MonteCristo leaves OWL casting role after clash with leadership

Caster and analyst Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles has announced on Twitter that he is leaving the Overwatch League desk and will not return for the 2020 season. 

MonteCristo has been a caster in the OWL since the league’s debut in 2018. He’s been a driving force in the discussion around some of the game’s meta changes with his analysis, and he was among those who pushed hard for a 2/2/2 role lock which was eventually implemented late in Season 2. 

He said in his Twitter post that he is leaving to pursue further career growth, but admitted that this transition is hard because he is leaving his broadcasting partner of seven years, Erik “DoA” Lonnquist. He also thanked Jeff Kaplan and Scott Mercer, two members of the Overwatch development team. 

MonteCristo cites differences with OWL leadership for exit

Although he gave support to the current development team, he did note that former OWL commissioner Nate Nanzer leaving the OWL “led to irreconcilable creative and philosophical differences between myself and the league’s current leadership, and all parties will be better served by parting ways.”

MonteCristo started his caster career with WarCraft 3 with Team Sportscast Network. He also commentated for League of Legends and StarCraft 2. His coaching career consists of stints with Verge Gaming in Warcraft 3 and Counter Logic Gaming in League of Legends. 

In November of last year, MonteCristo married Susie Kim, who at the time was the general manager for the London Spitfire. Their wedding was broadcast on Twitch and featured several prominent OWL casters, players, and members of the esports community. They had kept their relationship a secret until announcing the wedding.

As for what’s next, MonteCristo says that he’s been offered opportunities to produce esports content and broadcasts that align with his own creative vision and standards. He also plans to stop production of OverSight and will cease creating any Overwatch analysis or rankings on his own channel. 

No one can be sure exactly what kind of esports content MonteCristo will be creating next, but it is clear he still has a future in esports, and he certainly has enough experience in the field to be of potential value to an esports venture going forward.