MLG Dallas, best weekend ever

TL; DR:
MLG DALLAS WAS SO MUCH FUN ZOMG YOU SHOULD COME TOO SOMEDAY!

I doubt that there are many of you, but if there is anyone who was actually looking forward to my blogs every night after MLG ended I wanted to apologize for that not happening. The hotel I stayed at for the event was really cheap and pretty good overall, but had the worst internet I've seen since 1995, so connecting long enough to upload photos and write a blog was asking way too much. I'm sorry, hopefully a 3 day recap of my experience will still be sufficient, but it does suck since I won't get to go into as much detail about each day.

I blogged a few weeks ago about attending my first LAN event (here ) MLG Dallas 2012, and I wanted to write a follow up blog about my second event to continue to share the real fan experience with those who haven't gotten to experience it. Not only that, but it seems to me that there is plenty to read regarding the games themselves, but not much regarding what it is like to actually BE THERE. So that is what I'm going to attempt to relate for you now, hopefully it'll feel like you got to come along with me. MLG in Dallas has been the most fun I've ever had in my life, twice.

The Games

So many excellent series were played at this event. There were a lot of exciting games within all the 3-0's and 3-1's, despite all those map scores creating the impression of bad match ups and one sided games. Goswser vs Bomber was a great series. Game 3 was especially exciting to watch from over the players shoulders as it was so intense for so long. Definitely worth checking out if you didn't see it. MC vs CJ.Hero was also fantastic for MC fans. Hero got taken apart, but game 3 was especially silly as it turned into a DT base trade and got pretty crazy with dancing obs and probe micro. For me it was elevated from a regular series to a special one as Rain from SKT was watching Hero's perspective right next to me and I got to talk to him in extremely broken english about what was actually happening and who was going to come out on top. Not many things are cooler than two Protoss players discussing, cheering for, and gasping/shouting at a crazy PvP set when one of those Protoss players is a world class SC2 star. Personally, Rain is my favorite Kespa player I've met in person, he is very friendly and he makes me wish I spoke Korean because he seems very fun to talk to, and is extremely smart and I'd love to mooch some of his game sense.

The Flash vs Ret series was also a great one. Ret played like a mad man, but couldn't overcome the Terran machine of Flash. Every mid game he couldn't hold his lead and fell steadily behind with bad trade after bad trade at the hands of mines and medivacs. Flash played like a god and Ret did his best to bring him down. But what really made this series brilliant was the crowd. Before the start of the game there was an hour+ break where nothing was happening and everyone was growing quite restless. You can hear it in the VODs for that match, when Day9 finally came back (still 15+ minutes before the game would actually start) the crowd went nuts, and from then on everyone had made a silent agreement to go apeshit over every little thing in the match. We cheered for fast expands, for supply depots, for individual lings getting roasted, and even for creep spread. It was amazing. But nothing will ever top our "Wet for Ret" campaign.

Thanks to Silverfire for snapping this great picture of me and my buddies! Check out the MLG Photos thread for more of his awesome work!

Getting the crowd to chant "Wet for Ret" with us was so much fun. He was the foreign hope, he was the Zerg champion, he was the Liquid favorite, he was the King of Drones. We were so wet for Ret. But what was even more awesome was getting to share it with Jos himself. We weren't just getting the crowd into the Wet for Ret frenzy, Ret himself approved of it, and acknowledged us a few times. What a great feeling. We put a lot of effort into cheering on one of our favorite players specifically and we were able to make sure he heard us loud and clear. What more proof do you want than this:

Small note: The kid on the right was drunk, please excuse him. lol

Jos was such a good sport. We took this at nearly 2:00 in the morning after the Life vs Polt series and Ret was so tired and trying to get out of there and catch some sleep, but he still took a second with us, thanked us for our support and assured us he heard our chanting

. This made the weekend for us. Ret fighting!!!! Remember to be Wet for Ret whenever you cheer for him!

Team Startale (Bomber and Life) prepare to crush nerd souls (Goswser and Minigun)

