CaptainFlowers opens up why he chose against casting MSI
League of Legends shout caster Clayton "CaptainFlowers" Raines has revealed his reasons for choosing against participating at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) this year, citing food allergies and jet lag issues.
Deciding against MSI
As one of League of Legends' most beloved and decorated play-by-play casters, CaptainFlowers has become a staple at the premier events for the English broadcasts. The 2020 Esports Awards Caster of the Year has become synonymous with hype moments during huge finals.
It was almost a given for him to be invited to the Mid-Season Invitational, the second-largest international LoL event of the year. Pre-empting a fan reaction to his absence from the event upon the announcement of the full talent, CaptainFlowers took to X/Twitter to clear up any false interpretations about him not being part of the broadcast this time around.
"Riot did invite me to the event but I did decline the invitation. My contract is for spring and summer of the LCS with MSI and Worlds both being possibilities but no guarantees," he shared in a video.
MSI is set to kick off this week on Wednesday, May 1, in Chengdu, China, with 12 of the world's best teams from around the globe facing each other in an elaborate two-and-a-half-week-long format.
CaptainFlowers’ reasons to skip the event
With the event being hosted in Southwestern China this time, it posed a couple of challenges to the caster that he ultimately decided to not take on. Travelling from the USA American-West Coast, it can take over a day to reach Chengdu, a complication that CaptainFlowers acknowledged in his response.
Moreover, the resulting jetlag would also pose a serious challenge for not just the event but the rest of the season, the caster argued. Finally, dietary restraints are an additional consideration.
"I’m allergic to soy, I feel sick for hours if I accidentally eat it. Having to double and triple-check everything that I eat without being able to read or speak the language to even know that I’m making a mistake would be pretty rough,” CaptainFlowers explained.
In summary, the play-by-play decided against participation and could so far also not find other opportunities to create content in another way for MSI. "Professionally I’m going to put the rest of this year over participating in this one single event," he concluded. However, several content creators reached out in the replies, asking to collaborate for the event.
