EPTYesterday I attended Dreamhack invitational, and I must say: It was amazing!
After a three hour drive we arrived in Stockholm, and pretty much drove directly into a large parking house, walked for about five minutes and went directly to the line. About 100 people stood before us, which at the moment felt like 1000.
The first thing that happened was a girl begging us to sell her one of our tickets, but we refused. She told us to name the price and maybe I considered it for a few seconds, but no. She looked sad and went for the next guy (no, there weren't much girls around
) in line. Finally she succeeded and got a hand for a ticket for 600kr (about 100 dollars).Also, Coca-Cola handed out free Coca-Cola Zero's for the nerds. Luckily for the cute girl, she was wearing a SWAT suit which potentially could protect her from all the dry humping.
Once the line started to move it was pretty smooth. We went straight in for the arena and we could pretty much pick our seats. We chose to sit on 4th row in front of one of the booths. Seats were pretty comfy and we had lots of leg space. I could without any problems stretch my legs if I wanted to.
When the event started I got really hyped. The host 2GD did an amazing job, looking more handsome than ever. I remember the first feeling I got when the crowd started cheering: "Wow, this is an ENTIRELY different experience". So, this certainly won't be the last time.
First game off was MC vs MorroW. No one would be surprised to see MC as the favorite, but since MorroW had the home stage everyone was pretty much hoping for him to make an upset.
Game 1 was pretty standard PvZ. Roach/hydra vs protoss death ball. MC grabs the lead, 1-0.
Game 2 was neat. They started off on Crossfire and MC going for blink stalkers. MorroW did however do an amazing job at defending, getting the upper hand right away. MC tried to transition into death ball, and got up to about 130 supply when they clashed. MorroW did a great job (with 50 supply more than MC) and sniped the 2 collossi. From here on he could pretty much roll MC, but took the safe path and went for a 3rd, THEN rolled MC. Great job and the match was now tied, 1-1.
Game 3 I can't remember much, except for the fact that MC looked got damn impressive. No flaws which ended in MorroW having to tap out.
Notes: In the beginning of the game, MC said: "sweden water great." Which of course, it is
Also, NaNiWa showed up and sat right in front of us
Next game was IdrA vs TLO. Both beeing quite confident in themselves winning, 2-0. TLO started of with 1-rax, denying IdrA the scout. He didn't fetch any gas which everyone was thinking was to lead into an expand. But no, he threw up 1 additional rax. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. A total of 7 rax and the audience went crazy. He moves out with about 12 marines and moves towards IdrA's expand. IdrA spotting the tactics, throwing up a bane nest, and a lot of lings. TLO pushes and gets lots of stuff killed, IdrA doing the smart thing cutting of reinforcements. I remember the long stream of marines coming from TLO's base, and they I watched the supply. It was 86 vs something like 40. I was amazed. IdrA fends off the first attack with lings and everyone cheered. Now everyone thought that IdrA was safe, but the stream kept going and IdrA making some mistakes, running with banes of creep and TLO pushed further in to the base and took the game, 1-0.
The next two games weren't super interesting IMHO. Fun macro games, altho IdrA pretty much outclassed TLO, winning two straight games.
The interview was fun. IdrA seemed happy, smiled and laughed.
Note: We got to sit beside HuK who was wearing his classic hoodie. Nerdgasm.
Next was HuK vs SjoW.
The first game HuK made a 3-gate early pressure build which totally demolished SjoW since he didn't build any bunker. I didn't think much of SjoW after that, especially since he played Night Elf in Wc3
Game 2 and 3 was pretty neat. SjoW did an amazing job with banshees, putting HuK out of his rythm, taking two straight games. HuK seemed pretty down after that one, but there is no shame in beeing beat by SjoW. Well played both of them.
Next game was the swedish hero Jinro vs the beast from the east, White-Ra.
I don't know what to say about these games. Jinro really seemed to have his mind set and played the two games the same way, which was disappointing. White-Ra played two flawless games and beat Jinro without too much problems. He did however get lucky which his push in the second game when Jinro's Planetary was 10 seconds from finishing. But GG's.
Interview with White-Ra was really fun. His english isn't top notch but everyone understood what he was saying. He said he used "special tactics" to win, which got to be the thing of the evening. Fans made cheerfuls with "special tactics"
Note: Got to sit next to TLO, nerdgasm again!
Semi 1 vs between MC and IdrA. Noone expected IdrA to win this, but game 1 was really, really good. I however got mad at IdrA for not attacking at several times when he would have totally rolled MC. But MC got back on his feat, and won. I felt that IdrA was pretty disappointed in himself. And it showed in the second game when he went 6 pool. MC beeing MC did however send the scout after pylon, and spotted it. Putting down two gates and defending without any doubt.
Semi 2 was between SjoW and White-Ra. Personally I couldn't pick one to root for. But after the first game, White-Ra again showed that his PvT was amazing. SjoW's drops were pretty much nullified every single time. Grandpa toss showing who's the boss.
The interview after this game was really awesome. White-Ra saying that he didn't come for the money, but for the community. Everyone got really pumped and I think that pretty much everyone was hoping for White-Ra to make and upset in the finals.
The finals: MC vs White-Ra
A PvP final. I like.
Game 1: 4 gate. White-Ra pushing on Tal'darim altar. Force fields won't do much good. He stood outside MC's base, trying to get an opening. And boy did he get it. He managed to sneak a probe inside the base, completely changing the game. The probe build two pylons in the mineral line. The fight was amazing, MC doing his best microing, but White-Ra, experienced as he is, warped in zealots in the mineral line which ended up in MC having just 4 probes. He gg's out.
The audience went totally nuts and the cheering was louder than ever before. COULD HE DO IT?, was on everyones mind. MC rolled White-Ra just a few weeks ago in a Bo3. But just before that, White-Ra actually won a BO1 in world championship.
Game 2: Both players wen't for 3-gate robo. Balance was pending, back and forth between the two. Stalkers sniping observers. MC researched blink and White-Ra went for both expand and collossi. MC pushed out. Everyone was thinking that MC would take this considering how much minerals White-Ra just spent. But White-Ra doing an EXCEPTIONAL work on defense, killing everything that MC had plus an expand. MC taps out.
The cheering somehow got louder and I could see that White-Ra was getting really nervous. On contrary belief, MC also looked nervous and broke down.
The next two games was really dominant from MC. His micro was just insane, punishing White-Ra for making too much probes. MC pretty much went for an all-in 4-gate in game 3 with only 20 probes to 28 of White-Ra. MC got the upper hand and now tied the set, 2-2.
The final game was approaching. MC doing a really smart thing, doing a proxy 2-gate which wasn't scouted by White-Ra. He sees them too late and gg's out.
MC really looked happy and jumped out of the booth, waving his arms. Great comeback by a great player.
I was really sad for White-Ra. I'd say that he was more worthy of those money, but MC was the winner, fair and square.
The event was run AMAZING. Games were on time, great commentating by Apollo and Demuslim.
Overall it was super super great. I'm certainly doing this again sometime.