At the time of writing this, after the smoke has cleared on the weekend and I can look back at it all as one big event, nothing compares to Life's run in the tournament. His series against Minigun was a little lackluster. Nothing against Minigun, he is a very very good player, but being very very good doesn't let you beat Startale Life. And Life was in top shape at this event. So after the first round and Terrans stomping all over everyone Life vs Last was shaping up to be just another stomping. But liek I said, Life was in top shape, and he was playing like nothing I've ever seen. Life was the one player I made sure to watch EVERY game of. His first two series were played off the main stage so I could stand there and examine his mechanics and intelligence unravel the game before my very eyes. I can say with confidence that I've never seen anything as impressive in all my years of being a Starcraft fan as watching this kid play. He already has the mentality of a champion, and most definitely has the skill of a champion. He is going to SMASH MVP's GSL record. I garauntee it. As long as school and other growing up things stay out of his way and he is able to keep growing, he will never not make the Ro8 and will soon be THE Zerg in HotS and likely well into LotV. I'm serious, this kid's legacy might one day dwarf that of every other player, even Flash or Boxer. There were a lot of good games this weekend, and some real gems (Game 3 Bomber/Goswser, Game 3 Flash/Bly, etc) but really, if you're only going to watch a few games from this tournament, just watch all of Life's games. He is absolutely the best player right now, Zerg or otherwise. I won't not be pick him as the favorite for champion in whatever he's entering from now on. No one honestly thought a Zerg would even make top 4 at Dallas, and Life dismantled Flash in the finals ezpz. Also, he is just a kid. like a for real KID. When I was his age I was in high school goofing off in custom games in BW not giving a fuck, not winning thousands of dollars roflstomping doubts, blowing away all expectations, and dismantling the best of the best. He is going to go far, very, very, very far.

Have you ever seen APM? I mean real APM? Like the kind of APM that children hang posters on their walls for, the kind of APM that Men want and women desire? APM that is both fast, clean, and efficient? How about APM that is also paired with a powerfully genius intellect moving pieces on the board with the elegance of Beethoven? This is the kind of APM that can overthrow a nation, that can change lives, save souls, rescue the hopeless, feed the starving, open the eyes of the doubtful. I'm telling you right now that if you haven't seen Startale Life play in person, you haven't experienced anything of the sort.

Fun stuff:
+ Show Spoiler +

Hey, it's me and Life! STLife fan for life!

The other best series of the tournament IMO was Innovation vs Flash. Even if you have some sort of weird aversion to TvT, you need to check out this series. It was so killer. Flash and Innovation clashed in a battle of arguably the best Terrans in ~~Kespa~~ the world right now and they did not disappoint. What a series. Game 1 was particular special and set the tone for the rest of the series. Flash went mech and Innovation went widow bio on Neo Planet S and they had an almost identical resources lost well into the mid game after numerous engagements. It was ridiculous how well they were both playing. You really need to go and check out this series in addition to the Life games. If this is the TvT we're in store for in HotS I for one am very pleased. I can't wait for next GSL Code S and the next round of Proleague so we can get to see some more of these top, top tier plays from these guys.

Also, MOTHERFUCKING HUNTER SEEKER MEDIVAC BOMBS are you fucking kidding me Bomber? If you don't know what I'm talking about go watch Bomber vs Goswser. This seriously blew my mind watching it happen right in front of me. So amazing. Bomber you so gosu.

The People

I met a lot of really cool people at this event, both pros and other fans, which made it really really enjoyable. The players were a little less accessible this time around since they weren't all confined to the players area out in the open. Honestly I think this is a good thing for the players as not all of them want to be hassled every 3 seconds by fans, and this way the players were much more in control of when they were available to fans. At the last MLG Dallas there were lots of times players were getting ready to set up or were talking to someone/antoher player and they'd have to politely decline autographs/pictures, but this MLG i didn't see any of tht because it seemed like the pros were open to it when they were out in the open, as aposed to being trapped there. Soap box: please don't be that fan who bothers players while they're getting set up for their next game, or right after they just took a hard loss, or when they're being interviewed. Don't be the person trying to shout at Day9 on the caster's stage when he's probably trying to listen to what the production crew is saying to him in his headset. Don't be the person who treats the pros like they're there for you. Be polite, courteous, and respectful. If they want to talk to you they will, don't force anything. Its awkward and annoying for them and those around you. /soapbox

I didn't get as many pictures with pros as I would have liked as my camera is still pretty shitty. I was planning on buying a nice-ish camera before my next event but I went to this MLG totally out of the blue and wasn't able to plan ahead that far lol. So shitty pictures are still the MO for my blogs right now. The next LAN event blog though! Maybe... I'll try!

Anyway, I met a bunch of people at this MLG who I am now friends with on battle.net who are actually active and enjoy this game as much as I do, which is really rare amongst my traditionally formed friendships, so MLG is great for that! Last time around, I didn't really meet that many non-pros, so it was really great to get to meet some other fans this time. Many of whom I didn't actually get names of, so if you recognize me from these pictures and we got to hang out last weekend hit me up with a PM or something!

