The first day of IEM Sydney has been more or less predictable, with the lone surprise being BetBoom’s surge. While the action in the server has solid, if imperfect Counter-Strike, the biggest bout has come between Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović and hordes of CS2 fans.
While Redditors getting angry about desk analysts who have controversial, if not abrasive things to say about their favorite teams is nothing new, there was a pretty awkward exchange between kassad and desk host Tres “stunna” Saranthus on Oct. 16. While it’s probably nothing, anything that anyone remotely controversial says is magnified once social media latches on to any kind of displeasure.
Is kassad a bit abrasive? Sure, probably. But it’s obvious this is a character, the classic wrestling heel, meant to get you riled up by saying something contentious. That hasn’t stopped fans from spilling ink about their annoyance. One fan said, “Lil bro thinks he’s in a debate bro Discord server,” another said, “Dude I hear you. I can’t stand him. He’s so low energy and negative. He just sounds like he’s complaining the entire time,” and another called him “the new Thorin,” a reference to extremely abrasive and controversial CS analyst Duncan “Thorin” Shields.
Could kassad chill out, focus less on one-liners, dispense some CS knowledge, and be better liked? Yeah, probably. However, this is a two-way street. If a fan’s biggest issue during an upper-tier tournament is that an analyst isn’t being sufficiently insightful, or is being too mean to their favorite team, things are probably going pretty well.
Kassad will likely ease into his heel role a bit further and be someone you love to disagree with as the tournament wears on, and fans put something else in their crosshairs as the topic of the moment.
