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Just who is Indiana 'Froskurinn' Black? We caught up with the LEC's newest casting talent to find out her story and her thoughts for 2019.
Not only has the European League of Legends broadcast changed over time, so has the casting team. The latest addition for 2019, and the start of the League of Legends European Championship, is Indiana 'Froskurinn' Black.
For western audiences, Froskurinn's face is one they may have only seen on international tournament broadcasts before, or if you've tuned in to the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), China's top flight competition. We asked her to give us the rundown of how she came to be where she is today, and what we can expect from her this season.
"I got into casting a long time ago," Froskurinn tells us. "In 2014 I was casting in the North American ESL leagues, and I actually casted the European Go4LoLs, because it was a good timezone to cast before I would go to work.
"Then, I started casting the LPL before Riot took over the broadcast," she continues. "It was a kind of grassroots stream I did with David 'PiraTechnics' Younge. Riot then picked up the LPL, and he went to EU, I went to Oceania, and then to Sydney. I stayed with the LPL and really only interacted with the Western audience on the international stage. I'd always wanted to come to Europe, and now I feel like I'm back where I started."
As for her casting style, Froskurinn says she's meticulous, perhaps to a fault. She has to remain reasonably unbiased as a caster, of course, but she does have a soft spot for a certain style of team"
"It's a bit of an issue when I go to deep on micro. Like ‘Yes, it worked like this, of course this', when really it was the simplest answer. People should expect that I'm very attention-to-detail focused.
"I love villains, so G2, I'm all about that. Badasses and boogeymen, let's get behind them. I love it when villains have the talent to back up the smack talk. The fact that G2 won't just throw shade, but also have the power to beat you down with it."
Even beyond casting, Froskurinn's roots are in the European scene, despite being from the United States. She was once coach for Dignitas EU, before they became Splyce, and helped set them on the path to get promoted into the EU LCS. She's extremely happy to be in Europe, but she does miss the LPL.
"I won’t lie, it was really bittersweet leaving the LPL. I knew I was going to Europe around the time of the Mid-Season Invitational so it's been a long time coming. Initially, the plan was that Rift Rivals was supposed to be my final cast for the LPL, but visas and things delayed that a little bit. Going into the regional qualifiers and summer finals knowing it was my final cast was bittersweet."
Not many people get to experience the intricacies of the League of Legends scene across multiple leagues and continents, so we asked Froskurinn to give us her unique insight on the differences between China and Europe.
"From a broadcast standpoint, the LEC is one of the flagship broadcasts," she says. "For the LPL, English was a secondary product, so of course your resources are on a lower priority. It was all hands on deck. We were in charge of the narrative and scriptwriting, the stats, and I did the video editing. All of the graphics on the broadcast were done by me. Here, in the LEC, you have the whole staff behind you and it offers you so much creative freedom.
"In terms of meta and playstyle, I don't actually see a lot of difference between EU League of Legends and the LPL. Everyone will say the LPL is very bloody, but Europe has always had this kind of give no f***s attitude when it comes to playing. We’ve been saying this for so long: just play your style. Jakob 'YamatoCannon' Mebdi finally slapped a bumper sticker on, and shipped it with Vitality. It's what has made Europe such a contender for such a long time."
After a long period of dominance from Korea, in 2018 the World Championship was finally won by a Chinese team. Having overseen a world beating team like Invictus Gaming in the LPL last year, we asked Froskurinn which of Europe's teams have a shot at a championship run this year.
"What's really exciting is that it's no longer just two teams, and then a giant gap to everyone else. It feels like we have six or seven teams that could theoretically make a very competitive run.
Then you've got the three super teams. The machine of Fnatic – yes they lost Rasmus 'Caps' Winther and Paul 'sOAZ' Boyer – basically print champions and superstars at this point. You have G2, the villains and superteam of the LEC, which has all this combined talent on one roster. Then you have Misfits, with all that experience. It's like the 3,000 IQ team.
"That’s before you even start talking about the differences and upgrades in Splyce and Schalke's lineups. At the start of the split I'd put Vitality up there, too. The pool to pick from is so deep, and top four or top six is going to be really competitive. If any of the top three teams drop a single game, you don't have the margin for error like they once did. Their fates are decided through consistency."
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