Who I am ?

I am Thorin, also known as “The Esports Historian.” I’ve been a professional Esports journalist since 2001, specialising in Counter-Strike, Quake, StarCraft and League of Legends.

I’m the winner of the 2017 Esports Awards Journalist of the Year and a two-time winner of the Cadred/Heaven Media Esports Journalist of the Year award (2012 and 2013). I have worked as a studio analyst for Counter-Strike tournaments around the world, having performed that duty at more than 60 events and for broadcasters like ELEAGUE (Turner Broadcasting), ESL, MLG, Dreamhack, PGL, Starladder, FACEIT and BLAST. I was the Creative Director of B Site’s Flashpoint project.

I am the creator of the ‘Reflections’ interview series and I am a host of popular talk shows like “By the Numbers”, “Summoning Insight” and “Counter-Points”. I am perhaps best known for providing my perspective and insights on esports via my “Thorin’s Thoughts” series of videos, which recently went past 1,700 episodes published.

My style involves sharp humorous banter, deep historical knowledge and relentless dissection of popular fan and media narratives.

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What other people say about me:

the [Counter-Strike] encyclopedia
- Michal "Carmac" Blicharz, Vice-President of Product Development at ESL.
Thorin is a great person and a competent analyst. Almost every pro player thinks he is a nice fellow and he understands cs quite well.
- Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko, five time Counter-Strike major winner and 10 time major finalist
tough guy
- Shaquille O'Neal, four time NBA champion; 10th most points scored in NBA history (2021); and the 1999-2000 NBA Most Valuable Player award winner.
Thorin continues to harm the esports and competitive gaming ecosystem as a representative of our industry [...] As a representative of our community, esports will progress forwards, not regress backwards.
- Rod "Slasher" Breslau respected esports journalist 2008-2014
I stand by Thorin
- Rod "Slasher" Breslau, fired employee of OnGamers (CBSi)
Thorin is the hardest working journalist in esports. Writing, blogs, podcasts, videos, talks, tv/stream roles, the amount of content he creates is unbelievable, and for a guy coming up to 2 decades doing it. A great role model for the newer generation of journalists.
- Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner, renowned host of esports world championships like Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca 2015, PGL Krakow 2017, ESL One Cologne 2016 and The International 2019.
I have to call him Lord Thorin
- Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, eight time LCS champion and 2019 MSI finalist.
Thorin has put out great work.
- Rod "Slasher" Breslau, formerly banned reddit user
the favorite interview I have done in esports!
- Andy Miller, former Vice-President Mobile Advertising Apple; Co-Owner Sacramento Kings; and CEO of NRG Esports.
Esports content producer of the [2010s] decade
- Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner, legendary esports commentator and host
you're not wrong, you're just an asshole.
- Brian Kibler, 26th highest prize money winner in Magic the Gathering's Magic Pro Tour history (2021) and 2010 Hall of Fame inductee
Thorin has Steph Curry range
- Rick Fox, three time NBA champion and former owner and founder of Echo Fox
major elements of the mainstream infrastructure of esports are not just propping [Thorin] up but paying him.
- Patrick Klepek, reporter waypoint (Vice) and flickr college legend
Wish all interviewers could be as well-versed as Thorin, subjects were really good and deep
- Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, OSL Semi-finalist in StarCraft and professional poker player with over $14,600,000 in career prize money winnings.
The esports industry is unwelcoming, and the actions of [...] Thorin [...] and countless others keep it that way
- Jay Castello, journalist with bylines at Verge, The Guardian and Polygon; and well known calm and non-hysterical tweeter.
I highly recommend Esports Salon on Thorin's YouTube channel.
- Michal "Carmac" Blicharz, amateur judo player and victim of male pattern baldness.
fake news
- Leena Xu, President of TSM and pioneer of conflicts of interest in the esports space.
The legend
- Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, CEO for OpTic Chicago and Co-CEO for NRG Esports.
Newsweek has reached out to [...] Thorin [...] for comment, but did not hear back
- Steven Asarch, Newsweek writer and amateur twitter hypocrite.
God damn you're quick Thorin
- Griffin "shaGuar" Benger, Counter-Strike champion and professional poker player with a 7th place finisher at the 2016 WSOP No Limit Hold 'Em Main Event Championship and winner of EPT Berlin.
Thorin is the only esports reporter I trust! All the others have been corrupted by big tech & big gaming studios / orgs.
- Daniel "KEEMSTAR" Keem, popular and famed host of DramaAlert
the esports star has tweeted his provocative opinions
- Kristina Nguyen, editorial intern for the Daily Dot and author of the piece "Doja Cat just started the funniest new meme with her song 'Mooo!'"
One of the only men with a bigger ego than even myself
- Peter "ppd" Dager, Dota2 captain and champion of The International 2015 and 14th highest prize money winner in esports history (2021)
[Thorin] and Lewis are now the face of esports journalism, and major players in the industry as a whole.
- Hannah Dwan, writer for PCGamesN and amateur pearl clutcher
[Thorin] impacted my career significantly and helped me grow. Thank you.
- Indiana "Froskurinn" Black, world famous League of Legends expert analyst and colour commentator
According to a B Site exec 'Thorin is an unstable and deeply troubled character but a key to wining (sic) over the core and has nominally good ideas.'
- Nikolaj Nyholm, Founder and Chairman of Astralis quoting someone who definitely exists.
I respect [you] as a journalist and cybersport historican
- Arseniy "ceh9" Trynozhenko, four time Counter-Strike major winner.
I've appeared on your shows before and enjoyed talking to you
- Jacob Wolf, 2019 Esports Awards Journalist of the Year; Chief Reporter & Investigative Lead DotEsports; and master of self-awareness on social media.
Thorin is a fuckin' idiot, man
- Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, greatest Counter-Strike player in history, according to Thorin
Thanks for doing this long in depth piece and keeping the eSports history in order
- Johnathan "FATAL1TY" Wendel, champion across multiple games and 2nd all-time in Quake 3 prize money
I have a lot of respect for Thorin
- Darius "DariusExMachina" Matuschak, Co-Founder The Shotcaller, Head of Content at Schalke 04, paid indirectly by Gazprom
What is annoying is that you are just riding a wave and staying relevant by being edgy [clown emoji]
- Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, four time Counter-Strike major champion, winner of the most HLTV.org MVP award medals in history and scourge of admins
Thorin is impossible to ignore.
- ESL, industry leading Counter-Strike tournament organiser
I've enjoyed working with him [...] he's a brilliant analyst to have on a desk
- Frankie Ward, esports host and interviewer, former BBC Senior Content Producer and host of the Saudi government funded Gamers Without Borders 2020 event
very intelligent, excellent host, very funny, great to work with, extremely knowledgeable and very professional when he wants to be and very unprofessional when he doesn't give a fuck
- Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, legendary League of Legends and Overwatch colour commentator, analyst and expert