Sean Plott

Sean Plott

Sean "Day[9]" Plott
Born June 27, 1986
Leawood, Kansas
Residence San Francisco, CA
Nationality American
Other names "Day[9]", "Day[J]", "StriderDoom", "SleepingDrone" (formerly)
Alma mater Harvey Mudd College
University of Southern California
Occupation Commentator, Host, Netcaster, Game designer
Relatives Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott
Website
www.day9.tv

Sean Plott (born June 27, 1986),[1] more commonly known by his online alias Day[9], is an e-sports commentator for StarCraft II and a former professional StarCraft: Brood War player, known for his daily netcast titled "The Day[9] Daily". Plott qualified for the World Cyber Games in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and won the 2007 Pan-American tournament. He qualified for the American finals an additional three times and was recognized as the PC Gamer gamer of the year in 2010.[2][3] He regularly appears as a commentator at StarCraft tournaments worldwide, including Blizzcon in 2010, 2011[4] and 2013,[5] the Major League Gaming professional circuit, DreamHack,[6] the Team Liquid Star League,[7][8] and the 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series. In 2011, Plott was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Entertainment.[9] The New Yorker describes him as "arguably the most beloved figure in StarCraft, if not all of e-sports".[10] As of September 2013 he is also a game designer.[11]

Biography

Plott grew up in Leawood, Kansas, where he attended Rockhurst High School. During this time, he and his brother Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott began playing StarCraft: Brood War.[12] After graduating high school, he attended Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in mathematics. After college, Sean attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and in May 2011, earned a master's degree[12] in interactive media.

Career

StarCraft: Brood War

Plott was an avid player in the western StarCraft scene, participating in many tournaments around the U.S. Playing as Zerg. Plott's first major results came in 2004 when he was able to take 12th place in the World Cyber Games (WCG) USA tournament. Plott then went on to represent the U.S. at the WCG Grand Finals where he finished in the top 200.[13] Plott later placed 1st at the WCG USA tournament in 2005[14] and 2nd in 2006.[15]

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Plott speaking at PAX 2011

Sean began focusing on casting games with the release of StarCraft II while moving away from competitive playing of his own. He regularly casts for the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit, the seasonal DreamHack LAN, the Intel Extreme Masters' Cup, the North American Star League, and other tournaments. In addition, Plott is one of the stars of State of the Game, where he discusses current events within the StarCraft community along with other highly regarded members of the community, such as the show's caster J.P. "itmeJP" McDaniel. Plott has not played StarCraft II professionally since 2010's HDH Invitational, but has shown interest in returning to competitive play.

He was a primary caster of the BlizzCon 2011 tournament, from the regional invitational qualifiers to the finals at BlizzCon 2011. He has also cast a number tournaments he himself co-organized, including the After Hours Gaming League and the SC2 beta tournament, King of the Beta. In 2012, Plott appeared as a caster for the Red Bull LAN and MLG's Winter Championship.

Day[9] TV

Started in 2009, the Day[9] Daily is a daily webshow based around analyzing professional StarCraft games. Initially, the Daily was a webcast focused on high level StarCraft: Brood War play. With the release of the StarCraft II beta, the focus of the show shifted from Brood War to StarCraft II. The Daily currently presents itself as an edutainment webcast in which Plott breaks down professional-level replays of StarCraft II, or talks about how players can improve their gameplay.[16] Special episodes, such as 'Funday Monday' and 'Newbie Tuesday', are cast each week, in which Sean asks players to submit before then replaying a particular uncommon tactic, or explains some fundamentals of the multiplayer game.[17]

In Daily #100, Sean talked about his life of StarCraft, and how it came to define him as both a gamer and a person. Plott, in Daily #400, took a more general look at the art of learning and self-betterment in any field, and took part in the SOPA blackout of January 18, 2012 in Daily #404. On the Day[9] Daily on May 11, 2011, he announced that he would be pursuing StarCraft II full-time. On May 31, 2011, during an appearance on the web show State of the Game, Plott announced that he intends to eventually stream himself playing the ladder in StarCraft II.

As of early 2013 Day[9] created a show called Day[9]'s Day Off, in which he plays through "non-StarCraft games" - these take place for a few hours every Friday on his TwitchTV channel; the day's output is then uploaded to YouTube over the following few days in approximately 30 minute length segments.

After Hours Gaming League

The After Hours Gaming League is a yearly gaming competition featuring major technology companies. In the StarCraft II tournament, the teams play a series of best of five matches. The winning team wins $5000 for the charity of their choice. Season one ran during the latter half of 2011 and team Microsoft was the winner, selecting Amnesty International to receive the prize money. Season two started in January 2012, ending in April with the crowning of team Epic Systems as champions. The medical software developer selected Doctors Without Borders as the recipients of the $5000 prize. The inaugural League of Legends tournament began in January 2012 featuring 11 teams, with Amazon taking first place.

Magic: The Gathering

On May 17–19, 2013, in San Diego, California, Sean competed in a Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour, Pro Tour Dragon's Maze. In 2013 Sean began hosting a Magic: The Gathering YouTube series called Spellslingers. In each episode, geek icons such as Felicia Day or Grant Imahara take on Sean with the hope of emerging victorious in an all-or-nothing match, while teaching the audience the tips and tricks to become a MTG expert.[18]

Game designer for Artillery

In September 2013 it was announced that Plott had joined new game company Artillery Games, Inc. in a game design role. He will be involved with the development of a browser-based realtime strategy game titled Project Atlas.[11][19]

References

External links