From ex-satay seller to the most prominent caster in MPL Indonesia, this is the story of RANGER EMAS and how his INI BENCANA got immortalised in Mobile Legends.
When talking about Mobile Legends, we remember the drama, the teams, the players, and the moments that made them glorious. However, we sometimes forget about the person whose voice narrates these moments, these teams, these players, these dramas, and makes them poetic.
They are the casters; today, we highlight one of their kind in a story. This is the story of RANGER EMAS, the first caster of Mobile Legends immortalised into a battle emote.
For his story, we sat down for an interview with the man himself, Fauzianska Ramadhan, better known as RANGER EMAS or Oji, an interview with a blessing from MOONTON Games.
He shared his humble beginnings from his hardship before esports into stardom, where his voice is now synonymous with MPL Indonesia.
The compelling hardship of his past
RANGER EMAS (bottom right) in high school. Image courtesy of RANGER EMAS
From the moment we talked with him, we knew he still felt surreal about the immortalisation of RANGER EMAS inside Mobile Legends, but he tried to keep his composure. We asked him, “How are you?” to which he answered confidently, “I’m fine.” At that moment, we knew that we were in for a ride.
We talked about his past first and how he started his journey in the esports Industry. “So, actually, the first thing is that Oji is a kid who likes to play games.” He admitted he was a net cafe kid who had played there since 3rd grade.
However, games were still seen as nothing but a hindrance to studying, so he had no one to support him in playing games.
“Until finally, in 2011, we had to focus more on high school. We let go of the game because we couldn't play at Net Cafe. Because back then, having a PC at home was difficult.” Oji admitted he didn’t come from a wealthy family. He continued by saying he couldn’t go straight to college after finishing high school.
Fate presented a choice for his future. Go to college and be a burden to his family or work so he can go to college. In the end, he chose to work. “Because I didn't have the skills, my first job was a private driver… Then, I became an online driver. Back then, I was one of the first online drivers in Indonesia.”
Besides working, he tried to apply to the military academy but failed to qualify twice.
His relentlessness in making a living for his family landed him a job in the F&B Industry, where he worked as a barista in a healthy food bar. “There was an opportunity. My partner invited me to open a Satay Taichan business.”
However, Satay Taichan wasn’t as popular back then as it is now in Indonesia. While waiting for customers, he played Mobile Legends to pass the time.
“At first, we didn't know that Mobile Legends existed. Until we were waiting for satay eaters, a friend played something like MOBA, but on a mobile phone.”
He was lucky to have a mobile phone that could play Mobile Legends. He said he played it every day while waiting for customers to arrive. “I never reached Legends at all. Even Epic, I never got to Epic 1 because I was so bad.”
With Mobile Legends, Lady Luck blessed him as he met his junior from high school, Ahmad Syahndy, known more as Senz. “Apparently, he had been developing esports in Indonesia for a long time. He was one of my bosses at Revival TV. His name was Senz.”
The early days of RANGER EMAS
Image courtesy of RANGER EMAS
RANGER EMAS first knew there was a competition for Mobile Legends when he delivered 100 skewers of Satay for Senz when the qualification of the MPL Season 1 happened.
“Even there, RRQ was still a qualifier team… Back then, there weren't too many casters for Mobile Legends. Two girls and two boys. But at that time, KB, my partner, now one of the Five Brothers, was sick.”
With a lack of casters inside the scene back then, MPL offered him a chance to prove himself even though he didn’t have any prior experience in casting, only by pure desire and will.
“And I wasn't getting paid at all. It was purely to help there. When I became a caster there, I just became myself there because I didn't know the casting rules. Noisy, like what's in MPL ID now. Jokes that weren't too segmented.” he admitted.
His first showing impressed the man behind the scenes. One of the producers even said he could become the most prominent caster someday.
“Back then, I'm not someone who likes to be in front of the camera; I can't talk in front of the camera, I can't talk in front of people like now, if not because MPL gave me a chance.”
However, Oji didn’t change his life overnight. The struggle to make a living for himself still haunted him. “The question is not do you want to work, but my friend asked, Oji, do you still want to eat tomorrow?”
The pay rate wasn’t the highest when you just started in the industry. Oji must choose his path back then, whether he stayed selling satays or walked the uncertain path of the caster.
“My income as a caster was maybe only 1,2 million a month, at the most, while my Taichan venture was at 3 million. But I always have the instinct I can; I don't know why. I'm a gambler; I dare to take a risk. Okay, Taichan, we close it, we let go of it. I became a caster.” And so Oji fixed his path to stardom.
