EPTThe Sydney Barcraft, organised and run by the guys from The Australian Pro’ League, was awesome! I was so bummed about missing out on a ticket for WCS,(mind you, this was before we found out we could get in for free on the Sunday) and I had given up all hope of physically being a part of the SEA Sc2 community this weekend, when I found out about this barcraft. It was in Sydney. YES! I had no obligations on the night. DOUBLE YES!
My best mate Jesse, who has minimal knowledge of Starcraft 2 and competitive gaming,(it was sick that I was able to convince him to come along!) and I showed up to the Ship Inn(massive shout out) late. We got there at approx’ 16:30 or so, ordered some lunch and beers, got great seats right in front of the centre screen, and instantly struck up a conversation with one of the many awesome people who attended the event! This friendly bro’ turned out to be iVnXormantor, a GM Protoss who bitterly detests Terran,(my race... perhaps we got off on the wrong foot?) and Zerg players, is a gosu PvP’er,(he actually won a TtESPORTS mech’ keyboard, on the night, in a Scissors, Paper, Rock comp’) and an ultra BM drunk. He had driven down from Queensland for WCS, but was only able to get a ticket to Sunday through one of WCS’s Facebook competitions, hence his presence at the barcraft on Saturday night. T’was a pleasure to meat you, bro’! =D
Jesse and I were instantly caught up in getting know the people there. So many people were willing to tell us all about themselves and share their love for the game. I don’t know how many crucial moments of the games we missed simply by virtue of the fact that we had both become engrossed in conversation with who we thought at the time,(after two or three drinks) were the most interesting people in the world.
This was by no means a large event in terms of numbers, but I don’t feel that detracted from my experience. The venue was rather small, so everyone was packed in close. Combine this with alcohol and personalities who are boisterous as standard, and it made for quite an intimate/rowdy atmosphere.
The organisers told us they had a surprise for us. I turned to Xormantor and joked, “Tasteless will be here.” Soon, Tastosis, the casting Archon, walked into our humble barcraft, smiles as wide as anything, and greeted us all. I was shocked, to say the least. The funny thing was, I wasn’t paying attention to them at all, at first. I NEEDED to explain to my best mate, how epic this was; how much this meant to everyone there. I think he got the picture after a few all too inadequate analogies.
They were coming ‘round to our side of the bar. This was my chance. But there was no way I was going to miss out. Now, this isn’t a comment on my determination to get a photo with Tastosis, but rather, it’s a testament to their graciousness. They were seriously down-to-earth guys. They gave us the impression that they wouldn’t leave until every fan in the pub had gotten a chance to say hi and get a photo to show their friends. They accepted the drinks we bought them.(fun fact: Artosis was drinking Jamison Irish Whiskey) They talked to everyone as if they were equals. Can anyone who actually attended WCS comment on how they were at the actually event?
Something I’ll always remember: Tasteless had just agreed to have his photo taken with me, and afterwards it suddenly came to my mind: “It’s his birthday today!” I asked him whether or not this was true. I remember exactly what he said, “What?! Oh, yeah... it’s my birthday today.” I immediately broke out in song, and with the help of Jesse and Xormantor, soon the whole place was singing in the loudest, most manly(save the girls) voices we could muster. You could tell that every one of us wanted Tasteless to remember THIS PARTICULAR “Happy Birthday to Tasteless.” I think we got the job done. I was honoured to have been the one that remembered.(no doubt APL had it on their run-sheet, but they could not hold this fan back from singing his lungs out first) They were true gentlemen, and my impression of them will forever be wholly positive. This was the best part of the night.
Things wound down from this point on. The games were awesome. We didn’t get to see the final series between PiG and mOOnGLaDe because we were asked to leave due to the event going for longer than the agreed-upon time. Three or four of us stayed around, chatting for about half an hour, and then eventually left. I was talking to two guys who said they had actually come from WCS because it wasn’t that good. Something about the big screen being bad, so they had to sit on the floor and watch the little screens which were of better quality. All the reviews I’ve heard on Sc2SEA have been stellar though, so, meh... take that with a grain of salt.
Anyone else have stories of the night. Whether at WCS or barcrafts?
Here is the link to those missing photo's:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...2190092&type=3
Also, "like" APL on Facebook to support future Sydney barcrafts!
http://www.facebook.com/australian.pro.league
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