Are you a gaming fan? If yes, then there is a good chance you must have heard about ‘Starbeast’. Passionate gamers associated with the mobile game “Call of Duty” know Michael Vlaicu as the Starbeast whose exclusive stream has thousands of viewers live and continues to capture gamers’ imagination worldwide.
Michael was just 13 years old when he became an original member of Team Liquid and played alongside Victor “Nazgul” Goosens for the world-famous Real-Time-Strategy game StarCraft in its debut avatar. During his initial days as a gamer, Starbeast, a pro-Zerg player, often found himself ranked among the top players in the world. At that time, his original alias was “BeaSt.”
After building his expertise in StarCraft, Michael moved on to Warcraft 3, where he is known to pioneer the high creep Tower strategies, resulting in him breaking the world solo ladder record with 145 victories and just 10 defeats. He was known to build defensive Night Elf race towers and use the same offensively to kill the highest tier dragons and obtain the highest skill items in the game.
His expertise got him immense recognition from the experts as well, like Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind the game. Talking about his early days, Michael says, “It was during my time of StarCraft & Warcraft that I noticed my typing skills had come in handy. I felt like a superhero among my competitors and I just wanted to keep that exhilaration going.”
Considered to be a true ‘OG’ gamer, Starbeast has cut his teeth on some of the earliest versions of video games such as Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein 3D, and Quake. He specifically developed a liking for First Person Shooters (FPS). Speaking about the same, he says, “I loved combining my fast-typing skills with the accuracy of the mouse. Back then we had the trackball mouse, so it was a lot harder to actually aim well. I believed this made me better for today’s FPS games, as using mice today is much easier.”
Once he joined the ranks of the highest winning percentage solo players in the world, he took the decision to open up his Twitch channel as well, named after himself, Starbeast. However, despite achieving recognition, the times were tough, as Michael revealed, “The early days were tough. I had to grind for everything. I didn’t know anyone in the industry, all of my past colleagues had moved on, I was this old guy looking for a place to belong.”
However, the hardships could not force Michael to give up. He carried on streaming, while also hosting some of the largest charities on Twitch, which is another significant aspect of his personality – helping the needy.
Being a Facebook Gaming pro, Starbeast’s exclusive stream as one of Facebook’s biggest partners continues to revolutionize the gaming scene with his Call of Duty Mobile gameplay, in which he pushes intelligence in an aggressive manner, earning many young followers in return. Paying a tribute to thousands of his fans and gaming colleagues, Michael has the last word, “COD Mobile is my favourite game of all time. This is the future – it allows you to play on PC, Tablet and Phones.”