EPTHokay, so this is my first blog post and it shall be about my first LAN too! I just got back from going to the MLG tournament in Columbus. It was hands down one of the best weekends of my life. From beginning to end I was having fun. I honestly cannot thank the MLG staff enough for making this an incredible spectator experience. Sorry if this isn't the cleanest write-up. Im still exhausted from the week at it's 3:30 in the morning!
Day 1: It was a relatively short drive compared to most others that came. Only a 4 hour drive. Me and a friend of mine drove down from Michigan and went directly to the convention center. I knew I would be somewhat starstruck when I saw the pros, but I was not expecting Tyler, TLO, Naniwa, Thorzain, TT1, Select, and a bunch of others to be sitting around in the open when I got there. I unfortunately was too hesitant to meet any of them at the time, but I eventually met almost everyone I wanted to.
After some of that awkwardness I immediately went straight to the main stage...where I found no open seats. There were probably a couple hundred people surrounding the hundreds already sitting down ready to watch Idra vs. MC. I ended up sitting in the aisle way to watch an INCREDIBLE two games. My two favorite players are MC and Idra so this was like a nerds dream for me. After that I spent most of the day just watching as many games as possible. This was the first case I've seen of there being too many incredible starcraft games. The game that certainly comes to mind though (besides the MC/Idra games) is Sjow vs. MMA. They had an epic base trade situation that was so entertaining. I'm going to admit there was 1 thing bad about Day 1. There were so many incredible games that I only had one dr. pepper and two pieces of stride gum as my dinner.
Day 2: I actually am not going to write much for this. I don't have the best memory and for some reason days 1 and 3 overshadow this day and I can barely remember it at the moment. The days also are starting to blend together. There a lot of pictures with pros. A lot of AWESOMEEEEEE games. A lot of subway. A lot of Dr. pepper. A lot of Stride Gum. I was upset that Catz had to forfeit for being late cause Catz is awesome. I also bought TLO a mango smoothie because he was out of cash. Hope he enjoyed it and I hope his hands feel better!
Day 3: At this point the only people I didn't really have a picture with were all the casters and Idra. So it was decided we get up early and get there early enough to catch them all walking in. Well it didn't work out so well. The best thing we got was a high five from Day9 as he went through the audience. I ended finding a good single seat by some people I had met and I watched all the games from 10-2. I still cannot believe the MMA vs. Idra series. I laughed, I cried, I was angry. WHY DID YOU LEAVE IDRA!!!!! Seriously you had the game won. I will never get over this and I don't think a lot of other people will either. I have to give some credit to the guy who went up and got a picture with Idra directly after that game. He's got some major balls to approach Idra after that series.
Right after that monstrosity was MC vs. Thorzain on the smaller stage. It was yet another really good series. Thorzain has really become one of the best terrans in the world and I hope he keeps improving to become the best foreign terran out there! As the day went on the games got better. I finally got to meet Idra after he stomped Slush (who for some reason threw a ton of lings away into like 2-3 banes). Idra was extremely nice to all his fans which made me happy to see. I also cant even describe how fast Losira's hands are. Yeah you can see videos of his APM, but in person it is so much more incredible.
The worst part of this weekend was watching Idra defeat himself. I was hoping after the MMA schpeal that he wouldn't do anything else stupid. I was wrong =( Those games against MC were the bad side of Idra and I was very disappointed. Idra is probably my favorite player because he is so fucking good. His mechanics are almost perfect and I don't think anyone can match his knowledge of the game and timings. I want to see him win tournaments so bad because I know he is good enough to be winning them all.
I managed to get a couple pictures of Team EG when I went to go get dinner. They are all extremely nice and friendly guys. I hope they all do better next MLG! I got back just in time for the quick series between Naniwa and MC. I really enjoyed it. Naniwa seemed so happy to be playing against the best protoss in the world that he was just smiling like crazy when he lost. They were pretty entertaining games and really showed how strong MC is. I still think Naniwa would have lost either way if he didn't dance. Could have been close though. The MC/ Losira series was also extremely entertaining. That game between them was aweeeeeeeeeesomeeeeeeeeee. I was cheering so freaking loud during that match. It also helps i'm a huge MC fan. Even though MC lost, I was glad it was to someone as good as Losira. There was not one game that Losira just played bad. He is so incredible. He confirmed my top three zerg as Nestea, Idra, Losira.
But finally.......the finals!!!!!!! The crowd cheering for a good 1-2 minutes straight was so epic! I really hope the Koreans enjoyed all the hype we were giving them. They deserve it and I hope it makes them want to come back! The games between MMA and Losira were so intense. SO much action was going on all the time. MMA won it with his three-pronged attacks though. His multitasking has no equal. Attacking Losiras army head on while dropping the 3rd/4th and the main was so good! MMA is definitely the player to watch for the next couple months in the GSL. I'm very happy that he won this MLG.
I will always remember this MLG. I had constant fun for three days straight. My voice is completely gone from cheering so loud. MLG did an incredible job and I hope they know how much everyone enjoyed it. The crowd also made this tournament awesome. Everyone I met was so incredibly nice. Even most of the Halo fans. I will likely be going to Raleigh at the end of the Summer and am looking for it to be just as amazing of an experience. I highly recommend everyone to go to an MLG event. They are entertaining beyond belief and you WILL have a blast.
p.s. moar chairs please =P
Here are all the pictures I took with the pros and cute girls from MLG.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63765772@N02/?saved=1
Apologies: Id like to apologize a bit to a couple people I met this weekend.
1) Tastosis. They were in a huge hurry and needed to go. I felt like that dick fan getting a picture with them and holding them up. But it was completely worth it because it was almost impossible to get a picture with them otherwise. I still feel bad though=/
2) EdwardStarcraft. Lol this one was pretty bad. I went up to Edward and immediately asked if he was Hot_Bid trying to get a picture with him. I had been looking around for the team liquid staff and I jumped on this chance. Easily one of the most awkward and embarrassing moments of my life. Edward if you read this you're awesome and I love your interviews!
Shout Outs: Id like to give a couple shout outs to EGMachine and Kennigit. Out of all the pros/gamer people I met they were by far the coolest. I talked to both and it was really cool to converse with them. Thanks for making my MLG experience that much better!
Hopefully I manage to make my way to Anaheim! Great pictures.
