Simon Jacobsen is part of Mansfield House and is in Year 12. He’s part of the broadcasting team here at the Macleans Esports Club. Simon’s team, Macleans Cast 4, broadcasts a variety of games from Overwatch to Valorant. They are well known for their constant use of the catchphrase, “Up the castle.”
Simon was asked about the journey of Macleans Cast 4, arguably the most well-known casting team out of the five.
Q: How did Macleans Cast 4 start?
Both Devon and I did not have any extracurriculars, which is what it had been since Year 9 – don't tell Mr. Hargreaves. When we saw broadcasting on the daily notices, the two of us were a little interested and began to consider whether we should do it or not. It was the fateful day of March 1st, 2022, I emailed Mr. Cardy and asked if we could participate. Exactly twelve minutes later he replied, "That'd be great. What games can you cast?" and I said we were a hundred percent sure we could cast Valorant and Rocket League. At this point, Macleans had no casting team to do Rocket League. Since there were already two teams doing Valorant, we pretty much became the Rocket League cast. If there's one thing unique about Macleans Cast 4, it would be the fact that we were so incredibly unserious about it. Jokes that probably violate Twitch guidelines, copyrighted music that further violated Twitch guidelines, and times when we just stopped casting and started talking. This was much to Mr. Cardy's detriment, being associated like clowns. He called us immature once or twice, to which I'd like to agree to disagree. People liked seeing two incredibly deranged children be given a mic and a platform to yell over video games, so that's what we gave them. The story of how MC4 began is not some grand tale, it is just two guys who said, “You wanna do that?”.
Q: What were the struggles you faced while starting up Macleans Cast 4?
From left to right, Bruce Zuo (Te Kanawa), Keishi Chan (Te Kanawa), Simon Jacobsen (Mansfield), Riley Cassel (Kupe), Andrew Chen (Te Kanawa)
Really, the only struggle I can think of was Devon becoming more busy to the point where he didn’t have the time to cast. I ended up casting Rocket League by myself sometimes. I can’t really call it a struggle, since I am literally that guy when it comes to solo-casting. The only problem was that I couldn’t win the best casting team award even though I most likely put in more hours than anyone else in the entire section. Not to say I wasn’t given compensation for my efforts by Mr Cardy though. It simply makes me appreciate the team I have around me, more than I would have before. I am more than grateful for the fact they’re – almost – as passionate as me about broadcasting.
Q: Did you have a quote or motto you made up to keep you and your team motivated?
Normally, I would just say, “Who said you could take a break?” Though I don’t need to say anything to keep them motivated. Contrary to my quote above, they’re free to leave anytime. If they want to cast, they’ll cast. Or at least that's the way I see it. I must admit yelling “MC4” like it's a locker room before a game gets my team pretty hyped.
What could be more Macleans Cast 4 than chanting our own name?
Q: What are your final reflections on Macleans Cast 4?
Well, I can’t give any proper final reflections just yet since we’ve still got another year left in us. As for how far I believe we have come since day one, I’d say it's hard to believe we are even the same casting team. Thanks to Bruce’s Esport world-level graphics, Andrew’s stream management, and of course, my fellow casters Keishi and Riley. I can truly say Macleans Cast 4 is becoming closer to being what I first envisioned. I think, seeing the fruits of your labor is a nice thing to genuinely witness but I believe that there is still a crazy amount of room to improve. We aren’t perfect, and we’ll most likely never be. But at the end of the day, if I can look back and say “Yeah, I enjoyed that.” I’ll be content with what I’ve done. Because the MC4 way is as long as you’re having fun, you’re doing it the right way.
“Also remember to go follow Macleans Cast 4 on Twitch!”
– Simon Jacobsen
26th July, 2023
Written by Simon Jacobsen, edited by Emma Li
Photography by Emma Li
