GSL Code A Preliminaries

I actually didn't know about the Code A Prelims being open to anyone that could show up that had an SC2 account until a friend of mine here told me about it. None of the three of us that signed up together had a chance of beating any of the players there, but the opportunity to possibly play a game against a pro was too interesting to pass up. I felt guilty at first because I knew I wouldn't have a chance at Code A and I felt like I was wasting the time of players and others in the bracket by being there, but I was happy to find that it was no trouble at all. Everyone I talked to was really nice, including players. My two friends had their matches on the first day of the weekend, so I came to watch them play. Here is a link to the bracket on Liquipedia:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2011_Global_StarCraft_II_League_October/Preliminaries

If you Ctrl+F, one of my friends playing was karmaRPM. He lost to JookTo, who would eventually make it into Code A. My other friend did not get on the actual bracket that is shown on that page. I forget who he played, but I remember the guy he lost to lost the following match. We sat down at three computers that were right next to each other (there were more than enough for everyone, so I was able to use one) and I helped them sign in as best I could until we gave up and called John over to help us figure it out. Before the matches started, Moletrap came over to us and talked about possibly casting my friends' games for fun. They thought since it was a casual broadcast, it would be a nice little change from how serious all the other matches were. My friends agreed and thought this would be cool, but Moletrap came by a few minutes later and said that unfortunately both Boxer and Yellow were playing at the same time as my friends, so those games had to take priority. Oh well. After losing both their games, me and my friends laddered on the North America server for a little bit while things wore down to just a few people.

Soon, there were only a few players left in the room for the day. One of them was Boxer. I could see him just a few rows ahead surrounded by Jessica, MMA, and two other spectators. I also saw Moletrap taking some video of him playing, so I decided I would go in closer to look. I was really nervous and concerned that I would be disturbing someone by standing behind behind MMA, who was right behind Boxer. Even though he lost both the games I saw, just getting to stand behind such a legendary player was pretty amazing. I did my best not to scream like a fangirl when he had a good drop or held off a push from Oz.
http://i.imgur.com/SZauI.jpg
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After seeing Boxer lose, I talked briefly about it with DoA before leaving for the night to get some sleep before my match the following morning. Being unfamiliar with how it works, I wound up getting there second that following day. Since I was so early in the morning, my friends said they couldn't make it. I can't really blame them, it would have been an hour and a half trip with walking and the subway just to see me get 2-0ed at 10 in the morning when my match started. Since there were not any terribly important players playing that day, I had a feeling that there was a good chance I could get my games casted, but the casters didn't show up until about noon, so no such luck there. When playing in the Code A Prelims, you sign into an account set up by GOM called Tournament###. For example, I played on Tournament022. When you're playing your games, you don't actually get to see the name of the person you play, but you are free to ask when you get into the pregame lobby. I tried to help my friends ask in Korean who they were playing, which worked out for them. I expected to get some lesser known player as they did, but when I asked who I was playing, he responded with "Squirtle." I immediately though HOORAY, IT'S TVP!!!! That is my strongest matchup and I had been dreading a TvZ all night, which is pretty much a death sentence for me. At least with having a TvP, I would feel like I knew what I was doing and would be able to offer up more of a challenge to my opponent. My second though was Oh wow, I'm playing someone really good. I quickly complemented him before the game started by saying I liked to watch him play and he laughed and thanked me.

The games were rather unspectacular in term of viewing, but actually playing against a pro was really fun. The first game, I was really nervous and lost a big engagement in the middle of the map which ultimately cost me the game. In the second game, I actually held off some light early pressure, which made me quite happy. After that though, I got rolled by Squirtle's deathball. Before I GGed, I asked him where he was sitting and if I could come congratulate him. He told me where he was and I GGed and went to go meet him. When I came up, he looked really surprised. I'm not sure if it's because I was a lot taller and whiter than he expected or if it was because congratulating your opponent in person is not very common. Either way, he seemed really happy and thanked me when I wished him luck in the bracket. Speaking of brackets, here is mine. I am RunInSquares (silly character limits in Bnet 2.0 T___T).
http://i.imgur.com/NTmqf.jpg
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Another exciting part of the day was also a pretty embarassing part. Since I was stuck back in my little corner of the room where they have all the foreigners sit (because the computers there have access to the NA server, which they assume all the foreigners want to ladder on to warm up), I saw a few white people come over my way. Eventually, one guy came in and sat next to me. He had a really familliar face, almost like I knew him from my childhood, but not quite. I talked with him a little and he asked what I was doing in Korea, so I said studying. Then I asked him if he was studying as well, but he said no, he was a player. And as he said that, he turned more towards me and I realized that I had missed the big Complexity logo on his shoulder. Now looking at the even bigger logo on his chest, I immediately realized what an idiot I was, I was talking to Drewbie. That was a good blonde moment. I made it up to him (I hope) by trying to help him sign into his account and figure out hotkey settings after the first game (since I had gone through all that the day before). Shortly after both Drewbie and I lost our games, Fenix began playing. We both watched him play, then proceeded to do our own things. I hung around on my computer for a bit while Drewbie walked around and got to talk to some people and Fenix got interviewed. Below is a picture of Fenix being interviewed way in the background while Cella looks on. Just the link this time because I don't want to make it too small.
http://i.imgur.com/8s6uV.jpg

I lagged around for a couple hours after my games ended and watched the broadcast from my station or by standing behind the casters as they were observing the games. I wound up leaving about an hour before Jinro came, which was unfortunate because I wanted to get to see him play. I had given up hope though because his match was going to start soon and I figured he would have been there already to practice. I guess he was just running late or something.

So overall, it was a really cool weekend. I had such a good time, I signed up for the Code A prelims for this next season of the GSL as well. It's next Wednesday and Thursday here. I hear that the games won't be casted, which is unfortunate. However, if they are, look for RunInSquares!

GSL Code A Preliminaries

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming