Dreamhack Open Stockholm 2013 Experience

When talking about possibly going to this event TBO would recommend to register as a player rather than going as a spectator, his reasons were that it's easier to go to all the areas that his little brother can go, it's only barely more expensive than buying a spectator ticket, and also it's actually fun to play in such a big tournaments, and maybe even get lucky and get a win against a great player, which TBO did manage to do at DH Valencia:


awwwww yeaaaaah lifted in base proxy 2 rax for the win


So a few other members of our local Esports community in Leipzig decided to sign up as a player - TBO and myself, Copyleft, and Rezman (who actually lives in Stockholm atm but I dont care) and we all got accepted after paying the entry fee.
TLO's mod clan WLC (We Love Cookies), which Leipzig Esports recently had a fun clanwar against also participated with Schlumpfine, Gowerly and Millord as representatives.

My girlfriend and my ex-flatmate also decided to come along to visit Stockholm, we booked the flight two days early to the event so that I could do a bit of sightseeing as well
The three of us, as well as gXxshock, reporter for Instarcraft.de and founder of our Leipzig Esports community, and his girlfriend were all staying at our friend Rezman's place.

On our first Day in Stockholm the city was completely packed with feemale teenagers in mini skirts, even though it was quite windy and this at least wouldnt have been my first choice of clothing.
There could only be one reason:

The Biebs was here


so many hormones filled in such a small place

He had his last of three concerts in Stockholm that day, so with the capacity of the Globen, that makes like 16000x3 = 48000 teenagers. Dat Bieber Fever...

Anyways, Stockholm is a beautiful city, and for being such a modern metropolis it has a lot of water and nature and some wonderful old architecture
We encountered some animals, even deer in the wild, which is something that surprised my German brain a lot

I didnt have my zoom lense on when the deers ran by and they disappeared very quickly so here's.... some bird


... and a squirrel

I'm glad that I took the time to visit some parts of it, even though two days isn't a whole lot





At the evening of day 2 Rezman and me went to the Inferno Online, a beautiful giant PC Bang. Rezman played some games with TBO and I practiced my PvP to prepare for my Protoss opponent.
A few progamers were there to practice as well, Naniwa and Mana for example were playing some TvZ against each other.
For me it was actually really stressful, I'm someone who never practices a lot of SC2, but since my group wasn't impossible to advance out of I suddenly found myself pressured, really wanting to advance. At the very least I wanted to beat my Protoss opponent, whom I didnt really know anything about but I assumed he would be the weakest.

Rezman and I did some meditation before going to bed, which I think helped a lot to calm us down.

Like we were supposed to, we arrived near Globen at around 9:30, we had some trouble finding the entrance but encountered a group of swedish progamers+huk to lead the way.

So then we all stood in line, Hellspawn awaiting us to give us one of these green badges, which you can see here in WLC Gowerly's blog

I was walking towards the player area along with Rezman, nervously looking around, Huk passes us by and Rezman goes „wtf man, Huk greeted you, he winked at you and you just ignore him, youre so rude“. Whoops didnt see that.

In every computer there's a text file opened with the name of the player who is supposed to sit there.
I eventually find my place next to a swedish amateur called Suede and Maddelisk.


Maddelisk+White-Ra. I took this photo while my brain was still in gamer mode

I set everything up, realize I forgot my headphones, got some from DH admin, start the game up and play a ZvT with TBO, who was in an all zerg group. I lose the game, walk around, talk to some people, the admin gathers the players in our group and explains the rules.

My group consisted of:
Xylla - swedish Protoss, who used to be quite gosu but as it turned out hasn't really played HotS
Njal - 1.3k Master Terran, I played him once when we already knew we would face each other - not wanting to reveal his playstyle he rallied marines on 1 base into my colossus army and I eventually won...
NrSKrass - German Terran hope, recently qualified for WCS Europe, really good at dropping everywhere.
So just the fact that there was only one progamer in this group made it easier than many others, which on the other hand meant that not advancing would be just that much more disappointing.


