HuskyStarcraft is a YouTube channel starring Mike "Husky" Lamond, who casts Starcraft II matches. Originating from Oregon, he gained his first 10,000 subscribers on a now-defunct YouTube channel called "EsportsReport
", covering Starcraft Brood War professional games. Afterwards, he created the "HuskyStarcraft" account, covering exclusively Starcraft II, which has since then exploded in popularity and fueled his own rise to prominence.
Known for his enthusiasm and Motor Mouth, he is currently the most popular English-speaking Starcraft II commentator on YouTube, with more than 600,000 subscribers and a regular viewership of 150,000 viewers. He also holds the number 1 most subscribed "Reporter" award. He shows a wide knowledge of the players, the tournaments, the strategies and the metagame, although amongst other Starcraft II commentators he's criticized for less analysis and more play-by-play (which he just accepts, as that's his Signature Style).
Compared to other commentators, he is considered the most energetic and "fun", with his casts appealing to many fans of Starcraft II who previously have never heard of it, and many people who enjoy watching Starcraft II without owning the game. Unlike other commentators, he also avoids swearing in his casts. Most prominent is his new band, Nerd Alert, which he started with Kurt Hugo Schneider and ivyleaguepunk, which makes parodies and original songs based on StarCraft; their "Banelings" song garnered more than 4 million views by the end of the first week.
He is a co-founder and prominent member of The Game Station, frequently appearing in skits. He also has a second channel, which he uses to post non-StarCraft videos and unedited livesteam footage (including StarCraft-related ones). Finally, his main channel has several sub-features, all dedicated to showing players in uncomfortable settings. One is "Ladder Anxiety," in which he showcases his own adventures in ranked play. One is "Bronze-Leaguenote Heroes," showcasing gameplay of the So Bad, It's Good variety. And finally, there's "Imba League," in which professional players are subjected to new and unusual rules, such as all units having a Flash Step teleport, a Grappling-Hook Gun or a permanent Invisibility Cloak, and requiring said players to adapt on the fly. Husky's stated goal in all of these features is to encourage people to play the game by letting them see into the awkward, not-always-successful realities of daily play, but they're also good for the lulz.
In 2015, Mike put his channel into dormancy, ultimately deleting all of his HuskyStarcraft content — which, alas, comprised almost everything listed above. In addition to burnout, he cited damage to his vocal cords from (essentially) shouting all day. He shifted his focus to behind-the-scenes ventures: he is one of the founders of Polaris, and has also become the manager to his girlfriend Rosanna Pansino, a baking celebrity with nearly 15 million subscribers. That said, in 2023 he began using his auxiliary channel again, both posting new content and, in some cases, re-releasing old favorites.
Compare and contrast with TotalBiscuit and Day9's Starcraft II commentaries.
Provides examples of:
- Arch-Enemy: Apparently with Jesse Cox of OMFGcata, whom he interacted with for one of the first times on video in the second The Game Station podcast. Amazing how much of a reaction three hours causes.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Some things will distract him whenever he cast; the most known thing is Pylo, though he's also been known to zoom in on random doodads and critters.
- He's also known for coming up with the weirdest backstories or analogies for any random unit that amuses him.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Husky is probably one of the most congenial, likeable and enthusiastic youtubers out there; hell, he's credited with helping TotalBiscuit out of a MAJOR jam. However, tired Husky will destroy all you love just for kicks. Case in point.
- Big "NO!": When Pylo was destroyed.
- Career-Ending Injury: During his first livestream in 4 years, Husky explained that he had begun to strain his vocal cords after years of enthusiastic casting. He would sometimes lose the ability to speak after only a couple hours of vocalizing. After assistance from vocal coaches, he recovered, but with clearly revised habits; in his videos on Ro's channel, he speaks in a more measured cadence and uses his natural deeper voice instead of straining himself with Tenor Boy production.
- Catchphrase: How Mike starts his videos:Hello everyone, this is H- to the -usky Husky here!
THOR IS HERE!
Fleet bacon on the way.
It's gettin' too hot!
Oh no, I've made a HUGE mistake!
Hope you guys enjoyed it, and I will see you guys next time! - Cool Car: Had an entire video devoted to his beloved car (a 2011 Subaru WRX STI), which he spent several years working for.
- Comically Missing the Point: Jesse was told by Husky about how his poll on Facebook on what to nickname his next Pokemon was nothing but obscenities (the eventual winner was "DickButts"). Husky was upset that they didn't fit the character limit.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Among his internet commentator colleagues at Polaris, Husky is by far the most specialized in Blizzard games (Starcraft in particular, obviously)... which makes him ill-qualified to speak about basically anything else. This was telling during the podcast he was a guest host on, where he spoke the least compared to every single guest to date.
