Reckful

Byron Daniel Bernstein (May 8, 1989 – July 2, 2020), better known by his online alias Reckful, was an American Twitch streamer and professional Esports player. Bernstein was best known in the gaming community for his achievements in World of Warcraft and Asheron's Call.[2][3][4][5]

Reckful
Bernstein in 2019
Born
Byron Daniel Bernstein

(1989-05-08)May 8, 1989
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJuly 2, 2020(2020-07-02) (aged 31)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide
NationalityIsraeli-American
Years active2009–2020
Home townLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Career information
GamesWorld of Warcraft
Asheron's Call
Hearthstone
Career history
2009–2011compLexity Gaming[1]
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2009–2020
Followers968k
Total views112.6 million
Follower and view counts updated as of August 2020.

Personal life

Byron Daniel Bernstein was born into a Jewish family. He had two older brothers, named Guy and Gary. The eldest, Guy, committed suicide in July 1995.[6][7] Bernstein has said this event had a profound effect on his life and his subsequent struggles with depression.[8]

Bernstein died from suicide on July 2, 2020.[8][9][10]

Career

In World of Warcraft, he finished rank one online for six seasons in a row, and never used spells that were deemed a "necessity" such as mutilate. He was the first player to reach 3000 rating and won Major League Gaming's World of Warcraft tournament in 2010.[11]

In 2011, Bernstein released the gaming movie Reckful 3. It reached one million views within a week (as of July 2020, the video has nearly six million views).[12] He later won the WarcraftMovies top skilled contest, in which players cast their vote for player of the year.[13] In 2012, he became a developer, operations manager, and concept designer at Feenix, a gaming mouse company.[14] He created his YouTube channel in October 2012 and followed in November with his first video, "Reckful 5 stack Taste for Blood".

In 2017, Bernstein was ranked fourth in The Gazette Review's list of top ten richest streamers. He claimed to have a net worth of $1.5 million and was receiving up to 50,000 viewers per stream.[15][16]

Bernstein played poker and entered the 2016 Unibet Open London main event, but was knocked out early.[17] In November 2017, Bernstein played in a charity poker event sponsored by PokerGO.[18] The event was won by itsHafu.[19]

In May 2018, Bernstein began releasing a podcast called Tea Time with Byron, which features long-form interviews with notable guests in the gaming and streaming communities such as Pokimane and Hikaru Nakamura. A total of 6 episodes were released, the last one on March 31, 2020.[20][21]

Before his death, Bernstein was in the process of creating an MMO called Everland.[22]

In August 2020, Blizzard and World of Warcraft paid tribute to Bernstein with an in-game trainer, named after his online alias Reckful. The character is placed inside the Cathedral of Light, an in-game landmark where the community gathered to pay Bernstein a tribute following the news of his death.[23]

LAN achievements

World of Warcraft
  • 3rd Place MLG Dallas 2009[24]
  • 2nd Place MLG Orlando 2009[25]
  • 2nd Place MLG Columbus 2010[26]
  • 1st Place MLG Washington DC 2010[27]

Hearthstone
  • 3rd–4th Place 2013 Innkeeper's Invitational

References
  1. Miesner, Andrew. "Complexity Gaming". Complexity Gaming. Archived from the original on June 27, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  2. Kwok, Samuel. "ArenaJunkies Interview". ArenaJunkies. Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  3. Rapture, Jeff. "Curse Interview". Curse. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  4. Enarce, Aleks. "Prestige Gaming Russia". Prestige Gaming Russia. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  5. Micayla, Elane. "IGN – AC Vault". IGN. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  6. "Eli Eli (Guy Bernstein's Pictures)". Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  7. Shafer, Ellise (July 2, 2020). "Byron 'Reckful' Bernstein, Popular Twitch Streamer, Dies at 31". Variety. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  8. "Reckful: Tributes paid after gaming star's death". BBC News. July 3, 2020.
  9. Grayson, Nathan (July 2, 2020). "Twitch Streamer Byron 'Reckful' Bernstein Dies At 31". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  10. Messner, Steven (July 2, 2020). "Prominent WoW and Hearthstone streamer Reckful has died at 31". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  11. Radford, Michael. "3000 Rating". SK Gaming. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  12. Boubouille, Beau. "MMO Champion". MMO Champion. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  13. Uzbeki, Sven. "Top Skilled". Warcraft Movies. Archived from the original on June 15, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  14. Adrian, Shayani. "Feenix Collection". Feenix Collection. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  15. Deml, Jessica (September 8, 2017). "Top 10 Richest Gaming Streamers". The Gazette Review. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  16. Asarch, Steven (October 28, 2017). "IRL STREAMING: SPONTANEOUS ENTERTAINMENT FOR AN AUDIENCE THAT'S ALWAYS LIVE". Newsweek. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  17. Glatzer, Jason (March 3, 2016). "2016 Unibet Open London Main Event Day 1a: Jan Riha Leads the Pack". PokerNews. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  18. Cross, Valerie (November 16, 2017). "Twitch Poker $100K Charity Invitational to Stream Live on Nov. 17–18". PokerNews. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  19. Daniel Smyth (November 20, 2017). "Poker Pros Welcome Gamers in Charity Poker Event for Twitch Streamers". Cardschat. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  20. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tea-time-with-byron/id1394987113/
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0f9fKS02Ls
  22. Olivetti, Justin. "Everland was the MMO Reckful was building before he passed away". Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  23. Carpenter, Nicole. "Blizzard immortalizes late World of Warcraft player Reckful in-game". Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  24. "MLG Dallas 2009". SK Gaming. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  25. "MLG Orlando 2009". SK Gaming. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  26. "MLG Columbus 2010". SK Gaming. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  27. "2010 Major League Gaming Pro Circuit Washington D.C. (World of Warcraft)". Esports Earnings. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
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