Admin asks for map vetoes: For PvP I veto Whirlwind, for PvT I veto Akilon wastes.
Later I get up to the admin and ask him to undo the veto of Akilon wastes, I actually meant Bel'Shir Vestige.
I walk around some more, talk to some people, and ask Huk if he wants to coach me, since I'm thinking with some advice of his I could make it out of the group. Being the awesome nerd baller that he is, he obliges, asks when the first game starts and sits down with his white pillow just as the countdown starts.


Photo by gXxshock

My first opponent was Xylla, my plan was to open with the PvP build of the Axiom Protosses Alicia and Crank, where you get double gates but delay your 2nd and 3rd stalker to get an early stargate, then you add a 3rd gateway, if he expands you attack, if he attacks you defend.
My opponent went for an early robo expand, he lost his mothership core before it could cast photon overcharge, I killed his Nexus at the natural while my oracle killed some probes in the main, meanwhile I expand and contain him with sentries at his ramp.
It really couldn't have gone any better for me, eventually I go home as I know an enemy colossus is coming, he does an attack, it fails, GG.

My plan was to now go for the same build but instead of stargate add twilight council and dark shrine. However, since his build in game 1 seemed like a good counter to that, and seemed weak against my game in build 1 I decided to go with the same build.

I'll hold it short for the rest of the games since frankly I dont remember them as well, but they were somewhat similar except he played safer and he got to two base for a while but his unit composition was no match for my voidray zealot stalker sentry immortal army.

After the game Huk says, „huh I wasn't sure if you could support 2 stargates and immortal production from just 2 base but it seemed to work out“

The next series against Njal, was very likely to be the deciding one, since it was pretty much certain we would all lose to Krass.
I'll just say that they were pretty close games, there were some moments where I thought I would win game 1 but eventually his better macro and a few key mistakes led to my loss.
At least Huk gave me some strategic advice after the games, so that I won't repeat going for a weak build in my next 500 ladder games, so that's good =)

Against Krass I was all by myself, first game I tried an oracle all in, his 5 reapers wrecked my mineral line, lots of marines, gg.
2nd Game I decided to just play standard, I defended his first few medivacs very well , took a few of them down, made a 1 colossus without range tech switch to storm and chargelots, to which he reacted with 16 vikings :D
Unfortunately when terran drops on my level get shut down like that, they get less aggressive with drop harass, but Krass he just goes wilder and wilder with it, he outmultitasks me, outmacroes me, and eventually attacks my main army at my 3rd. I land a huge storm and his vikings are not very useful, but it all doesnt matter when the Terran is 200 supply vs 160 and has 5 base vs 3, GG. Was a very fun game though.
After the game had a short talk with Krass, about the games and how I could've beaten him, really nice guy, and he seems very knowledgable and enthusiastic about the game, which isn't something you can say about all progamers.
So there we go, that was the early end of my progaming career. If only I didnt play such damn few games of Starcraft, I'm sure I could have advanced, so I was thinking maybe I should really start playing, but on the other hand if next time I'll get two progamers instead of one in my group I'm still screwed :p. Besides, I'm gonna be a doctor relatively soon, I dont think I'll have that much time for computer games then.
Anyways, now it was time to switch to press/photographer mode, although I didn't really feel like it at all

There was a lot of support for Jaedong in Stockholm, lots of oldschool BW fans


So all of those that have been around for BW might remember when my favourite Kespa team CJ Entus beat Hwaseung Oz in Winners League finals after Jaedong had gone 3-0, lost with a 4 pool, and Skyhigh did the reverse kill for a 4-3 victory, which resulted in Atrioc creating this thread
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=90341


My plan for dreamhack was to get some items to recreate the gloriousness that was Moustachezerg and Piratezerg - IN REAL LIFE


awwwww yeahhhh. Yes, I actually paid money to buy this

Eventually I gather the courage to approach my all time favourite BW player Jaedong, have pictures of me and him taken and ask him if he knows about the pictures of him as Piratezerg, and if he would be cool with me recreating this in a photoshoot on day 2. He says yes and agrees to the photoshoot as well and I'm a happy panda.