- Epic Fail: In late 2012 Husky started doing a Let's Play of the Warcraft III campaign. The final Scourge mission, Protect Kel'Thuzad for half an hour, somehow became "Let's attack the enemy's base," despite his first attempt to do so being easily rebuffed. The resulting Disaster Dominoes ended with Husky using Kel'Thuzad to tank and his Death Knight to heal... and failing, at 00:00:00 left on the timer.
- Face Palm: Husky started casting Bronze League level games for fun in March 2013, and the frustratingly inept play has sometimes driven him into outright wallbanger moments. Case in point.
- General Ripper: In his Civilization 5 videos, he proceeds to annihilate all of the other civilizations with sheer military might and for flimsy reasons. He destroyed Poland because they demanded whales from him, and his first reaction to finding the other continent on the map was to send a massive invasion fleet to their shores.
- Hidden Depths: He's not half-bad at rapping actually, even though he will call himself bad frequently.
- Keet: Not even getting his car broken into stops him from being cheery on-camera.
- He even sounds pretty upbeat after being woken at 1:30AM by a fire evacuation.
- He even sounds pretty upbeat after being woken at 1:30AM by a fire evacuation.
- Large Ham: At times. Particularly when he joked about casting his family's Thanksgiving Dinner.
- Metaphorgotten: Makes analogies of something happening in the game with mundane things, only to end them with ingame events.
- Motor Mouth: Especially during the micromanagement-heavy parts. He frequently jokes about how his "WPM" (words per minute) will soon approach his "APM" (actions per minute).
- Mundane Made Awesome: Husky can make almost anything sound intense and awesome if he casts it like he does with Starcraft. He's joked about casting, among other things, his family's Thanksgiving dinner.
- Nerves of Steel: As proved by his Let's Play of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, particularly when contrasted to Day9's performance at same a year earlier.
- Nice Guy: Genuinely a pleasant person to be around, as his colleagues on The Game Station can attest to. The worst you will get out of him is Tranquil Fury.
- The Nicknamer: Husky has a major habit of giving things his own names because it amuses him, most famously "Pylo" for regular Pylons. He's also credited with re-dubbing the "One-one-one" Terran build the "Destiny Cloud Fist" build because he liked it better, which has since caught on in the Starcraft community.
- Promoted Fanboy: Very much so.
- Growing up as a fan of professional Starcraft Brood War commentary and gameplay, Husky is now one of the most well known English casters; he is also a fan of Day9, who frequently commentates with Husky now.
- Husky's fame as an amateur commentator also led to him getting Beta keys to Starcraft II, which led to his channel mushrooming in popularity.
- Husky and Kurt were also, weirdly enough, fans of each other before they knew each other personally; Kurt just sent Husky an email one day asking if he wanted to create StarCraft-based music together, and a few months later Husky remembered the email and wrote in the draft for "Banelings".
- Real Men Wear Pink: Loves the color pink for some reason.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: A few minutes towards the start of every cast tends to be these. The opening of a Starcraft game tends to be boring economy building, but Husky doesn't like speeding games up in case something crazy does happen, and even when he prepares player stats to read out they often don't fill much time. To avoid awkward silences while he waits for the conflict to start, he rambles about pretty much anything that happens to hold his interest, from recent events in the Starcraft community to pulling off slick stunts on his desk chair.
- Squee: Husky frequently has this reaction to things he finds adorable... including particular elements of the Zerg.
- The Stoic: Seems to have no emotion outside of StarCraft casts. It's seriously like a switch was flicked and all the energy was turned off. Watch the second episode of The Game Station podcast, where he plays up the "emotionless man" haircut he recently got to absurd levels.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: Acts this way in the second The Game Station podcast, with Jesse as the Wise Guy.
- The Unfunny: Going with The Stoic outside of StarCraft; during the second The Game Station podcast, TotalBiscuit and Dodger are cracking up over Jesse Cox's jokes, while Husky stares straight on. Apparently, Husky had sworn to brace himself against Day9's humor, and has become immune to Jesse's.
- Verbal Tic: "I feel like...". Shared with his friends, too, such as Ahnaris Starcraft and Press Heart To Continue.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Husky loves to avert this by talking about units as though they're actual soldiers, praising a heroic performance, lamenting a tragic death, or even just wondering aloud what they're thinking. Perhaps the biggest instance of this trope was "Pylo the Pylon", who died halfway through a game where the Protoss player ultimately lost, making Pylo's sacrifice in vain. And yes, we're talking about a random supply building.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: A frequent reaction early on in his Bronze League Heroes series, wherein Husky casts the lowest levels of ranked play in StarCraft II. Although he gradually built up an immunity to players' appalling build order/micro/scouting/etc., once in a while a rare moment of sheer incompetence will leave him speechless.
- "...I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you guuuys next tiiime!"
