ynoT & Buckethead on casting Fnatic's Bo5 Major-qualifying victory: "It feels a bit surreal"

Anthony "ynoT" Vitale and Donny "Buckethead" Higgins were responsible for casting Fnatic vs. 9INE, the game in which the former won and secured the final spot at the StarLadder Budapest Major.

Our Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore caught up with the duo to discuss this absolutely intense Fragadelphia Blocktober grand finals and to learn more about how they started their career as CS casters.

You can watch the full interview on YouTube below, or read the full transcription. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for clarity.

What a great game, what a great cast, you really brought that game to life. Maybe it was the most important game of your whole career. How are you feeling coming out of that absolutely insane best-of-five?

ynoT: For me, I come here for the love of the game. Fragadelphia is a thing I've been volunteering for a pretty long time now. So, coming to this one was a privilege as it was, and easily the most ramifications that have ever been on the line as far as a game that I've cast has been.

Buckethead: Yeah, I love Counter-Strike and to be able to be a part of such an important moment, you know, the final qualification spot of a Major at a Frag event...it feels a bit surreal. I have cried a lot.

ynoT: Sounds like he's about to as well [laughs].

It's a lot of work to stay active, to stay emotive, to be present for 6 hours. What goes into that as broadcasters, to keep lively for essentially what is three times the length of an NFL game?

ynoT: Yeah, I mean, speaking not for Buckethead, but about Buckethead, he's somebody who doesn't really have a lot of LAN reps as far as the long haul is concerned, to where I'm extremely proud of him. I got the trials and tribulations through launders LAN. So I've had a test, and that was my initial realization that LAN can be like that sometimes.

So when I got this, I was like, 'Well, I've seen it before, it's not going to be pretty, it's not going to be fun, but I'm going to give it my all.' And frankly, I think Buckethead did a really good job of doing that for what I've seen as the first time he's gone this long straight, and also had a game before that one even!

Buckethead: Thank you. I mean, not to sound sappy, but it's the love of the game, you know? Counter-Strike is just something that I've grown up with. It was brought to me in a competitive format that I fell in love with, and I want to try to make someone fall in love with it the way that I did. So it's literally just the love of the game.

And, no story is complete without an origin. Where did you guys both get your starts casting?

ynoT: Wow, so I got to my start in...I feel like nowadays it's kind of common where my friend, you know, he's like 'Cast my games', and I cast his games. Some people see that and they're like, 'You can get money.' I get an opportunity with LCA, and I guess I'll leave it at that.

Buckethead: So, I put 58 popcorn buckets on my head at ESL One New York in 2019, and two years ago now, ESL brought me out to Cologne to do Vox populi interviews for that tournament, which was the craziest moment of my life. They just found me on Twitter. And then, I got the chance to meet a lot of people. DarfMike set me up with Chezpuf. He gave me the contact information, and ever since then, it's just been a smooth ride with Fragadelphia, and I love it.

ynoT: I think mine is so boring in comparison to that. So, that's a really cool pathway.

Buckethead: Not fair [laughs], mine is kind of a wild story, so I don't think it's fair to compare.

A game like this has countless moments, like five maps and dozens of clutches. Is there one moment that you think you'll remember forever from this best-of-five?

ynoT: kraghen's ace in Overpass where he picks up the AK-47 behind him, and instead of deciding to fall back, he falls in and then gets another three kills, I think it was. If not three, then at least two. But, either way, it was a full ace in a round where literally any other player that does that at any other stage, whether it be at a Major or otherwise, that's going on in, like, clips of the year for me.

Buckethead: I'll say something else just for the sake of being different because that is 100% a lifelong memory. But, just listening to ynoT do the final call, he got to express everything that in the moment I was too choked up to say. And I really got to live in that moment, not only as a caster, but as a fan. No matter where the career takes both of us, I feel like that's a moment we'll share for as long as we know each other.

It's incredible what FRAG has been able to do for casters, like you guys, who have come up through the ranks of NA. Now, what do we do to wind down and come back to reality after being sort of the center of attention at this incredible BO5?

ynoT: For me, it's always been a matter of no matter how high the highs are, it's always good to remember what the floor feels like. Because when you're not getting work as an esports commentator, it begins to feel a little bit hopeless, I'll say, especially with somebody from NA, where you don't get very many eyes on you for job opportunities. However, with that being said, I'm very confident in my abilities personally.

So, when I go home, I intend on watching this VOD back, I intend on taking the moments that I think were great, and not only just keeping them and trying to post up for other people to see what I'm capable of, but then to learn from the things that I can always do better on. I think that's a good way that everybody think about the game as well. You talk about CS, you go back in a demo, you watch your VOD, you watch yourself back. You're not just doing it for fun; you're doing it to improve.

Buckethead: Yeah, I mean, in all honesty, I think for me at least, it's going to be nice when I do go back home from this trip to be able to take a day of kind of realization of the moment. I'm very fortunate to have a family that is super supportive, and people in my life who are super supportive of this...[cries] so, there's going to be some happy faces when I'm home. So, I'm really excited for that.

Today, you introduced yourselves to 10,000 fans, and literally people from all over the world. You essentially brought back the minors, brought it back to life. Where can we catch you guys next? How can we follow you? And how do we continue to watch your casting journey?

ynoT: For me, it's been interesting because I've kind of been all over the place as far as Counter-Strike is concerned. I started as a player, went into coaching, and then content was the thing I was leaning into. Casting was always the passion as well as the thing I was told I'd best at. So, with that, I think if you want to catch me, you can catch me on my Twitter for a lot of the different things that I'll be doing at @ynoTCS2.

If you want to catch me on YouTube, which will be going very high soon enough, I believe it's also @ynoTCS2, or @ynoTFPS01. Those of you who understand why that's funny, you'll get that. Otherwise, I just appreciate anybody and everybody who says even a kind word in chat. It doesn't really matter if you follow me or if you give me $1 million or if you slap me in the face. At the end of the day, the game is the game, and I'm always going to be there so long as it's there for me.

Buckethead: Pretty much the same. My Twitter is @Buckethead_CS. I don't know exactly when the next match will be, but I do know that the next tournament will be in our lovely home State of New Jersey for FRAG Super Mega Jersey. So, that's going to be next on the chopping block and I cannot wait for that.