EPTBefore I began, I would like to say that the entire Starcraft scene is amazing, it's so fun to follow it. What's even more great is experiencing it up and close. I finally understand how some people follow regular sports with a fanatic zeal (The other sport I could watch was fishing. Just, catching that big fish, oh my fuck. So awesome...)
Anywho, the third day started out like the first day. No sleep except a quick nap in the car. I arrived at the convention center early because I made plans to see some of my new friends before they had to leave California
Things didn't work out as planned, so I ended up alone for a bit, but it was okay! I amused myself by walking around the entire center and watching people play til it was time for my interview. I still had my gear so I tried setting up in the player area to play some games, but the keyboard ended up not working. So I just listened to music for a bit, ho hum- waitin for my interview.
The next person I interviewed was Caleb (ONEShield, GoSuSTYX). He had never been interviewed before, so he was a bit unnerved I think, but it went fine! We went over the questions so he could be familiar with it, but I remembered the part when I asked him to introduce himself, like his name and game name, he started talking about his RTS experience (which was supposed to be the next question)! After that, we tried to take pictures of him and told him to smile, which he painfully did. I hung out with him for a bit afterward til I wandered off again.
Then I met up with Scott and Michael (aka RGNPerfect!) in the player area as well.. Michael was laddering on his smurf, and it's such a sight to see high-level Protoss play, even though I'm Zerg. After his games, Scott went for a game on his own Platinum account but he lost HAHA. I offered to play 1 game for him as well, and was a little nervous cos of Michael and Scott, especially Michael because he was such a pro and all. I didn't have my own customized hotkey set up so it was sorta hard for me to play. I did macro like a beast, though I think I macro'd too well and ended up floating 10k minerals and gas. I'm not very confident with my TvZ y'see, so I just made Broodlords and mass banes and just sat there, too scared to attack. Finally when I hit 10k minerals, I just sent all my banes and hoped to regen my army when they all died. However, that just killed the Terran who gg'd quick as that. Then Michael played and he made the Platinum player he was facing off against seem like a total Bronze! Michael just said, okay I'll make mass muta and he just won.
After all the ladder shenanigans, I went to watch Kiwikaki play and I found Paul (RGNSlush) standing in front of me, one of the great Zergs! I asked him and also Michael for autographs and then finally said my good byes to the Team Reign people, who made MLG so fun for me!
I went to watch the games on the main stage, I think it was Boxer vs Rain. Amazing, amazing games for TvT. I had to stand the whole time even though I had a press pass because all the chairs were taken. Finally some people shuffled around and I managed to snagged and saw Sterling with his brother there too yay! I needed one of those chairs because DRG going up against MMA. I asked Sterling who he thought he'd win, he said MMA, I said DRG. Sigh, we know how that turned out.
I couldn't stay to watch the last game because I actually had to go interview ePGimix. Said good bye to Sterling and his bro, and left for the Player's Lounge. I actually went to the Player's Lounge in the Marriot hotel. It has a pool table, with a bar for snacks and drinks. It also has an adjoining room which leads to the bathroom and a bedroom and a big monitor. I found Primadog in there along with Gimix, Prima was transcribing my interviews on the monitor. Gimix (I forgot his name ahhh), was very mannered of course. He reminded me of a baby deer, he looked so gentle and shy, it's hard to imagine he plays a 'violent' game like Starcraft! Gimix is part of Clan eP- Eternal Plague, one I was checking out for the practice partners. I also met the team manager of eP, Mike, pretty chill guy. We were browsing SCreddit for some funny stuffs. Gimix left, and Prima set to transcribing and then just relaxing afterwards, he worked a lot for the duration of MLG, taking care of White-Ra and the like.
After that, I was pretty much done with MLG, I just wanted to stay at the Player Lounge and sleep.
I WAS going to go home early, but then there was talk of some party and a lavish Justin.tv party at some restaurant as well. Sounded intriguing, but still I was pretty set then on going home. Then the pro players came streaming into the lounge. They were just lookin for a place to relax and chat, so they settled in the living room area with the TV and pool table. The crowd was starting to get too big for my taste so I just went back into the monitor room with Prima and Mike and just ate pizza. I didn't really take a good look at who came in first, but later on (when I came back out) it turned out to be the TeamLiquid players, some TeamLiquid staff members like Hot Bid, FXO team (distinguishable by their jackets), and Kiwikaki who I saw in the line to the bar! He recognized me and remembered my game name (ZergGirl!) I was so happyyyyyyy
I went back into the monitor room, intimidated by the big crowd of pro players and such, it was getting real loud-- I kept coming back out for some chips and water. Finally, I just sat on a chair back out and struck up conversation with the guy sitting next to me. I think his name was Spencer and he was a mod for the TeamLiquidPro site, which was really cool, meeting these dedicated people in person and just talking about Starcraft stuff. I also struck up conversation with the Team Dignitas manager, forgot his name... - - but he had a swell interesting European accent.
