EPTThursday: Pull an all nighter and fly to california on a 7am flight. Get there at 10:45 and have Thundertoss pick me up (I'm staying at his place for the duration of the event). We go from 1 airport to the other to try and catch the Koreans flying in but unfortunately we miss them. Anyway after that we head back to his place and chill until we grab Everize from the airport (it took like 30 min for us to find him there lol) and drop him off at his place and then head to bed.
Friday: First day of MLG. I am pumped and we get to the event around 12pm. I meet up with lots of my fellow players and say hi to everyone. After a few hours I eat some food practice a bit and go for my first game against a player named Owmygroin. He is a grandmaster zerg and decent but I feel like his metagame is slightly behind the curve. I manage to take the first game but lose the second and 3rd game to bad decision making and play. I feel terrible and like I lost to myself, not my opponent. The guy doesn't even shake my hand or anything afterwards and I'm kinda sulking for a bit and grab some food. Waiting in line at the food court I meet up with Arwia and she cheers me and and after eating I feel a bit better, but still guilty for losing in the first round of MLG. I head to the TL pro lounge in the night and hang out with some friends there and then head back to Thundertoss's place to sleep.
Saturday: We need to get up early because I thought my matches are at 10 (they were 11) and we meet up with my former teammates Mr. Bitter and Future. We grab some food, catch up, then head our separate ways. It's time for my games. Round 2 was vs someone that had the name bukkaki in his username and I dispatched him 2-0. He was a nice guy though so props to him for being so good mannered. My next opponent was a master level zerg. He all-ined my twice in a row and I lost both games. I felt pretty shitty after that and the guy told me he knew he couldn't win in a straight up game so he had to cheese me. While that may be true I still lost to an all-in and recognized that as a very big weakness in my gameplay. I walk around for awhile, watch some games, then get up to walk around some more when Huk comes up from behind and says hi. I chill with him for a bit and get into the pro player area where the koreans were practicing and he introduced me to DRG and Boxer (TY HUK <3 <3 <3) and I got to chill there for a bit. Afterwards clonze interviews huk then we part our ways. More watching games/chilling until the night and I head to the TL Pro lounge again. This time the Koreans are there and a few more players and less people I didn't recognize. SlayersJessica apparently was mad at the players for partying while they still had matches the next day and kicked them all out somewhat early in the night (didn't stop them from getting top 6). We then headed to another party with a few players and team managers and other misc people. I get to meet some awesome Blizzard employees and talk to them about SC2 and Brood war. I also got to meet THE MOTHERFUCKING REKRUL, who is chill as fuck IRL. This guy is cooler then Chill and Tyler mixed together (sorry guys!) and had some awesome esport stories to tell. The night gets late and me and Thunderbro head back to his house.
Sunday: Out of the tournament and while very disappointed in myself, I still managed to have a good day. We got to the venue around 2 and I ate food with some of the 4 kings crew before watching some games. I also went into the players area where me, everize, zelniq, fenix, and rain's translator (Brian) watched rain play vs DRG for the 6th (i think) place match. DRG won 2-0 so we minus zelniq went to get some food. Afterwards we split and I watch the finals before heading outside and talking for awhile with various players and esport community members. Eventually we head to the afterparty where everone is at and have a great time. I talked a lot with Ganzi (ty ESPORTS gf Peanut for helping with translation), Rain, The blizz employees again, did an irish car bomb with Jinro, and met some other really cool people. Eventually the party moves to another place and more hanging out there, then 1 more (esport ppl know how to party) before heading off to bed. Great night besides losing my backpack full of my gear, which luckily TheGunrun was able to find so it evened out.
Mon-Tues: Nothing too interesting, dropped off Destiny, the Hypercrew owner (sorry forgot your name dreads guy!), and Everize off at the airport.
Wed: Get to go to Blizzard HQ and take a tour of the place. Talked a bit to David Kim but was a bit scared to give him balance suggestions. Overall that place is fucking awesome and it was totally worth it. Now its later in the evening and I am getting ready to head to the airport back to Florida. Overall it was a fantastic journey and I gotta give a lot of shoutouts to the people involved.
Thundertoss, Rick, Mr. Jack, John, Grendel, Thegunrun, Naniwa, Huk, Ganzi, Rain, Everize, Fenix, Brian, the Vile crew, the 4 kings crew, the itsgosu crew, the Reign crew, Hotbid, Kennigit, Ariwa, DJ Ravine, Edward, Rachel, Kichou, Cody, Skew, and anyone else I might have forgotten (you guys know who you are!).
TLDR: Had a great time at MLG, met Boxer and visited the Blizzard HQ.
