EPTMe and five other classmates of mine made our way to Sony Ericsson Globe about half an hour before the doors unlocked and started queueing. Despite having thirty mins or so to kill, it kinda flew by as there were lots of funny crazy fans around us to observe, and also the Dreamhack Crew were handing out Thorzain hype posters and whatknot, so it wasn't too bad.
When the doors opened and we were granted entrance, essentially the first thing you laid your eyes on were huge WoL/HotS posters lying inside, all free, in addition to SC2 t-shirts, so we kinda just grabbed one of everything and proceeded ^^
Checking out the venue, it's an amazing environment as always. I mean it's not the first time I've been to the Globe by any means, and 75% of it is being unused for this event, but it's still a big place. Upstairs, before the games started, a bunch of the progamers were talking to the fans and handing out autographs, and as soon as the word came out that Thorzain was among them, it was like a wave inside where dozens of people instantly stormed up to the next floor to be first in line
We weren't quite as desperate and managed to walk there instead and also check out the rest of what they had in store for us on the top floor. First of all there was a long queue to a small laptop where you could sign up your battle.net account to the HotS Public Beta going on at the end of it, about a dozen computers. Next to that was a challenge stage, where AICytoplasm was on a mini-stage, and fans were lining up to challenge him, and if I understood everything correctly, you could win a graphics card if you beat him or something like that
Everything was being live casted by swedish commentators though, which solely made me want to leave the area asap lol. Another step to the right we found a King of the Hill area, where again about a dozen computers were standing, and it seemed to be some sort of Last Man Standing head-to-head format where the top 3 longest remaining players would win prices. Finally in the big corner were the ginormous crowd along with Tzain & Co talking to the fans, but by the time we would've gotten to the front, the games would've started, so we skipped out on that for now.After that we sat down in our seats and just went on to watch everything. Our seats were not amazing, but definitely good enough, about five rows or so behind the interview stage (with the white couches). On the main stage there's one huge main stream in the middle, but also both the player P.O.V's at the sides which is pretty nifty as we started out with Grubby vs Slivko, and I found myself following Grubby's cam for most of the series which was pretty cool. One of my friends is also an ex-WC3 player and an enourmous Grubby fanboy, but to his sadness, Slivko came out on top 2-1, which I can't say surprised me in the end. Then, for the first time for the day, we got to see Gangnam Style on a cinema-size stage with people fanboying over it in the crowd. It was far from the last though ^^
Next... was when the crowd went crazy, as Thorzain vs NightEnD was coming up. The word bias was hanging in the air, as the King in the North made the arena shake with fanboyism all over the place, which felt really awesome, so you can imagine what it was like when he ended up winning 2-0. His popularity is kinda out of control here in Stockholm.
Then it was WhiteRa vs Babyknight, which we didn't find quite as exciting, and we were getting really hungry as it was something like 15:30 at the time and we hadn't had lunch yet, so we went outside and had lunch at Subway a few mins walk away. While there we also checked out the results of the off-stream games, and saw that SortOf had somehow beaten Nerchio which I found shocking and incredibly exciting, but also sadly that Thorzain had fallen to Lowely in the second round, the latter of which was announced when we got back by RedEye, and the entire stadium became dead silent and then started booing a little... somewhat awkward, but I wasn't too surprised with Thorzain not winning this given that he's apparantly been sick lately and whatknot.
When we came back it was time for... Bly vs Vortix I believe if my memory of the game order serves me right, which was a quite standard mass muta style ZvZ. Not all that exciting, not much to say about that one. (Vortix won 2-1 btw)
Up instead was Ret vs Babyknight. This was probably the first series where I really wanted to see both guys advance, but I was fine with either. Unfortunately, this is where the problems started, not for WCS, but for me personally, as I was starting to have some severe pains in my chest and overall diaphragm. Nothing I couldn't handle, nor anything I hadn't been through before, but still somewhat distracting. Anyway, as far as the games went, they were actually really exciting. It was hard to get a good opinion as to who the crowd was cheering for the most, but everyone agreed the games were getting pretty decent. In the end, BabyK came out on top 2-1, and was almost moved to tears about it, securing his ticket to Shanghai and all. (Also for the record, BabyK looks like 4 years younger than he actually is :o)
Lucifron vs Socke... well Socke already had a direct seed to Shanghai for winning in Germany, and it kinda looked like he didn't care, as Lucifron just steamrolled him very quickly. The most memorable thing for me unfortunately was that the chest pains I was having were escalating rapidly, and I was starting to have trouble breathing, and I also had quite frequent hickups which made me hurt all over. At times, these combined symptoms made me feel somewhat neaseus, later on to the point where I thought I was gonna throw up there and then, but we'll get to that later.
