EPThttp://www.team-dignitas.net/articles/Blogs/Starcraft-II/154/Apollo-Dreamhack-Summer-2010-Blog/
--------------------------------------
Welcome to my blog for the amazing Dreamhack Summer event, hosted in Jönköping, Sweden! I am going to be writing up my experiences before leaving, during the event and my thoughts after leaving Sweden.
![[image loading]](http://www.team-dignitas.net/uploads/article_images/apollo_day9_w410_h200.jpg)
Sections:
- Preparation before the event
- Flying out and pick up from Göteborg
- First day at the event
- Second day
- Finals day
- Conclusion of the event
Preparation before the event:
Surprisingly there was a lot of effort going into the event weeks before I actually flew out, after such huge success at Dreamhack Winter and then followed by the Dreamhack invitational I felt that this event needed to equal if not top the previous events and I knew that this would require me to bring nothing but the best I could offer to the table.
Alongside coaching and spending time with my girlfriend I started to prepare for Dreamhack Summer about two weeks before I was due to fly out. The first thing I did was buying a notepad so I could write information and notes down within, I also needed some pens :D! I then sat down with the entire tournament list of 48 players and gave them all a page within my notepad, I filled their pages with information, previous tournaments and success, their styles, strongest matchups and any details that would give some background information for the spectators. After filling each page with information I moved on to actually filling my own commentary/playing leaks. I am a highly ranked masters Zerg player chasing Grandmasters, but before this event, I switched over to Random so that I could experience all matchups on all maps and get a better understanding and perspective of the game. Even though I dropped a lot and basically threw my hope of Grandmasters out the window, it was a lot of fun and I learnt a lot but more importantly, had a lot of questions of my own and personal leaks to fill. I spent a lot of time on Skype alongside players such as Grubby, MYM.SaSe, ToD, FuRy, Rotterdam, Desrow and Demuslim, whenever I had a question, I could theory craft with them and they helped me improve my weaknesses. We also watched tournaments together, GSL, Shoutcraft Inv and others, discussing the play from all players. I was relgiously taking notes from the tournaments I watched, noting our theory crafting discussions on skype etc. I am sure this time I spent before the tournament really helped me deliver a better show, where I could use my knowledge and understandings of the game to explain the actions of the professional players, what was going through their head and how they were putting that into play.
Flying out and pick up from Airport:
The day came! I had to fly out in the evening because I had booked a dentist appointment for my girlfriend so I had to take her there in morning! I didn’t do any more preparation on the last day, I just spent time with her since I was flying out for apparently 100hours before I was to return :D She helped me pack, that was awesome and I said my goodbyes and left for the airport! My flight was set to leave around 7pm UK time and arrive 10pm Swedish time where I had a lift waiting for me at the airport!! This is so awesome, I am a really bad traveller when alone, I have gotten lost in every country, Sweden, Italy, America (was easier though since people spoke english), Germany, each with their own story! So I was extremely greatful for GreyKarn (dreamhack) to organize a pick up for me and who better to pick me up, than levelupgamings Trance!! We are good friends so we had good talk and he bought me some food on the drive to Jönköping! I arrived at the event around 11pm and went inside and had a look around, it looked fantastic, the Day9 tent looked very impressive :D I eventually went to sleep around 2am that night!
![[image loading]](http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4260/img6698custom.jpg)
First day at the event
After going to sleep at 2am, I woke up around 6am... because.... Sean had woken up early because he was sleeping so much the day before! I was a little sad because I knew that going into day1 with only 4hours sleep would be so hard, despite that, we went for breakfast! I almost created a section in this blog just for the breakfast alone, omg, Swedish breakfast!! Meat filled sandwiches along with the best Orange Juice I have had in my entire life!! I couldn't believe how good it was and was a huge highlight for me! Every time day9 and I have worked together, breakfast is a must!!
We went over the the event and went to the player area where we talked briefly with Machine/Idra/Morrow and few others before having to go complete a sound check and find out how awesome the tent was! We got setup and prepared for the 10am stream opening!
I think the first day was the hardest for me because I had only slept 4hours, its very hard to concentrate all day and especially because we had a 16hour day in front of us :D! As predicted the day was tough, a LOT of games were covered and we basically didn’t get any breaks, the ones we did, we had to run to the toilet and finish food within few minutes, no time to actually sit back and relax, gather thoughts. I am sure you will remember the series between Dimaga and Socke which was a great for me... desperately needing to use the bathroom :D
I would like to thank the staff for dreamhack though who so helpful with bringing us food and drinks at any point during the day, there was no way we had time to do this, so they were amazing! My personal highlight on day1 was Thorzain vs JulyZerg, a pleasure to watch and commentate! We finished the show about 00:30am, 16hours! With 4hours sleep, I basically ran to the hotel to get as much sleep as possible as I knew I would have to wake up again soon to begin day2.
Second day at the event
I had a little more sleep, think I managed to get in 6hours so I felt a little better than the day before and was pumped to begin the 2nd half of the group stage and for the round of 16. Once again, day9 and I took to the breakfast floor and had a gorgeous first meal of the day, truly godlike. We went for setup again around 9:30 and got ready for the day ahead of us. Day2 was again extremely hectic, with little to no breaks with another 14~hour day! The best moments of the day 2 group stages for me were to get to be at the front row watching Bomber player, I am a huge fan of this guy before his rise to fame in CodeA and of course the series between HuK and Moon, to decide who would win the group. The crowd was awesome and I met a lot of great people that came out in the cold, wind and rain inside the tent to witness the best Starcraft 2 around!
After we finished up with the groups, we had the LIVE draw for the round of 16, that was something I had never done before and I cannot believe fate brought Idra vs MC again, what?! It was a create system and to have it live streamed was awesome. The other game we covered was SaSe vs Sen and I felt a little disappointed in SaSe to not preform and felt that he most defiantly could have done better there!
We finished up the day a little earlier, around 11 and this time I had a little time to myself, I spent it with the nerds, a beer and chat before bed. It was great to meet the players who I hadn’t before and to share a beer though I didn’t want to blow my voice out in a loud hotel lobby so I went to bed after the beer to prepare for the final day.
Finals day
............
Find out my remaining thoughts here on teamdignitas website:
http://www.team-dignitas.net/articles/Blogs/Starcraft-II/154/Apollo-Dreamhack-Summer-2010-Blog/ - Blog Link
Tournament Conclusion and thoughts
............
Find out my remaining thoughts here on teamdignitas website:
http://www.team-dignitas.net/articles/Blogs/Starcraft-II/154/Apollo-Dreamhack-Summer-2010-Blog/ - Blog Link
@dApollo1337 - Twitter
