Two weeks ago at the  Heroes Global Championship Western Clash event in Katowice, Poland, a familiar face within the Heroes of the Storm scene took on a new role. Michael Udall, the pro player for Gale Force Esports tried his hand behind the scenes at the casting desk to provide analysis in-between matches.His natural charisma and knowledge of the current meta as a player provided a unique perspective, and he seemed happy in the role.

The guest analyst decided to sit down with me in-between casts to discuss his return to the scene post-unretirement, relationship with long-time teammate Stefen ‘akaface’ Anderson and why
Heroes is just part of the bigger picture of his life.

You’ve come a long way from a college kid doing dabs on the big stage with your family in the crowd to now casting Western Clash. What’s the biggest takeaway you’ve seen from yourself over the last few years as you’ve evolved through the scene?

The word that I think I would use for myself is “matured.” I’ve gotten away from the dab. It’s funny because I can never really get away from it. Every time I go to an event people are always saying, “Lets do a dabbing picture” and I’m like, “I’m trying to get over this. The dab was so 2017!”

As far as evolving and progressing, I’m still in awe that I was able to have that opportunity as a college student. I would not be here if I did not play in Heroes of the Dorm. The biggest progression of maturity that’s come from me internally is confidence in myself. That’s something I’ve always struggled with, I thought I was good at things but I never really knew for sure.

 "First and foremost, it’s a job. I don't wake up every morning and go: I’m so excited to play some HotS"

It’s good to re-evaluate yourself but it’s bad if you’re constantly doubting yourself because of social media. There are always people attacking you and that’s something I really struggled with coming into Heroes as a pro player, especially last year.  

I wondered, “Am I a good player?” Especially with loses. I thought in such a linear fashion that if you lose you’re bad and if you win you’re good and you can’t think like that as a pro player because you’re going to lose. It’s not always your fault and you could have played amazing and still have lost. It’s about recognizing you’re improving and that’s what I’ve put my focus on this year.

We’ve seen a few players transition to the casting desk, Dreadnaught and Dunktrain. What’s the longer career path for you: as a player or an analyst?

[Laughs]

As an analyst I think would have 100% have a longer lifespan. That doesn’t necessarily I’m going to do it. Disclaimer, I love being an analyst and this has been such a cool experience for me and I’ve learned so much about the production aspect side of it. It’s great for me because I’m naturally such a curious person to where I like to ask questions so to be able to sit in the production room and be able to ask a bunch of questions and not be annoying because I’m supposed to ask questions, it’s great.

As far as longevity goes, being an analyst is better and it’s definitely something I’m going to look into when I’m done being a pro player but I don’t know if I’m ready to take that step yet.

What dictates to you when you know you’re done being a pro player? Certain individuals who have retired can still play at a high level so how do you know when you’re done? It’s funny because I retired about six months ago, then had a comeback.

With an epic video to announce it.

It was a cool video, wasn’t it? I produced it myself and I’m so proud of how it turned out. I had a cameraman and it was all my vision so I thought it was really cool.

As far as retiring, you don’t really know until you know, if that makes sense. Part of the reason why I retired is that mindset I alluded to before with that linear mindset of if you win you’re good and if you lose you’re bad. Coming back, I recognized that was wrong but looking back, it’s really hard to change when you’re in a team environment and you have to keep improving. You don’t get the time to reset your mentality because the season is so long and so grueling.

"I look at Heroes of the Dorm and winning that tournament was life changing for both of us and we will still to this day talk about it. "

It takes months. You need to get some R&R, think about life and what’s going to work for you so retiring was kind of my way of doing that. To get back to the original question of how do you know when is the right time, a lot of it is just weighing other opportunities. If I was given a bunch of opportunities like ‘you can do this analyst stuff next year,’ it’s something I would consider. It’s just opportunity cost.

