With the world on lockdown due to COVID-19 the League of Legends Championship Series was forced online for the final two weeks of the Spring Split regular season. It’s gone pretty well. After only one week of down time, the wonderful LCS production staff at Riot Games was able to have the league up and running again. However, Weeks 8 and 9 also provided viewers with a rather unique broadcast experience. Namely, the casters and analysts were sitting at home in front of a webcam and a mic, giving us a small window into their home.
As a result, here is a flawless, mostly objective, ranking system for these brief glimpses we’ve been afforded into the homes of the LCS broadcast talent. There are five categories.
- Cleanliness: How clean is the space?
- Décor: What decorations are present? How interesting/cool/appealing are they?
- Color: Is there a color scheme? Is it interesting?
- Location: How does the location improve the broadcast experience?
- Miscellaneous: Are there any miscellaneous factors to include?
These categories are then given a score of 1-5, with 5 being the best.
9. Prolly
Cleanliness: 4/5
Décor: 0/5
Color: 1/5
Location: 3.5/5
Misc: 2/5
Overall 10.5/25
Of all the broadcasters, someone had to be last and Prolly clearly isn’t bringing much to the screen. He has nothing in way of décor, which we can see on the wall behind him, and in the mirror which reflects nothing but the door. His bed, however, is neatly made and from the mirror his floor is also clean. The blank whiteness of the room is only broken by the blue cover on the bed and the man himself. However, his smile is enough to net him 2 miscellaneous points.
8. Azael
Cleanliness: 3/5
Décor: 2/5
Color: 3.5/5
Location: 3/5
Misc: 2/5
Overall: 13.5/25
Azael’s issue is that he never revealed much to us other than his shiny dome. Though his bed is well made, he doesn’t show much else, which means that his floor could potentially be a mess of laundry, so this author was forced to give him a 2.5. As for the decor and color he only has the one picture, but it matches nicely with the bed spread and the curtains. He’s casting from his bedroom which seems cramped, but convenient, and he gets a +2 in the miscellaneous column for being a literal world champion.
7. CaptainFlowers
Cleanliness: 4.5/5
Décor: 4/5
Color: 3/5
Location: 3.5/5
Misc: 2/5
Overall 17/25
CaptainFlowers brings us our first above average score, we can seen the majority of his room and it seems pretty clean, the major indicator being the uncluttered end table on the far wall. The décor is cool, with a couple cool posters and a really interesting-looking lamp. The bed is well made, and the blanket does a good job of bringing the posters together. His curtains have a nice pattern as well. The colors are kind of working, but nothing is popping. Lots of dark hues with a few slashes of reds and then the orange scorpion. He’s streaming from the foot of his bed which gives him a bit more room than the beside the bed look, but also still close enough to turn the monitor and watch a movie in bed.
6. Phreak
Cleanliness: 3/5
Décor: 4/5
Color: 3/5
Location: 5/5
Misc: 3/5
Overall: 18/25
Phreak’s got the same issue on cleanliness as Azael, we’re unable to see much at all, so the floor could be a disaster zone. As for the décor, he has a wide variety of posters and a nice wall trim breaks up the coloring and ties the posters in with the rest of the corner. What really gave Phreak a boost was the location, it’s really cool that he was able to secure the location of Season 1 Worlds to broadcast from.
5. Kobe
Cleanliness: 4/5
Décor: 4/5
Color: 3.5/5
Location: 4/5
Misc: 3/5
Overall: 18.5/25
Kobe has a good bit going for him. We can see a bit of his flooring, so I was able to give him so points for neatness and the picture on the back wall seem to tell a small story. The ficus is what’s really working for me. Although it’s not much, having a small plant is enough to bring some brightness and color to any room. There’s not much in the way of coloration, but with the aforementioned decorations the room isn’t just a blank void. He’s also streaming from his bedroom, but seems to have a lot of space and the screen is in a good position. He rakes in 3/5 on miscellaneous but would have been higher with a cat.
4. Crumbz
Cleanliness: 5/5
Décor: 4/5
Color: 3.5
Location: 4/5
Misc: 3.5/5
Overall: 20/25
Crumbz’ main boon is his cleanliness and it’s mostly tied to his decision to stream from his living room. From this vantage point, we’re able to see his well-kept living room floor and furniture as well as his clean kitchen. Maybe he didn’t intend to, but having to stream with the kitchen in view was a risky move, but Crumbz pulled it off, there isn’t a stray dish in sight. The walls are lacking in way of artwork, but he does have a decent couch as well as what appears to be an antique radio set in the background. He brings in a few extra points for his professionalism as well.
3. MarkZ
Cleanliness: 5/5
Décor: 3.5/5
Color: 3.5/5
Location: 4/5
Miscellaneous: 5/5
Overall: 21/25
At first glance, MarkZ’s setup seemed fair to middling at best. However, after further inspection, there turns out to be various key factors that really put him ahead of most others. Though not much of his room is immediately visible, there are some indications that nothing is amiss, namely the top of the dresser is clear from any stray items. There is only the plant and the cat, which is where MarkZ is drawing a lot of his points from. Allowing his very adorable cat to appear on broadcast gives viewers some comfort in this stressing time. Also worth noting is the nice ambient lighting coming from the window.
2. Dash
Cleanliness: 3/5
Décor: 4.5/5
Color: 5/5
Location: 4/5
Misc: 5/5
Overall: 21.5
While missing any indication of cleanliness, and sparse with the decoration, Dash makes the best with what he’s got. Not only does he have cool LED lights he uses them to match his fit. On each subsequent day, he changed the color on the back wall and on the lamp to match his clothes as we can see here:
This brilliant use of the lighting give him the points for color, location, and miscellaneous. A truly 200 IQ move by the host.
1. Jatt
Cleanliness: 5/5
Décor: 5/5
Color: 3.5
Location: 5/5
Misc: 5/5
Overall: 23.5/25
There’s really no contest when it comes to Kubo. This good dog has a history in the LCS broadcast and acts professionally while on screen. What really sets Jatt apart however, is not just Kubo. Jatt also has some sick posters, the most visible being the unkillable demon king himself with Zed standing watch above his shoulder. Both champions staring into the soul of the viewers, passing judgement, as the analyst desk breaks down the latest matchup or Jatt casts the game. The fact that there doesn’t seem to be a dog hair insight speaks volumes to Jatt’s cleanliness as well. He also earns a boost for the location because he had the foresight to setup an overlook for Kubo.
Cover Photo Via Twitch.tv/LCS
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