EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4Rl2H.jpg)
They are right there! AHHHHHH
So I’ve had a bit of a weird weekend, I’ve never been to a casted StarCraft event, but I've watched plenty on streams on the net.
I’m happy to continue to report that going to a live event is a totally different ball game.
I began watching WCS UK, much like most of you, sitting in front of my computer, chin resting of hand, listening to Tasteless and Artosis through a pair of headphones.
However on Sunday I decided to brave rejection on the door (no tickets in advance for me), I even left so late in the day that I arrived during the lunch break that they had, with only 3 matches left. Even seeing that I had felt sick in the morning, I certainly hyuk’d up, and I was considering while on the train ride in if my 8 pound fare was a waste.
Was I ever so wrong. I met up with Sayle and BrTarolg over lunch, and we sauntered back to the venue. People wearing nerdy t shirts are everywhere, in front of us there is a tallish white male, with some moderate stubble. Holyshit its tasteless, casting super star you’ve followed for nearly 5 years! Be cool, just be cool.
Inside I’m slightly star struck, I nearly bump into both bling and demuslim within seconds. Jbanks recognises me and asks me how I am, while I was surprised that he recognised me after last seeing me at a small LAN where I came last in. Awesome. (Jbanks is a lovely guy despite being built like a brick shit house)(You should also check out his coverage here.)
We sat down and where treated to Jonnyrecco versus ZIKTOMINI, which was pretty crazy, after game one, I would have happily bet money on Jonny recco winning 2:0. It was one of the best ZvZ games that I’ve watched (the only ones I think of off the top of my head which could beat that where Jaedong versus Yellow on Matchpoint and Effort versus Hyuk on judgement day)
At some point after this, Sayle turned to me and said “you know, I won’t mind as much if it’s a ZvZ finals." I simply smiled with him.
Both playing Terran and being a huge demuslim fangirl I desperately wanted demuslim to come back and take it all (boy he is handsome in person, I think it’s that faux hawk, it really works for him) So during his matches I tried to scream and cheer so loud to try and encourage him to win the games, I even shouted “I love you demuslim” multiple times.
After game 1 demuslim looked really strong, and after the hiccup of game 2, game 3 really had me on the edge of my seat, and when the banelings burrowed, I was really not hopefully for demu’s chances, it seemed like fate that both landmines got massive hits, and the crowd was equally tormented, either way demuslim finally managed to pull through, much to everyone’s relief, because after yesterday’s showing from Ben in TvZ, he was certainly the underdog, and most people love stories that have reversals of fortune.
We sat eagerly for the final games which where intense, however game 3 on tal darim was anti-climactic, and especially after BrTarolg predicted the roach play before the game started, it played out just as BR called it, even after I prayed for the gods of StarCraft for cross positions. I have to give credit where credit is due, and doing a risky strategy on game 3, for what would have been for ZIKTOMINI, the first best of 3, out of 2 would have been a risk that I would have also taken.
We hung around for the award ceremony (primarily for some giveaways afterwards), despite that a lot of us where ravenous, and likewise a lot of people online probably tuned out because on the whole, award ceremonies are boring and/or awkward. However, RedEye did a really good job hyping the cheque giving, and only really slipped up once by calling WCS UK an international event.
A really cute moment, which I’m not sure many people saw was that when demuslim took to the front of the stage, the crowd cheers where quite something, perhaps its because he was the the crowd favourite, but then ziktomini took centre stage and at first the crowd was not quiet by any means, but ben clearly thought it wasn’t enough, put down his check and gestured with both hands upwards, at that point the crowd went crazy, screaming and cheering in a manner that can only be called uproarious, and fit for a champion. It was really nice to see that even in defeat, the favourite to win the whole tournament was not thinking about himself but about others. Good job ben
After the stream got turned off, the remaining crowd and RedEye got a bit rebellious as the giveaway commenced, I had maintained that we should stay, because I like free things and I’m a poor student, so a graphics card would have been an awesome memento of a well spent Sunday, but alas I realised as the giveaway started, I could not possibly win, since I wasn’t wearing the ticket wristbands . Oh well. This misstep by me was made even worse by the fact that both BrTarolg and Sayle both won, taking home a graphics card and a mouse mat respectively. Needless to say, I was very jealous and bitter. “oh you guys wanted to go eat and miss the prizes?” “I think you should give that graphics card to me
”![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/j2A1M.jpg)
Quite a queue of nerds... A national past time.
We went to the fan signing commencing downstairs, in a now light and airy conference room, and I had the honour of both being third in the Q, and watching Sayle call out Artosis on statistics. I hadn’t bought anything cool to sign, and I wasn’t even wearing my wemadefox team shirt (again another blunder by me) I tried to play it cool just like nick and dan were, and I didn’t get all fangirl until I was walking away from the counter where they were signing, raising my voice a little too loud: “I’ve loved you since GSI!”
I bet they deal with star struck nerds all the time, and it was far better to leave in fan girl mode, than to have started talking to them in it.
We all hung around in the bar for a while just generally chatting, and I met the person who had the coolest thing signed by Tasteless and Artosis, a player guide from WCG2000 that he has played in. I was in awe to see such a heritage document of esports, it truly was a blessing. (the close second to coolest thing signed was an EP of the music from StarCraft 2, which was actually signed on the disc, rather than just on the sleeve)
About 12 to 14 of us remained, and we dispersed through Piccadilly, heading towards china town to go find a Korean place to eat at, we finally arrived at corean chill (yes that is how it’s spelt), tucking into various dishes and washing it down with jinro brand soju. Topics ranged from how much I dislike idra and love NonY to strategy talk to leg waxing and what bath tubs feel like. I’m actually surprised that I didn’t get more drunk, since dinner was great fun and it was really awesome to meet tons of new people.
Thank you's and stuff
Firstly, I’d like to thank Sayle for persuading me to come to the event, and as much as I give you crap, you are lovely and don’t give you enough love.
Secondly to Brtarolg, to steal some words used on Kim Ga Eul, Brtarolg call me so beautiful, I love you! You are awesome and much more attractive than sayle.
To everyone I met at event, sorry I don’t remember all your names, but everyone I met was really lovely, to Florian el capitain of barcraft, you were great, leading the ship of nerds at least some of the way to corean chill (till casey took over)
To all the players, thanks for making great games all weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, watching both old faces and new.
To Artosis and Tasteless, thanks for coming to WCS, meeting you briefly was unreal, it might be an experience that many people on TL already have, but you were as cool as you were in person as you are on stream. It was quite something to have you centre stage, both hearing and seeing you commentate.
To RedEye: your hosting this event was awesome, you were always full of energy and it showed after the event when you walked around with tie undone, you really gave it 100% all the time, and I beg anyone who is looking for a host for an event to hire this guy, you cannot go wrong, to quote artosis, you really did knock it out of the park.
To ben and Luke, and all admins, staff who made this event possible, you are all awesome. It wasn’t visible on stream often, but all the staff and ben & Luke had no qualms with doing anything no matter how small.
Also a small note, I watched the vods of the Sunday games, and the cheering and screaming was much more louder than it sounds on stream, we were really screaming our lungs out nearly all the time.
Finally, I want to see some more events like this in the UK, I can’t help but feel buoyed after this event, that it Is the start of something big for the both the UK StarCraft scene and the competitive scene.
Please make WCS UK bigger and better next year, this event was great, and it should only go up from here.
(PS, I never did get a chance to hug demuslim, oh well)
