EPTWednesday the 18th – Arrival in cologne
I’ll keep this one short since common people like me weren’t allowed into the GamesCom so I didn’t even see any of the games. Just did a little bit of sightseeing, visited the Kölner Dom,
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![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982032571_FjzRU-M.jpg)
and even found a TL horse
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![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982034183_TwSTZ-M.jpg)
Then I went to the GamesCom Camp and slept for about 1 hour since it was ridiculously cold and being the smart person I am I was a bit unprepared, but even when lying in bed with blanket, jeans and a massive wool pullover I was freezing, ending up in me having one of the worst nights of my life.
Thursday the 19th – Gamescom Day 2
Nonetheless I got up in a positive spirit, until on my way to the Gamescom I came upon shocking news:
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982034616_3qsvo-M.jpg)
rough translation: Kidney contusion! Worries about Mondragon
Damn, how is Mondragon supposed to attend the games now??!!
When I arrived at the GamesCom I was surprised about just how huge the area was. Also it was loud as hell
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982034961_Ap2z8-M.jpg)
You can tell these guys are waiting to play WoW by their more than averagely voluminous figures.
I realized pretty fast that I was not gonna wait in line for any games because for all the interesting ones it would take forever to play them, and that’s not exactly what I came for anyways.
So I went straight to the ESL area and saw a certain dude some of you may know:
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982035628_zAGCN-M.jpg)
Later on when the games started I met Zatic, TLO, TBO, Nicky and Artosis. When I shook the latter’s hand and introduced myself he slowly said “Hello, I’m Artosis”, while his eyes and the sound in his voice were mostly saying “LoL like you don’t know who I am already…”
Needless to say, the games were great, and being there live rather than just watching it at home truly added to the experience. Everytime a huge terran army would dissolve into green baneling goo the crowd went wild, clapping with enthusiasm.
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982038415_m7wCA-M.jpg)
this is many people, yes?
After the last game I was eventually by myself again and prepared to go home to the Camp but on the way out I coincidentally saw Nicky and d’Apollo, turned around and saw Morrow and introduced myself to him: “Yeah, I’m the guy who did that gay lovesong for your contest”.
Unfortunately I wasn’t aware that the guy next to him was Naniwa, but oh well ^^
Standing outside were several others of the players and I got talking to TLO again who was like “oh btw there’s actually 3 beds in our room”. Which, considering the last night, was the best thing anyone could have said to me.
Anyways, we ended up going to a nice Restaurant in which you could compose your own meal by choosing different ingredients. So there I was in a group with TBO, TLO, Cloud, Naniwa, Morrow, Nicky, White-Ra, Strelok, Dimaga, Artosis, Idra, suNNy, Zatic, d’Apollo. It was a bit surreal considering how many of these guys I had before just seen at home on my monitor.
Later on day9 joined our table for about 5minutes. We got the impression that he was just a tiny bit tired, could’ve had something to do with him being taller than his bed.
Eventually everyone went their ways and TLO, TBO and I went to the hotel. The night was not the best sleep I've ever had because every hour there would be a massive freight train passing by which woke me up most of the time. Nonetheless it was about a thousand times more comfortable than the night before. (And unlike Dario, I didn't have any important matches to play the next day)
Friday the 20th - Quarterfinals, Day of the TL meetup
Since I’m sure you’ve watched the games yourself (if not, shame on you) I’m just gonna go jump ahead right to the TL meetup. I was sitting next to someone who’s name I’ve forgotten and in front of SilveR (no, not the American Terran) , had a lot of SC-related conversations with him.
Everyone had his drinks, most had their food and hopefully all had their fun, eventually Tarson and White-Ra came up and I invited them to have some tequila shots.