Edward Starcraft was there, and I saw some other friends and acquaintances streaming in. Lotta of the people were getting tipsy by that point, and sadly I couldn't join in the festivities because I'm 19
Then, I was sitting next to the FXO Koreans- Slog, Moonan, Oz, and Select too and I forgot who else. The Koreans were pretty loud at that point, so I curiously asked Select if he drank a lot in Korean, to which I was greeted with exclamations of 'oh a Korean!!!' which got me instantly accepted into their circle lol. It was a little embarrassing for me, because my Korean is terrible- it's sort of like baby talk. But I can still sorta understand what they were saying and vice versa. Good thing, Slog can speak English!
So I was just chilling there, until HuK- I think- ran in and yelled at the Koreans to come to the Jtv party. Then they all got riled up, and were raring to go. I was ready to go home at this point, but then the Koreans invited me to come along with them. I debated with myself for a bit, but not for long! And relented. I'm really glad I did.
We all walked all the way to the party, 'twas bit of a long walk, but I had a chance to talk to all the FXO Koreans! We crammed ourselves into the elevator along with Ret and his girlfriend. Someone just stuck himself between the elevator doors, I think it was choyafOu or Moonan haha but the other non-Starcraft people in the elevator didn't look too happy. Some of the girls looked scared, because all the Koreans began to yell at each other (for fun) and they practically bolted out of there at the next stop. Also accompanying us was Simon, who worked at Blizzard, coLStalife, and choyafOu. During the way, I talked with mostly Slog about Starcraft and his team. He told me that they were gonna go all the way China on the next day to compete in another tournament, so exciting! They were really cool to be around with, even though my Korean was poor. I think they were entertained by my baby Korean and so they encouraged me to speak to better improve my Korean.
When we got to the restaurant, the atmosphere was electric. There were loaaads of people there, all in their tables outside. I recognized a lot of faces! I saw Destiny, the one person I didn't get to meet at MLG... I wanted to go talk to him and get an autograph, but he looked busy and a bit drunk so I refrained from doing so. There were fucking pro players walking left to right of me, just chatting around and having a good time, it was such a sight to see! I recognized Brian aka RGNSpades, who forgot my name so I smacked his arm for remembrance as I made my way through the crowd. The Koreans and I got our own table, and everything on the menu was on Jtv's tab, so freaking generous... Slog went off to talk to others like the social butterfly he is, so I was with choya, moonan, and stalife who ordered a pitcher of beer and margarita. They were having a grand time one shotting everything in sight, I just smiled and sipped my water haha. Eventually, choya passed out (from exhaustion) so I was just there chatting with stalife and Simon. I think we were talking about how expensive sushi is in Canada.
Then a guy came up to our table and greeted the Koreans as well and sat next to me. Intrigued, I asked him who he was. He turned out to be Sjow! I don't really watch Sjow's games, but I faintly can recall his name from somewhere. I joked around with him saying that Terran was imba to which he replied "Terran imba? Fuck you!" but it was all in good jest ^_^ he also replied Infestor imba, which I wouldn't know personally as a Zerg-user cos I don't use Infestor (intense lag fucks up my Infestor use). Sjow didn't seem too happy about his results at MLG, he got 10th I think, which is a fantastic placement. So if you subtracted the Koreans, that would be 6th! But yeah, he told me that his goal will be always number 1, which is an attitude that I totally understand and respect him for. I told him I wanted to be good at Starcraft 2 too, I don't know, I'll probably devote another blog to this train of thought later. Eventually, Sjow went off to hang with his teammates and left by saying to me "practice hard!".
Everything else afterwards is a big blur. I ate a lot of buffalo chicken and drank lots of water while staring at the margarita pitcher and talked a lot with peoples to sum it up. I stayed until 2 AM til I went home and ktfo'd again.
In conclusion, I'm going to have to say MLG Anaheim was GREAT. I had tons of fun, volunteering, spectating, and playing. It was enlightening as well, which I will explain later in another blog the reason why maybe. I don't know it's still a part of my life I'm trying to figure out. I would love to go to the next MLGs, but too bad they're all outta state... DEPRESSED. Maybe, if I get good enough, whatever team I join would sponsor me to play... that would be the life! But I'm thinking too far for myself. I might go to Blizzcon as well, especially to see the god of Zergs, Nestea, play, I'm not sure yet. So yes. No regrets, no bad moments... MLG Anaheim was an event to remember!
