There aren’t any Aussies playing in the World of Tanks’ Wargaming.net League Grand Finals 2016 here in Warsaw, Poland, but that doesn’t mean Australia isn’t being represented. Front and centre of the whole event is World of Tanks’ commentator Mitch “Uber” Leslie.
Despite Stevivor’s earlier criticisms of the non-energetic opening of the Grand Finals yesterday, Leslie proved to be the exception to that rule. Looking sharp in a suit and tie, Leslie thrust out of the gates with a huge smile plastered across his face alongside knowledgeable, timely Tanks commentary. He took some time out on the first day of the finals, equally as enthusiastic, to speak with us.
Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, Leslie got his start in the industry on local radio while studying an Engineering degree at uni.
“There was a small little online radio station called Net Game Radio,” he said. “Every Thursday night, there’d be a classic rock show, and then a Call of Duty 4 cast. I joined up there just to have a go; I like to talk and I like the process of viewing and experiencing a game. Eventually, I became in charge of that, just, purely because I was there all the time. That slowly wound down, but I decided I still wanted to do it. I started to check out a bunch of new games.
“CS: Go was just about to come out, and I was also playing a lot of League of Legends,” Leslie continued. “So I started cast both of those for a company called Cybergamer, that does a lot of Australia’s leagues.”
On the side, Leslie just happened to help found a hugely successful Aussie Esports group.
“I also worked as part of an Esports organization that I helped found called Mindfreak, which now has one of the best Call of Duty teams in Australia, if not the world,” he said, proudly. And rather nonchalantly.
Still at university, Leslie stumbled upon World of Tanks early into its release.
“I played it casually for a bit, but there was a chance to cast, so I picked that up, doing a couple cups here and there,” he said. “It lead to a LAN final, so I went there and casted it.”
The opportunity to cast World of Tanks gave Leslie a look into the game along with access to Australia’s top teams. What he didn’t know himself, he could explore with those new connections. With a bit of experience in hand, combined with a clear talent for the craft, Leslie also had a little luck behind him. Essentially, he was in the right place at the right time.
“I met a guy from ESL, that helped to put on an event [at Supernova Melbourne],” he continued. “I was a caster, but I somehow got roped into the organizational side as well. I met the guy from Europe who came to help us set up, and he hit me up about six months later looking for a host in Cologne.
“I told him that I wasn’t the host, just I casted, but he said, ‘Yeah, but you went out on stage and said we’d be back in five minutes, and that was really good’.”
That’s right: Leslie got his in to the European League with one simple sentence.
Leslie wouldn’t be paid for that initial hosting gig, but he did manage to negotiate for his flights to be paid alongside €100 of spending money. That opportunity lead to another, and another, and with each, Leslie managed to negotiate more and more.
“Opportunities lead to other ones,” he said, simply. “My mother, an insurance broker, taught me the value of networking.”
Eventually, Leslie was offered a role in Cologne. In June last year, Leslie packed his bags, left his job as a storeman at Chemist Warehouse and moved to Germany to work as a full-time commentator with ESL. He currently focuses on World of Tanks’ European League as a play-by-play commentator.
Leslie, always talking – but more importantly, never babbling – gets paid to do just that during a cast. He fills the gaps, reads the play and ramps his voice up and down with the action accordingly.
“In my role as a play-by-play caster, I’m about the here and now; calling the play. My analyst, if he doesn’t know what’s going on, then he’s in trouble,” he said.
Perhaps most importantly, the play-by-play guy acts as a translator between his co-host analyst and the audience watching the stream.
“Your analyst will never make things accessible to people,” he asserted. “I can display some expertise, but more importantly, I hit all the right things: people know who’s playing, why they’re playing, what the rules are and who’s winning. You need to point out things that may be obvious to you, but still need to be pointed out. You need to explain why things are significant, and in a couple words.”
You can check out Leslie excelling at his craft today during World of Tanks’ Grand Final matches.
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