scene, but never really crossed paths, he played in Irish events. I'm almost certain his first Lan event was in Ireland, so you know he's very much involved in my scene!

With Enzo, we were on a team together for a while. We obviously spent a lot of time together!

Yoann: Nice! I want to see him one day, walk down a stage with the Irish flag.

Mitch: I've been begging him to do that for years now!

Yoann: What are your short and long-term ambitions on Valorant?

Mitch: Just improve, and deliver a better experience for the fans at home. And hopefully, make it over to Champions. I just want to keep doing what I'm doing, get better at it, annoy Tom as much as possible, and record as much of it as we can! That's pretty much it. Simple goals.

Yoann: What would you change to Valorant if you were a developer?

Mitch: Well, let me tell you, I've already told a developer in a bar at 2 a.m. that there is no chance that the smite skins would exist in the game if I was in charge. And it just happened that the person I said that to was the guy that made the smite skins.

I didn't know before I said it but I asked why they made them so shit. I didn't really get an answer on that. My second change would be to get rid of the Kay/O knife. I want it gone. Then I think we've got a perfect game.

Yoann: Yeah, As a Cypher, main, I agree!

Mitch: Oh yeah!

Yoann: You obviously need great game knowledge to be cast Valorant, so would you like to become a coach one day? I already asked this question to Tom and Doug, and I want to have your opinion. 

Mitch: Yeah, it depends, if I thought I could help. Maybe in five, or ten years, further down the line. I got to sit in the coach role for some of the games, and sitting in for the scrims every day was a very rewarding experience. Seeing the team's process unfold and how the players are interacting. Hopefully steering it in the right direction. 

I think it's a whole different skill set, but it would definitely be something I'd be interested in doing!

Yoann: Yeah sure! I also interviewed Paper Rex's coach, Alecks. And he told me something I’ll never forget!

Quote: “We are just trying to break the game. Try and find some combinations that don't make sense and kill people!”

Mitch: Yeah! And you can see that when you watch these guys play, you can see it's so uncomfortable to play against them. And I have almost no doubt that whatever crazy stuff they come up with next is going to ruin people's days, that's for sure.

Yoann: For sure yeah! Thank you for your time, I wish you the best!

Mitch: Thank you!