What’s interesting is some professional players in other scenes don’t necessarily enjoy the game they’re playing anymore but do it because they’re good at it and it makes them money. Does Heroes feel like that at all to you? Do you enjoy the game or does it feel like a job?

It’s a job. First and foremost, it’s a job. I don't wake up every morning and go: “I’m so excited to play some HotS.”

Most of the time it’s like: “This is what I have to focus on and get done today” It’s very much a checklist which makes me say it’s a job outside of a hobby because, generally, a hobby is “I have some free time, I want to do this and this is something I really enjoy.”

I still really enjoy HotS as a game and I think I will always enjoy competing just because I’m naturally very competitive, but it’s definitely a job.


What’s the best tips you’ve received about casting being around veterans such as Gillyweed, Dread and Khaldor who has done this for quite a while?

I want to throw Kaelaris in there because he’s someone who, before I was even given the opportunity to cast as an analyst, gave me advice as it was something I was interested in. He said ‘just go up there and be yourself.’ Don’t try and emulate someone because you’re never going to be as good as the person you’re trying to be, right? If I’m trying to be the best Kaelaris or trying to be like them then I’m just going to be the second-rate them. I just try to go up there and be me and be relaxed and just go with the flow.

There’s been so much change in your life from where you were two years ago until now but the one constant has been your relationship with your former Heroes of the Dorm teammate and current GFE teammate, akaface. Talk a little about that relationship and how it’s evolved over the years.

I can say he’s one of my best friends. We’ve been playing on a team together for almost three years now and it’s funny because our inner-working relationship has changed.

We have had so many great memories and so many terrible memories together and through the good and the bad is how you build amazing friendships. I look at Heroes of the Dorm and winning that tournament was life changing for both of us and we will still to this day talk about it.

I remember that year around Dorm time we stayed up until like 4 AM watching our old VODs from when we played just reminiscing of the good times. We do the same thing of ‘Remember when we went to DreamHack Summer and lost all of our luggage and we showed up two hours before our match?’

Akaface has a prescribed medication and he didn’t have it for three or four days so he’s having withdrawals and it ended up being the craziest experience of my life. It was hell at the time but, in hindsight, it was a fond memory.

We played our match and won against a team we should have stomped and then he still doesn’t have his luggage so we’re going to a Swedish hospital and neither of us speak Swedish and we’re trying to get his prescribed medication after his mom faxed the doctor’s prescription. So we go to the hospital and everything is in Swedish and it’s 6 or 7PM since our match just finished and we’re literally just wandering around. We find ourselves in the ward where the babies are and the nurses are looking at us like ‘What are you guys doing here?’ because it was a huge hospital so they sent us to the general practitioner who then sends us to a psych ward.

It was this three or four hour ordeal of us just trying to get him his prescription and it was a crazy experience but one of the coolest things I’ve done. What an adventure we went on.

Where do you see yourself in a year? Could be as a person or professional.

Right now I think I’m in a reevaluation and transitional period. I did retire five months ago so I did make that conscious choice to move on and I think ‘was that the right choice to retire and was it the right choice to un-retire?’ I don’t really believe in the concept of ‘right or wrong.’ I think there are actions and consequences with good or bad outcomes.

As far as where I’d like to see myself in a year, in esports one-hundred percent; whether that’s a pro, whether that’s a caster, whether that’s working for a production company, I don’t know. I really haven’t made up my mind and I think a lot of that is going to depend on what opportunities I explore and which ones I decide I want to do.

As a person I feel like I’m on a journey and I’m really excited. This trip to Poland, I’m so excited about it because after this event I’m spending a few days in Poland still, going to see Auschwitz and I met this person on the plane and we’re going dancing on Tuesday. I’m really looking forward to that since she’s a dance instructor and we’re going dancing. It’s such a cool experience. Then I’m going to Korea for two weeks and as cliche as it sounds, it’s a life-finding journey where

I’m trying to find out the answer to your question and maybe you follow up with me in two weeks and I have some answers