EPTSo yesterday (Saturday), after a poor day's laddering (Friday), I awoke at 9am after 3 hours sleep to get up for the finals. I was really pumped for the finals, so the lack of sleep was barely noticeable.
After showering/breakfast, I reconfirmed our meeting location - 1:30pm at Juan Station exit 1 (for food) and 3:00pm at Juan Station exit 1 (for the 3:20 bus). I left my hostel and bought some snacks/drinks from the store before taking the train to Juan. Annoyingly the ATM machine I normally use at Hapjeong had disappeared, a black square on the floor where it once stood.
This was the first time I'd actually left Seoul since I arrived, so I wasn't sure what to expect. There wasn't really much difference though, mainly just seeing a higher % of young children on the train ride and more guys in army uniform.
I arrived at Juan Station at around 12:30, as I had decided I didn't want to be late and that I could find the 1:30 people somewhere to eat. So I head out of exit 1 and look around for places to eat. It's a busy area with lots of shops/hotels/restaurants, so it didn't take long to find a couple of BBQ places that looked decent.
After I found some places, I went back into the station as it had a shopping centre and browsed around (Carefoot was also doing this as well at the same time, but we missed each other). At 1:20 I went to exit 1 and waited. During this time, Lewis called to say he'd taken the wrong train and would meet us later while Mikki called to say he'd be arriving at 3pm. I waited until about 1:50 before heading off to find where the bus left from.
This is when I found out the dumbest thing I've seen about Korea - Juan Station has 2 exit 1s.
...
So I found the other exit 1 on the opposite side of the building from the first exit 1. For now we'll call the first exit 1a and the other exit 1, exit 1b. Exit 1a is found underneath the building and is on the left as you exit the underground. Exit 1b is (I think) found if you take the stairs up from the platform and is on the right as you go out.
I found Carn and Carefoot next to the bus stop where the shuttle bus was supposed to be. After a small shouting match between Carn and I, we went to pizza hut and ate. Afterwards, Carefoot showed me an ATM he'd found, that wouldn't take my card.
Mikki arrived at Juan station and went to exit 1a, so I went to find him quickly as it was 3:10 and the bus was due to arrive soon. I got there and waited 2 minutes for him to show up. There were some more GSL fans (a white guy with 2 korean friends) who had also taken the wrong exit 1 and I directed them to the other side of the building.
Mikki shows up and Lewis calls to say they'll be there soon, so I decide to grab the next bus at 4:25 since we might as well go as a group if we're going to be late. I found Lewis/Eugene/Diane, all of which had taken exit 1a as well. They get some food with Mikki and we head to get the 4:25 bus. The bus arrives late and because of traffic, we reach the finals at about 5:10 and get our seats 5 minutes later.
There finals preshow was running as it had when I went to see the season 2 - the Korean commentator's mucking about with impressions and having a good time. It was pretty funny, but I wasn't really paying attention to it. At some point the Liquids walked past and we waved when we saw each other.
The place they were running the finals for season 3 was not even close to being as good as the place they used for season 2. Many of the seats couldn't see the main stage/main screen, they were all on the same level too. The ceiling was too high too, which made the sound echo a bit. When they started the games, they moved the booths back to the stage which meant we could see, but moved them forwards each time a player won. This became a problem as we were on MC's side and soon couldn't see the main screen.
Anyway, aside from the annoying problems with the venue, it was still pretty packed and the show was decent. I couldn't find Torch/Tastosis, but I wasn't too bothered. Someone had brought a box of oGs balloon sticks, so most of the crowd was using those.
The games started after a cool intro of the players. I couldn't understand what MC was saying, but I'm sure it was badass. The players got into their booths and the real show began. I'm sure someone with better knowledge and access to vods will do a better summary of the games, but I'll do some cliff notes (I'd recommend watching the games though).
Game 1 - Rain goes marine/tank without stim against a gateway/stargate army. MC expands to his backdoor while holding the marine/tank push and wins.
Game 2 - Massive back and forth game. Both players use effective usage of drops before Rain gets into a fight without his tanks seiged in time after landing some great EMPs, MC wins again.
Game 3 - MC scouts Rain going 2 rax, but Rain switches to 1/1/1 Cloaked Banshee instead. Rain denies all scouting attempts and kills MC's sentry ball with the first banshee. Rain takes the econ lead and with some excellent army control, kills MC's colossus with his Marauders before taking the game.
Game 4 - MC proxies a gateway and Rain reacts poorly, MC wins.
Game 5 - Rain tries to do a blue flame drop, but has to fend off a 4-gate push. Rain kills MC's workers but losses to the push. Game is close, but MC takes the win.
Between the games, some cool stuff happened. There were some funny spoof adverts that I hope GOM put on youtube. I go and talk to Ret and give him the Christmas present for Team Liquid.
The Nick Tasteless Plott music video gets revealed and Carefoot dances around the crowd while Koreans take photos. It was pretty cool to see this get revealed after having watched them film it. It was originally either GOM's or Torch's idea, but when filming, Torch wasn't really prepared for making an ass of himself on camera for other people's benefit - enter Carefoot. Carefoot spent about 20-25 minutes getting told what to do, mainly singing, dancing and making gangster signs at the camera. So seeing the end result was awesome and props to GOMTV for making it.
After the games, the award ceremony takes place, MC says some more badass things and proceeds to make out with his trophy for 10 minutes.
The raffle happens, we miss the bus (which was full anyway) and hang around for a bit. I try to get Carn to ask out GOM girl, but he only says hello. I give John (who was sick :<) the Christmas present for the GOM staff. We talk to Team Liquid some more and get some cool photos. Carefoot and I also grab a bundle of oGs balloon sticks each, Eugene grabs a massive poster and we head out.
It takes us a while to find our way to the nearest subway, but after 2 bus rides and getting a little lost, we find it.
I spend the first 15 minutes of the train ride recording before my battery runs dry. We spend the rest of the journey talking about the games and other stuff (saying "there are 2 gate 1s" is a good way to make Carn mad). It was late, so we decided to meet for dinner the next day and I grab some street food on the way home.
Spent the night uploading videos. Then today I get up in time to meet up for dinner, where we eat and I finish filming.
The past couple of days have been pretty awesome despite the drama. You can find the new videos on my youtube channel. Many thanks for reading.