He took a considerable risk to continue his journey in Mobile Legends. He had just entered college with a hefty tuition debt and a family to provide. But he persevered and reaped the rewards.
“My two friends were quite jealous of what I have because they don't dare to take a chance or a risk.”
Kornet, RANGER EMAS, and KB. Image courtesy of MPLI
RANGER EMAS confessed that his first season was full of rejection because of the way he cast. He said hypecasting wasn’t favoured in Indonesia as people preferred the calm type back then.
“The first season was quite heavy for me. Esports, what we knew was technical. Fast, but the tone is calm, not shouting or hyping, unlike football or sports. But I'm not like that; I'm the type like, well, my true self.”
He was loud and always looked like he was having fun, but simultaneously, he reached the viewers' hearts. They felt the vibe in the arena, even only from their eyes.
However, not everyone liked him, as he admitted the mockery continued until 2019, well into his third year in the Mobile Legends scene.
He then paid tribute to the 5 Brothers, the group where he felt more like a family. “In Mobile Legends, I have 5 brothers. We used to be mocked and insulted; we were put aside. But with these five brothers, we became a family because the five of us were sure we could bring Mobile Legends big. There was I, Volva, Abed Ansel, Kornet, and also Professor KB, who is still in MPL with me.”
He believed that nowadays, almost all casters have the same pattern. He felt like he was one of the pioneers of this kind of casting in Indonesia.
Interestingly, producers told him to slow down in his early casting days to fit the calm caster mould. However, one of the 5 Brothers members, Volva, mocked his way of slow casting and asked him to be himself.
“One time on live stream, while we were talking, my friend Volva asked for paper, a paper with a pen. He wrote it because we were streaming: ‘Your cast is evil, it's sh**, your casting is. Just be yourself, be yourself.’ I'm down, sad, upset. I called My parents, asked for their prayers, and finally tried to be my original self.” Reminisce Oji, remembering his friend who had already passed away.
The immortalised INI BENCANA
Image courtesy of Ranger Emas
Through MPL Indonesia, Oji felt he had found his voice. From humble beginnings into the big name he is today in Mobile Legends. His voice is synonymous with the competition itself. His life changed completely.
“From really minus (poor), now I can buy a private vehicle for my parents. In Indonesia, vehicles are essential. My house was leaking every time it rains, now it’s fixed. I could send my brother to school, I could finish college, I could send my parents to do Hajj, I could Umrah.”
“I even met important people because of MPL ID. MPL ID couldn’t be separated from myself as my identity. I was even introduced as one of the casters of MPL ID. My brother introduced me to one of the Indonesian embassy’s security leaders as one of the best casters in Indonesia.”
He then talked about his signature INI BENCANA phrase. As many people know, the word itself was used when something disastrous happened in the game.
Oji said the phrase was inspired by one of the esports casters from the past, TobiWan, for his “It’s a Disaster” phrase during the grand final of The International 5 between Evil Geniuses and CDEC Gaming.
“‘It’s a disaster’ could mean a lot. There is ‘musibah’, there is something else. Why did I choose ‘bencana’? Because bencana could be seen as team defeat or team destruction when competing, musibah doesn't seem to fit.”
He also acknowledged that his phrase wasn’t that original, as he had taken inspiration from TobiWan and implemented it in his casting.
RANGER EMAS and his mother; Image courtesy of RANGER EMAS
However, he also condemned everyone who said he was just an impostor and questioned them why they weren't trying it back then, and now that it was famous, they got offended.
Oji shared that when MOONTON contacted him to ask if he was interested in making an INI BENCANA Battle Emote, he couldn’t believe it and felt speechless.
He also said that this is how MOONTON appreciated his work in MPL Indonesia, as he became the first caster to have a Battle Emote.
“The legacy. Money can be found, but the legacy, story, history, nothing can be replaced. There will be other casters with Battle Emotes in-game or anywhere, but I'm sorry, I'm the first.” said Oji proudly.
He ended his story with a little quote: “For those of you who didn’t believe how difficult my situation was, can look up for RANGER EMAS, Ex-driver, Ex-Satay seller, and how small the income as a caster in Indonesia and now I could be this big. Many thanks to Allah, my family, and MPL ID, who still believes in me as a caster.”
Oji never backed down from challenges, from low points to highest highs. Mobile Legends immortalised RANGER EMAS as one of the most prominent figures in the game by making him a Battle Emote.
For others, INI BENCANA might spell doom, but for him, it was his brightest moment in Mobile Legends.
