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Now hangover from energy drink binges had mostly passed, here are some thoughts from one of the lucky fools that attend Red Bull LAN.
- Now That's a LAN
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VBenp.jpg)
If we disregard, for a moment - the Formula 1 next to Tyler, the catering, the massage therapists in the screening room - this event encapsulated the roots of esports: a few nerds under one roof, enjoying the games and the company of friends. The venue is a tad bigger, but the air there was not unlike those grade-school lan parties I used to frequent. Sure, these are all the top professionals and gaming pays their bills, but when it gets down to it, they're just here for the love of the game.
- Training for StarCraft is serious business
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6q7h4.jpg)
Despite attending as White-Ra's guest, my only interaction with Mr Special Tactic was a gift from Europe and a quick trip to the training table. Unlike what many assumed in the TL thread, the Pros did took every advantage of the training opportunity from 1 till 11. Besides dinner and snacks, the Pros spent almost all their time either at their training station or crowded around another's practice. Despite being surrounded by pros, other guests and I rarely had a chance to chat with them. That's a good thing.
- Halo Pros are different folks
![[image loading]](http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/RedBull/RBImages/000/000/464/729/photo610x343a/IMG_2786.jpg)
Photo: Red Bull
Even for an uninitiated like me, I could tell that the Halo pros were playing with the same intensity as if it was the MLG finals. On the other hand, the StarCraft pros were there to learn. They crowd around  Bomber to watch how his games unfold; qxc would tell  Minigun to cheese him left, right, and center so his macro game can be tested properly; White-Ra would refuse to play on stream unless Day9 gives him a specific match-up. I am not too sure which method is better or worse, for the pros and for the audience, but it certainly points to differences in mentality behind these two eSports.
Oh, another cultural difference - I was there for most of Sunday, but I never seen a StarCraft Pro that utilized the massage table, yet the Halo Pros would line up for "the Russian one." Go figures~
- Working for Red Bull is awesome
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JLYDo.jpg)
Every employee I met there reiterated this, and I don't think it's forced. While it was Sunday, quite a few employees were lounging around the offices, and they weren't there to work. If my office resembles a skate park, or my cubicle sits next to a Formula 1, or I can walk a few steps and watch White-Ra play, I'd hang around too. Lucky bastards.
- Red Bull is serious about eSports
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/utpPG.jpg)
Sam, Red Bull's gaming guy, is high Masters and talks about StarCraft with the same intensity and enthusiasm as any TeamLiquid veteran. Red Bull didn't just haphazardly added StarCraft to their boot camp line-up - they wanted to get involved and planned for a long time. Probably the best news of all, Red Bull will get more involved in StarCraft very soon. Sam was quite excited, but all he was willing to say was,
It was fun and I look forward to what Sam has planned for us.
 
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Unreal awesome. Thanks for the pics/blog.
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Just count the number of TL members there. Redbull + Team liquid mayyyybe?
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Redbull is gonna sponsor their own team I bet ^^
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Just wondering, are you just a really active fan or are you involved wit something somewhere? I keep seeing all your picture blogs of like everything and it's really impressive. Keep up the good work regardless!
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On October 04 2011 14:46 Primadog wrote:
Now hangover from energy drink binges had mostly passed, here are some thoughts from one of the lucky fools that attend Red Bull LAN.
I see what you did there; ^_^
great pics and writeup, looked like a pretty sweet event.
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On October 04 2011 14:57 Emporio wrote:
Just wondering, are you just a really active fan or are you involved wit something somewhere? I keep seeing all your picture blogs of like everything and it's really impressive. Keep up the good work regardless!
Ultimately, I am just a active / lucky fan. A few months back I made it into the writing staff for TL, before that NASL sign me up as a chat mod, and more recently I got involved in BarCraft quite heavily.
That's one really nice thing about our community - if you want to help and put in the time, the community appreciate and reward you for it.
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Sweet pics and thanks for the insight.
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On October 04 2011 14:50 Skuller wrote:
Just count the number of TL members there. Redbull + Team liquid mayyyybe?
Most likely an MLG + Redbull thing, which puts the jersey redesign and other happenings like SOTG stuff in a different light. If Redbull was looking to be a headline MLG sponsor but had competing brands like Monster that sponsors EG.