Even though my volume of pros met this MLG was lower than last fall, I did get to have a lot more conversations with some of them, rather than a bunch of "Good luck!" "Good games!"-type very limited conversations. I spoke with Goswser a few times, and I must say I learned a lot. When we were watching Vibe vs Sen he was standing near me and I mentioned that I didn't know shit about ZvZ as I am a Protoss player and he proceeded to break down the game we were watching for me, explaining their openings, strategies, and who was ahead/behind, and what each player needed to do in order to win. It was so sick. Then later we discussed his strategies against Bomber and why he though Swarm Hosts were unusable in ZvT and such. Then later on Day 3 he told me that he and Sen had discussed it and decided that Swarm Hosts were actually great in ZvT and that he'd be using them all the time now. We also discussed how exactly Life was managing to crush Terrans and make it looked like a balanced matchup when the rest of the tournament was basically showing that Terran was broken as hell. Goswser has this quiet cockiness about his play that is really quite entertaining to hear when he talks about his game, and he is totally honest about how good or bad he thinks something is, and is totally willing to help out lesser players like myself, and so now he is definitely one of my favorites to talk to. I'll be looking out for him next tournament for sure.

Since I am a Protoss player, I am obviously slightly biased towards Protoss, but really it is mostly that they are the only players I watch to learn from. I mostly watch just about anyone and everyone as a fan, so its OK that my favorite player in the world isn't a Protoss. I <3 MarineKing.

I was so stoked to meet him! Those glasses are so fucking classy

I was on the lookout for pros, and I only ever saw MarineKing once all weekend, so I feel pretty lucky that I caught him long enough for a picture. I was SO pissed that Jjakji took him down so easily. Sigh. MarineKing constantly #1 in our hearts, even if he's not number one in standings. I will seriously fly to Korea if he makes the Ro4 in Code S.

I felt bad for Hero, almost no one knew who he was. When we watched his series against MC I must have explained to like 15 different people that it was "Hero. No, not Liquid Hero, CJ Entus Hero." Also, Parting and Rain are so fly. They just have an aura of cool about them. But it's hazed in awkward Korean.

But I did go and meet some of my favorite Protosses as well! These guys are all such freakin' amazing nerd ballers at Protoss. I hope some of it rubbed off on me. Also, it was funny watching Innovation and Flash not being invited to take the picture with the other Kespa players. No Terrans allowed Flash, not even you.

MC, you're the best. And you gave us Protoss players hope at this event. Also, his english is getting better, but is still amazingly hilarious and broken. "Oracle when opponent don't know is ez win. You must opponent don't know, then very good micro." So classic.

Oh Captain, my Captain. Bosstoss so boss.

The Picture Spam

Yeah, TB thinks I'm cool. So what.

[image loading]

Hello JP McDaniels...

[image loading]

Axslav and Axeltoss are both WAY taller than I thought. I'm just under 6'3" so... ya. Surprising. DJ Wheat, JP, Husky, Day9are all almost as tall as me or taller too. What's with all these giant eSports people?

[image loading]

Life destroying Last. Last Zerg puns galore. Look at Sundance chortling at the puns, and at Last thinking he can actually take on Life.

[image loading]

Polt definitely played it up when I told him he was really cool, and that it was great that he was learning English. Stone cold cool in that face. He is a funny guy, looking forward to more Polt.

[image loading]

LivinPink is one of my favorite people to see at these LANs now. We've actually talked enough that she remembered who I was! That was pretty cool by itself, but she is also fun to talk to regardless.

[image loading]

King of Wings man. I met him. That was really surreal. You can tell by the look on his face.

[image loading]

TB thinks I'm cool, and Genna does too. I'm practically part of Axiom already. But really, Genna was awesome and talked to me about all sorts of stuff: Axiom and the team house and how all that works, shopping for the house and going to Korea, also she says they're looking for another Zerg player!. Also featuring iNcontrol.

[image loading]

I was so bummed that Geoff hadn't gotten to cast on the main stage, I love that guy and so on the final day when they got him out there, it was great. Geoff's the man also, really cool in person

[image loading]

If you're not jelly, you probably should be. Smix is awesome. And great at Korean, she helped me out getting Parting/Rain/Hero's picture.

Day9 saw me taking a picture of him and Husky casting intently. Once again the quality of my camera lets me down, but it was pretty epic seeing this in person. Day9 faces are the best.

Life is so amazing at Starcraft. I hope he learns English someday, he is really nice to people but the language barrier is pretty damn awkward when it comes to Life.

I hope Thorzain doesn't hate this photo, I think it's pretty damn hilarious. That concentration is palpable.

The Soultoss himself. I felt really bad for Sen, running into a Korean is bad enough, running into Parting? Terrible. Watching Parting play was pretty damn sick, especially as a Protoss myself.

The Point

So basically if you're reading this you should come to live events and hang out with me. And every one else. Also go meet your favorite pros, tell them that you like to watch their stream, or that you thought they were great on that one show that one time, or that they played really well in such and such a series. Something! Come out and participate in eSports everyone! It is so much fun.

Note: I'm not so sure I like the format of this blog too much, I'd like to work on that for future event blogs. So let me know what you think. Thanks!

MLG Dallas, best weekend ever - again

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming