James "Sternab" Parkinson has been present within the Rainbow 6 scene for quite a while, however, he rose to popularity thanks to a large volume of games cast over the past 18 months. Leagues and tournaments include Seasons 1 and 2 of the OGA Pit league, the Challenger League in Europe and North America, the Six Invitational Qualifiers, and many more.
Aside from his impressive casting portfolio, Sternab also has some history with the playing side of things. During Year 1 of Rainbow 6, Sternab played a fair bit competitively until his team ended up disbanding. Sternab was also a coach for the former Polar Ace esports team, featuring Yoggah, DotD4sh, Beauloo, Descriptive, and E-X-O, as well as the previous Epsilon eSports roster during this season of the CCS.
Now, this weekend he cast his very first LAN event of note (following appearances at the very small epic.LAN and Scottish Esports League events) at the OGA Pit Minor which included eight very high-level teams, had a prize pool of $75,000 and was eventually won by Team Liquid (which you can read about here). We spoke to him about the event and the upcoming Six Invitational:
Firstly, how did you find casting your first notable LAN event and in which ways did it most differ from an online or studio cast?
Hap, Sternab and Demo on the analyst couch
Starting with EU and APAC, what would you say went wrong for those teams?
Slashug has made quite an impact on Luminosity Gaming but, after finishing last season in fourth place, do you think this is enough to push Luminosity even further up the table?
Stats for Slashug’s debut game on the roster vs Team Secret
The US Nationals kick off next weekend so, with these performances from Spacestation Gaming and Luminosity Gaming, and the recent roster changes for Evil Geniuses, DarkZero Esports, Team Reciprocity and Team SoloMid, who do you favour to take the title?
LATAM saw the best performance as a region since Year 2 of Rainbow Six. What exactly did we see here from them that elevated them from their usual finishes?
Team Liquid with their trophy after winning the event
How can OGA improve for its next event?
The next big event coming up is the 2020 Six Invitational. With 11 teams now confirmed, who do you favour to take the title?
The teams qualified so far via @ESLRainbowSix
Finally, do you have any messages to fans and viewers?
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Keep an eye out here at SiegeGG for more interviews concerning the OGA Pit and the upcoming Six Invitational and to learn more about Sternab check out our previous interview with him at the 2019 Six Invitational below: