Head of Paragon Events on Why Nix Isn't a Commentator

Paragon Events head Sergey Posashkov reported why he doesn't consider Alexander "Nix" Levin the best Dota 2 commentator. He believes Levin overestimates his role.

"I'd say Nix either misunderstands the concept or doesn't know what a 'commentator' is. By definition, Nix can't be the best commentator because he's not a commentator at all. A person who, when the game becomes uninteresting to him, gets up and leaves, leaving viewers alone with the game for 20 minutes while he eats, is by definition not a commentator," Posashkov said.

"I'm not saying Nix is a bad person. He's just not a commentator. He's an entertainer, streamer, and showman who creates his own show, his own channel, where he watches games and during breaks shows videos. It's often funny, interesting, and informative. A large audience loves this," Posashkov declared.

"But he's not an esports commentator. The main task of a sports commentator is to make the match interesting. Making the game interesting is a thousand times harder than just commenting on a grand final. Any studio commentator works on 100-200 matches a month. Nix works on how many, 10 matches? Again, that's cool. It's not a criticism of him. Nix does as much as he wants and needs. But often the matches he chooses to work on are interesting in themselves. I'd say that almost any commentator can make a match like Team Spirit vs. Virtus.pro interesting. But for a match like beastcoast vs. Talon Esports, you need to work very hard to make it interesting," Posashkov added.

"So, where effort is needed and where he should make an uninteresting match interesting for his viewer, he doesn't because Nix simply doesn't watch it. Alexander says, 'When the match is interesting, I don't need to work. I'll just watch and enjoy. I'll turn on the stream and webcam, watch, and enjoy presenting it as commentary.' But that's unfortunately not the case. Commentating is not about that," Posashkov explained.

In early June 2024, Nix stated that emotions make him the best commentator.

Levin is covering Riyadh Masters 2024. The tournament runs from July 4 to 21 in Saudi Arabia. The world's strongest teams compete for $5 million.