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982039001_Qv2q4-M.jpg)
not very sharp but one of my favourite pics, White-Ra, me and Tarson
After the 2nd round White-Ra said “let’s have another one later”
After about 30 seconds of talking he said “OK lets have another round”
Tarson: “But you said you wanted to drink later”
White-Ra: “Well, we can have one now, and then another one later”
So the evening continued kinda like that, the tequilas piled up, the party partly moved outside
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982041205_8MK5K-M.jpg)
Afterwards several of us went to a club and I guess that’s all there is to say about that night.
Saturday the 21nd - Semifinals, Day of ESL's player party
Morrow vs Dimaga, Idra vs Tarson.
The first a series that was just exciting as hell, and the 2nd one a series in which Idra wrote SC2-history, owning up Terran with a tactic he had only heard of 30 minutes prior on TL.
After the games I was trying to get a ticket to the night’s ESL player’s party. Thanks to Fishyjoes I did, I also managed to kill the time with him after he invited me to his home, eating Chinese food and talking about SC (Big surprise!)
At about 10 pm we arrived at the player’s party, free entrance, free alcohol and decent music.
The best part: I got to see Dimaga dancing.
And man, watching him dance, it fills you up with joy, you start seeing everything in fuzzy warm rainbow colours, it’s just that much fun :p
It was hard to tell that this was the guy who lost in a hard-fought dramatic BO5 series just a few hours ago.
Anyways, here are some pictures from the Dancefloor!
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982040925_5P8tm-M.jpg)
Dimaga and Tarson dancin it up
Eventually a circle was formed
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982038413_SeZz6-M.jpg)
And there was always one person in the middle of said circle to show his gosu dancing skills.
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982039087_LayB3-M.jpg)
Our well-behaved schoolboy DeMuslim watching with a mix of confusion, shock and admiration as d’Apollo pulls his dance moves
When Dimaga went into the middle everyone around started shouting
“DIMAGA! DIMAGA! DIMAGA! DIMAGA”
Then Demuslim stepped in to replace Dimaga
The shouting changed: “DEMUSLIM! DEMUSLIM! DEMUSLIM! DEMUSLIM!”
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982040332_9kd7g-M.jpg)
DeMuslim and Naruto in the Circle pit
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982037978_cwJar-M.jpg)
This woman thought she could resist the wild manliness of Dimaga
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…
…
![[image loading]](http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/photos/982041804_YAYay-M.jpg)
She was wrong
I don't quite remember when I went home but I certainly had a ton of fun the whole time. Only thing to complain about is that they didn't have proper beer there, but when everything's for free that's complaining on a very high level.
Sunday the 22nd - 3rd Place Match, Finals
When we arrived at the ESL area the next day the floor was still smelling of beer(-ish drinks). When TLO didn't wanna sit on the floor because of that, a spectator quickly gave up his seat for him. That's how much of a superstar he is :p
"NarutO, you're fucking stupid" - TheLittleOne
After the games Nazgul invited me and Fishyjoes to join the others for dinner. I hadn't even eaten a single thing yet because I was pretty damn broke because I had already exceeded my weekly withdrawal limit.
We ended up going to Vapiano to eat, later on we switched to another place for beers.
There were a lot of SC2 discussions, talk about the game and about balance, talent, the famous one-base rage build, SC players vs WC3 players, reminding of the TL forums, except these guys know what they're talking about.
Which also made it a bit intimidating for me to say anything there ^^
Artosis and Nazgul seemed to disagree about pretty much anything, and it was fun to see Artosis get as angry and emotional as you would expect :p
Most had quite a few beers except for Morrow who had arrived inbetween and only had a coke.
Overall it was a very nice evening to cap the whole trip off.
When I got up the next day and made my way to the train station I had an earworm of DTs On Top and a big grin on my face.
Thx everyone for reading this, and big big thanks to TLO, TBO, Fishyjoes, Ghardo and Nazgul.
I've had some of the most fun I had had in a long time, I still can't get over how much of a blast I had.
Congratulations Morrow, I hope you've done some serious celebrating in Sweden.
<3 TL
Till next year