But that's neither here nor there, I thought the event was a really great watch and totally unique for an eSports event and Day9 is definitely the guy to host it with his great analysis.
Hoping Tyler really improved his endurance with white-ra cracking the whip if only selfishly so his streaming sessions will last a bit longer, Great pics as well.
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Wow those were great pictures :D
hope redbull will really get involved with the sc2 scene
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Sick, sick sick pictures. My God, I hear nothing but good things working at Red Bull or Google.
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destiny you look very handsome when your dressed up
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Australia8532 Posts
Awesome blog man - some sick pics! Red bull looks pretty baller  i think i spotted a Pokebunny!
Great pics!
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Nice, sounded fing awesome. Clarification, I know it was fing awesome because I watched almost every minute of it. Loved it and I hope to see more. Sweet pics btw ^^!
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Lol@ destiny getting all dressed up. He looks so goofy with everyone else wearing casual clothing/team uniforms. Nice pictures btw.
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fuck yeah, pro halo and pro sc2 together :D
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Woah that looks awesome. Never seen PokeBunny or Destiny before, they weren't quite what I expected.
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Lets hope these guys can really bring it at MLG. Especially qxc and White-Ra <3
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Wow, thats awesome. I didn't know red bull had such a cool work station.
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Nice pics! Glad you had a good time!
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Nice! Far exceeds my expectations. And from the looks of it, Red Bull won't be hurting eSports any time soon!
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great report, that looked awesome for a lan
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Awesome! I bet those 1v1 soundproof booths were great tournament situation practice
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I never pictured Destiny playing StarCraft II cross-legged 
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Once redbull gets into a scene ,they are always very invested in it for the long term it seems. So that's a good thing. I hope for their own team and academy!! We'll have the Vettel of SC2 soon! and most importantly the Newey!
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damn, really really cool
gogo redbull
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Philadelphia, PA10406 Posts
Big things are coming! Awesome pictures!
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I can see Red Bull forming a team, they like to sponsor teams in any competition. If they do form a team that will be very huge.
Awesome pictures and it is nice to hear they all utilized the practice time wisely.
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nice pics and really nice writeup, 5/5 blog! Also destiny looks nice , all dressed up XD
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United States17042 Posts
Glad to hear you had a great time, saw you in the background of some of the stream ^_^
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great pics, thnx a lot for sharing
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On October 05 2011 00:09 GHOSTCLAW wrote:
Glad to hear you had a great time, saw you in the background of some of the stream ^_^
Damn, thought I hid well :[
Sam promised me to give us some led-time in the future, so we can plan and prepare some proper photographers and reporters next time around.
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Nice recap, and finally some pics of Bomber!
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No pictures of the masseuses? Not even the "Russian one?" haha but really that looks awesomeeeeeee so lucky thanks for sharing :D
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On October 04 2011 17:54 SiDX wrote:Awesome! I bet those 1v1 soundproof booths were great tournament situation practice
No offense to Redbull, but they were pretty uncomfortable and for some reason we were forced to play on a screen resolution that was not the native monitor resolution in the booth. The edge of the desk was SUPER sharp, I couldn't play comfortably T_T but it was still kinda neat. Idk, I didn't feel the vibe of a MLG booth etc, even though I've never played in one.
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On October 05 2011 05:03 Pokebunny wrote:Show nested quote +On October 04 2011 17:54 SiDX wrote:Awesome! I bet those 1v1 soundproof booths were great tournament situation practice No offense to Redbull, but they were pretty uncomfortable and for some reason we were forced to play on a screen resolution that was not the native monitor resolution in the booth. The edge of the desk was SUPER sharp, I couldn't play comfortably T_T but it was still kinda neat. Idk, I didn't feel the vibe of a MLG booth etc, even though I've never played in one.
Consider bringing your personal kit of saw&file next time eh? =P
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Wow, Destiny looked like a low level bureaucrat. Also working for redbull looks awesome.
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Destiny you are such a classy sir :p
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Wouldn't be surprised to see Redbull shortly sponsoring either their own team, or more likely given the lack of free agents in the market, sponsoring one of the top teams. With Rockstar and NOS energy so heavily involved in the fighting game scene, and Monster being directly involved with team EG, Red bull needs to hop on the train soon.
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