On day 2 he was quite busy, with him keeping on advancing deeper into the tournies, doing interviews and all that, eventually he has some free time and agrees to do the photoshoot, I show him my eyepatch, and my "noseglasses with moustache" and he almost has a heart attack.
Turns out he didn't actually understand what I was on about the day before at all, and figured I would do a not-insane photoshoot. Eventually he says he'll ask Coach Park, Coach Park says he's not in a good condition, I should ask him again later on, but he for some reason doesn't love the moustacheglasses either.
Long story short, at the end of the tournament I approach him again, I do some normal photos, get out the eyepatch and he still doesn't want to and I give up. I felt kinda bad that I tried so hard, with him looking so depressed already all day long, but I knew that a lot of people on TL, myself included, would have absolutely loved it if this had actually happened.
Hopefully the next time I meet him he will have completely forgotten who I am, I will not forget my Hwaseung Oz shirt, (I hate you epoxide) and we'll be best friends!

oh lol, there is that batshit-insane photographer

All in all Dreamhack Open Stockholm 2013 was just an amazing tournament, I got to hang out with a lot of awesome people, I met Epoxide, Salle, liquipediacontributer guy (sorry ^^), funny Acer-guy (looking at the Team Acer page I guess his name is Wndwrt!), Njal, Krass, the WLC crew, hung out with my guys from Leipzig, my close friend Reza, the amazing Navi'Fairon, and had my girlfriend to go "home" to.

We cheered for TLO during his good run,

I could observe as TBO supported his younger brother, taking notes of his opponents, and interfering with the admin after TLO got cannon rushed by JYP when TBO realized that the wrong map was being played.
(Game 2 was then started on the correct map, but if TLO, who was leading 1-0 would have lost game 2 they would have resumed game 3 from replay. However this wasnt necessary as TLO Beat JYP 2-0.) Really nice to see some brotherly love in action :D
It's also nice to see TLO finally do so well in general, and I think he has a really good shot at advancing out of his WCS, even though it's the only one with two koreans in it (MMA and ForGG), probably making this the group of death
( http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2013_WCS_Season_1_Europe/Premier )

Coach Park seems like a really fun guy, he talks in higher pitch than I would have expected and generally seems to be quite extroverted and fun.

HerO, Coach Park and Coach Park's fancy pants

I had a short talk with incontrol, and talked about my dark secret + Show Spoiler +

The crowd was absolutely amazing, at the start of the semifinals I was hoping for a Hero vs Jaedong finals, but when the crowd started cheering for Naniwa I couldn't help but root for him.
I had so many nerdchills and got so emotional several times that night, after witnessing HerO win Dreamhack Winter 2011 I didnt think I could feel that much for an ESPORTS tournament again, but the crowd of Stockholm proved me wrong. I also give them a lot of props for still cheering as much as they did when Leenock won, even though the vast majority of people was greatly disappointed.

NANI NANI NANI NANI


I improved as a photographer and all in all I was quite happy with my work for TL, looking back at some of the earlier photos that I've contributed ( http://ghostkey.smugmug.com/Other/Gamescom-IEM-Cologne-2011/18599776_hP9svZ#!i=1437055611&k=D3Wj9Tq ) I've come a long way, I set a much higher standard for myself for what's a presentable photo nowadays, and I know there's still a lot to learn. (And I'm looking forward soooo much to finally getting a better camera soon)


Events like this are funny, you're surrounded by progamers, all the people you know from watching streams, and it's awesome to interact with them, but at the same time it's weird (at least for someone like me who doesnt have Code S social skills) because you're never part of that group and this interaction is limited to big events where people see each other only like once or twice a year. But this time around there were so many familiar faces around, it almost made me feel at home, and really made me feel like this was something worth investing all the time money and effort for. I would say thanks, but the shoutouts have their own section below.

So here are a few pics that didnt make the cut for the official TL gallery

the hero of this tournament


Coca packing his things after a really fun series against Jaedong


Take: 'Wait'


Am I seeing this right?