Anyway, with Thorzain and Seiplo long gone, and SortOf albeit still alive, but in rough waters down in the Loser's Bracket, the next fan favourite for the crowd to carry forward was none other than
After that it was about 20:45, and we had about an hour to kill before the WB semis started, and the others were seemingly keen on "dinner", and proposed we just go to the neares MC Donalds or smth, as it was right around the corner. Personally, I was feeling terrible at the time and couldn't even imagine myself having a meal. I guess I should have some water though, so I tagged along. (The tapwater in the sinks in the Globe was like only hot water for whatever reason) Ironically, that one was closed. I mean really, what kind of MC D isn't open at 20:45 in the middle of Stockholm, right next to the Globe at that -.-
So we took the nearby metro back to Slussen instead, as we knew 100% there was one there open 24/7, and I, who was only looking for smth to drink, was immediately faced with the sign: "we don't serve water here". WTF cmon what is this >.<
I ended up with just taking a glass and filling it with their bathroom tapwater instead as it was at least cold. I also tried stealing a few fries from my mates as I had a hard time deciding if I was hungry or not, but I quite quickly discovered that I most definitely wasn't. Anyway, the fresh night air and water made me feel a bit better at least, which is good since I was honestly considering going home and skipping out on the semis as I was afraid I'd throw up in the crowd or something like that. As we were going back down to the metro, I was proclaiming how much better I was feeling compared to an hour or so ago, and that it was mostly pain and not nausea any more. Well I should've known better than to Artosis Curse myself, as less than a minute later, I was almost throwing up in the tram, as in: I got the reflex and everything, but fortunately nothing came up.
Anyway, moving away from the grose subject, we went back to the stadium for the first semis between Vortix and BabyK, about 10 mins into the first game when we returned. This time I think it was fairly clear BabyK was the fan favourite, and I had to agree on that, although a part of me wanted to see the spanish brothers duking it out in the finals just for the hell of it. It turned out to be a very close series, but Vortix came out on top 2-1. Towards the end of the final game, I was feeling worse than ever, and as soon as it ended, it was like I knew that everything was gonna come up, and I instantly hurried out of the stage, thinking "oh please wait until I'm outside". I turned out more and less unlucky at the same time, as no, I was not able to make it outside, and it kinda happened on the stairs, but somehow, neither this time anything came out, even though it felt like it, along with the really grose cough and all. I went outside for some air anyway, sat down on a bench in the cold night air and tried to relax. You know that feeling of clarity after you've just thrown up that makes you feel so much better all of a sudden? Well since I didn't really do it I couldn't get it, but I could still somewhat feel it, as I still felt really bad, but not to the point of being sick anymore, just... hurting and sore. So I made my way back inside slowly.
...and for the first time, everything turned out for the best, as that was the best decision I made all evening, as for one, I didn't feel sick anymore during the event, and two, the Stephano vs Lucifron series was fucking epiccc. All three games were great, but the first one on Cloud Kingdom was especially nailbiting, one of the closest games I've seen in a long time. The crowd was going crazy, and it was clear that both players had a ton of fans, but Stephano more so of course. When the first game ended, the crowd pretty much exploded in a Thorzain-ish manner of fashion, and at the end of third game, which gave Stephano his place in the finals and concluded the night, everything went ballistic with instant standing ovations and people jumping and whatknot. I was really happy as well, partially for Stephano making it which I was hoping for from the bottom of my heart, and partially for finally getting that 5/5 series that we'd been waiting for.
After that we made our way home, and I pretty much went straight to bed, time being about 01:45, now pretty much hurting all over. At the time of writing this here on sunday morning, I no longer feel pain (nor in extent nausea), but I still feel sore. I can feel how bad it was yesterday. That being said, as long as I take it easy, I think today should be okay. I've got a few more things to fix before I go, but I should be leaving again within the next half hour or so.
/HaXX
