Hey guys, this is going to be a short write-up of my experience last weekend in New York for the WCG USA Finals.

Saturday
Friday night I took a plane to New York at midnight which was about five hours. The flight was really awful to be honest; I had a window seat behind the exit row and my right leg was blocked for the most part by the exit door. There was space underneath it but it seemed to make my feet moist and really cold.

After arriving in New York I began my quest to find Pokebunny’s apartment, involving riding the skytrain/airtrain/whatever ?? and the subway.

Cool arch thing

You can tell going out is rare for me if I took this picture

Back in Seattle public transportation is actually awful in comparison to New York. We have some Light Rail thing that I doubt will ever be completed and only runs to certain places, and then buses, so riding the subway is really odd to me. However, I made it to Pokebunny’s apartment with little trouble at about noon. I was greeted by Poke, his brother Jamie and mother. While Poke was out for most of the day he let me nap on his bed and use his computer to warmup. Also, there was a bunny in Poke/Jamie’s room.

#seemslegit

Later into the night Poke’s parents (his dad was asleep or something when I arrived earlier?) made us dinner (pasta with sauce, salad) and we talked a bit about SC2/HotS and random stuff. Cool to see his parents followed his career oo;

One highlight of the day was when Poke was watching me ladder on NA, I matched against keydCapoch. I told Poke that Capoch was the most accomplished 4gater in SC2, so he bet me $5 that Capcoh wouldn’t 4gate me.
+ Show Spoiler +

I won $5~

At Night’s EnD (hoho) I borrowed one of Poke’s Artemis Fowl books and finished all of it before sleeping at about 1 AM.

Sunday
I made my way to the Javits Center by 10 AM and got my exhibitor’s pass for the Comic Con where WCG was being held. The guy told me there was 200k people at the event or something? Maybe I heard wrong… Anyway, it was just three years ago that I’d come here for WCG 2009 in Starcraft 1. I was a bit familiar with the place.

Crowds D:

Inside the venue a bit

WCG booth

After eating a terrible hot dog that was all squishy and awful, I warmed up while waiting for the matches, since Trimaster and I had round 1 byes. I would lose round 2 to Qxc 1-2, beat Mass and PLZLEAVEDUCK 2-0, then lose 1-2 to Trimaster in the loser bracket finals.

My games against qxc and Trimaster were pretty bad overall; I took a game off qxc with a thor rush and won a game against Trimaster going proxy marauder vs proxy marauder, winning in the end with a banshee but losing all the macro games.

There were really big delays in the tournament due to SC2 freezing on multiple laptops; Sasquatch got angry about that and several games were restarted several times due to the freezes.
I ended up placing third and now have a seed to go to the WCG Grand Finals, but I’d have to pay over $1k for flight and hotel ~~..

I decided to eat at a subway before going back to Poke’s place; jalapenos burning through my sorrow. After a bit of reflection on my games I had to play my MLG vs Proleague games where I obviously got destroyed (not really a spoiler lol), but I won one game since Poke jokingly told me he wouldn’t let me sleep on the couch if I lost it.

Monday
Not much to say here. I woke up at 6 AM, left an envelope with some money for Poke’s parents and left for my 9 AM flight.

Sun rising as I ride the airtran thing

Sick shape thing I had to take a pic of at the airport

I have until Friday to decide whether or not I want to go to WCG Grand Finals in Kunshan, China in late November/early December, but it's a lot of money @_@...'

Thanks for reading.

d3_crescentia

United States4054 Posts

October 17 2012 07:28 GMT

NICE BLOG KAWAII

FinestHour

United States18466 Posts

October 17 2012 07:39 GMT

Go to china. Fulfill your destiny.

Loser777

1931 Posts

October 17 2012 07:40 GMT

China time gogogogogo!

ROOTSasquatch

United States234 Posts

October 17 2012 08:34 GMT

Nice blog. That was definitely the most frustrated I've ever gotten in a tournament. I had 5 games freeze on me (out of the 6 times this issue happened) and the admins were really clueless about dealing with this, they didn't even offer to swap my computer until the fourth time it happened. Personally I think you shouldn't go to China unless you don't have to pay for yourself, it's not really a vacation/sight seeing trip and more of a gamble on if you'll make that money back from the tournament :[

SpeaKEaSY

United States1070 Posts

October 17 2012 09:04 GMT

Good blog... lol I can't even picture Sasquatch being mad. Still sad I couldn't take off from work to go/get a ticket for Comic-con

Would have treated you to sushi or ramen haha

Gamegene

United States8308 Posts

October 17 2012 09:10 GMT

WCG really is shit.

BEARDiaguz

Australia2362 Posts

October 17 2012 09:11 GMT

So that's why yo uwanted to practice TvT the other day.

Sorry mate.

Zang00

Brazil5 Posts

October 17 2012 09:42 GMT

i really want to c u in China.

Probe1

United States17920 Posts

October 17 2012 10:48 GMT

#10

Go to China. Ask reddit for the money they're good for it.
btw you're making me go eat a jalapeno now.

it was good.

endy

Switzerland8970 Posts

October 17 2012 11:15 GMT

#11

Was there a real stage for the finals during WCG ? Looks like everyone was absorbed by the expo.
Come to China, the flight is expensive, but everything else is cheap ! Too bad it's not WCS, I could have let you crash in my guest room.

a9arnn

United States1537 Posts

October 17 2012 12:11 GMT

#12

It was literally impossible finding a bracket and the stream mod was not helpful at all at telling bracket info/etc, it seems like they've been getting worse and worse as the years go on.
Congrats on the 3rd place finish, if you do go to WCG finals, good luck :D!!!

Shady Sands

United States4021 Posts

October 17 2012 12:28 GMT

#13

FYI that shape thing is JFK Terminal 5, designed by the same guy that built the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

MasterMonkey

United States96 Posts

October 17 2012 14:25 GMT

#14

I know it's a lot of money to go to China, but I've lived there before and I have a good buddy who lives in Kunshan and you HAVE to go. If not only for the SCII tournament, go for the experience! The food, the people, the culture, the setting, it's all worth the money and it will really, really be an eye-opening experience, not to mention when you win the whole thing, you're travel will be covered

Keep fighting the good fight!

BisuDagger

Bisutopia19368 Posts

October 17 2012 14:30 GMT

#15

Do itttt! Go!

However, I'm concerned by this:

While Poke was out for most of the day he let me nap on his bed and use his computer to warmup

Poke is a brave man haha.

But seriously KRice, I'm a big fan and hope you can go

Zergneedsfood

United States10671 Posts

October 17 2012 15:04 GMT

#16

Sounded like fun! Wish I was there to see you. And hug you again.

meteorskunk

Canada546 Posts

October 17 2012 15:49 GMT

#17

This is a good blog just for human interest with travelling stories but it also gives a players perspective on a real live tournament! Thanks a lot Kawaii for giving outsiders a chance inside. WIll be tuning into the stream

KawaiiRice fighting~

Wish you beat qxc... I wonder if he is bad manner or good manner at tournaments.