._.



Leenock + Fan


dat smirk


who you lookin at son


Hyun might be gosu at Starcraft, but damn is he bad at rock-paper-scissors


...or hes so awesome that he kept on losing on purpose so that the fans that beat him get the free prize, noone knows


Clearly the TL gallery didn't have enough HerO


Trashtalk? I'm thirsty!


who doesn't


before the semifinals robert ohlen adebisi and the casters were talking and joking around, all except for Apollo. He was intensely staring at his computer and taking some more notes for the final casted games


The Champion


The Champagne


Feel free to add your own caption


I did it! Winning this tournament was much easier than opening this bottle


Time for some hugs and kisses


MMmmmhh. No idea why I didnt upload this one for the official gallery


Same goes for this one. Artosis - finally someone who appreciates the Boss' Hugs


Like out of a commercial



Last but not least, the Ohlen Lucchesi Photo story

I started reading the strobist blog and am getting more into flash photography, I remember NeverGG saying she really disliked shooting with flash, but I think it's extremely interesting and a whole new dimension when you're suddenly the one in charge of all the light.
Here are some of the first photos ive done of myself with a proper lighting setup


Fairon titled this one 'nerd rage'

Thank you camera for making me look handsomer than irl.

me and ma doggy

Just as I did in my big 'Year with TL' blog I would like to give some shoutouts to some people just to show my appreciation

First of all Shauni, cause I forgot to mention you last time. I dont know if youre still visiting TL, havent seen you on irc in a long time but you once did me a great favour and its a shame I didnt mention that the first time around!


Rezman Thank you for housing us, thank you for being a good and very important friend of mine


the mighty Rezman


Navi'Fairon What an awesome dude, it was really nice to see you again, I'm looking forward to your return to Germany

See how baller this guy looks? Doesnt even do him justice!


gXxShockThe big papa of Leipzig Esports, he is a good example that, if you wanna help Esports grow, just freaking do it. If it wasn't for this guy we wouldnt have our amazing local community, we would have missed out on a lot of friends and experiences, thanks man.

gXxshock and his secret lover

Also a big shoutout to all the other guys from Leipzig Esports, copyleft, TBO, serenity, iceclaw, melas etc. You know who you are.
www.leipzigesports.de

Epoxide Was fun hanging out with you, even though I hate you for stealing Jaedongs love. I look forward to talking with you about how everyones a traitor and how bad SC2 is at DHS ;P

Epoxide, supermodel. Mad shopping skills by ZodaSoda

Salle Well we didnt talk all that much at DHOpen but we'll have time for that at DHS

Wndwrt Funny dude!

Grubby for being such a nice person and for setting such a good example for everyone in the community.
At IEM Hannover he was nice enough to do a photoshoot, for the final TL gallery I only picked the one I thought was best, but here are a few more:
+ Show Spoiler [Grubster] +
Also happy birthday!!!
(first Nazgul, then Huk, then Grubby, seems like May is the month of Protoss)


Huk Still as nice as he always was, great guy. Thanks for taking the time to watch my games.
+ Show Spoiler [on a bit of a tangent] +

I felt like reediting this shot of Huk and my glorious 9k clan from Gamescom 2011. Sorry Delo for cutting you out but it really looks better this way lolol. Photo by Liquid´TLO

XMG and
Wildfire for sponsoring our community Leipzig Esports. I think it's just amazing that these companies give a local community as ours support already. We dont have massive stream numbers, we're not super famous, yet they're here for us "little guys" supporting our Barcrafts and all that. Thanks <3

And of course thanks to my girlfriend for coming along to Stockholm and in general for putting up with me =)

oh and since were talking about music check out this video of a friend of mine


they just released their debut album, all their lyrics are in German.Buy album here
http://www.amazon.com/Du-weißt-wieso/dp/B00CEIEC96/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368229942&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=bye bye du weißt wieso
Or on Itunes ( Search for Byebye - du weißt wieso )

Alright that's it, thanks for reading =)