EPTI took some photos and video clips at the event up here in Canada last weekend and thought I'd share them with the community. I couldn't get shots of the players and casters quite like silverfire did (without a premium pass you couldn't even cross up to the front half of the seating), so I did my best to capture as much of the atmosphere from the perspective of a spectator as possible. Hopefully you'll still enjoy them though!
Bloggy part about me and my experience:
I'm a silly Canadian not from Toronto. I actually live about a five hour drive away (one way), but who cares when eSports calls? This would be my second time attending an event such as this (the first being NASL3 in July 2012) and I'm really proud of how well everything went. I did my best to cheer as loudly and often as I could without blowing out my voice throughout the weekend (though that almost happened on day one anyway) and I'm glad that the players, casters, and staff alike loved us. Hell, even Mr. Bitter shaved a maple leaf on the back of his head - how cool is that?! Here's hoping that we were awesome enough to attract more eSports events to Canada.
Compared to the last time NASL came to Canada, this event was definitely better produced and organized. In addition to having a substantially larger and nicer venue that seated many more people (though there was still a ridiculous shortage of chairs on Saturday and Sunday), they utilized the screens brilliantly. Rather than two copies of the main observer screen at the front, they had a single main screen flanked by each player's on either side. I thought this was really cool and actually spent more time watching those to be perfectly honest. Additionally, there were numerous smaller screens along both sides of the seating area and one large projector in the back near the entrance so nobody could ever miss any of the action. I tried to show this as much as I could in my photos and videos - I reckon the stream didn't really highlight these things. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed!
A couple of really great moments for me were of course meeting some people! I had a small chat and got a picture with iNcontroL, got duckdeok to sign my boyfriend's MVP mouse pad (which I bought for him no less), and after a crazy long wait in line I got Jaedong to sign the Star Crafts Happy Zergling shirt that I was wearing. Everyone was super sweet (and in the case of some Koreans super shy) - it was great being able to see these guys and even meet a few of them in person. Anyone I'd interacted with in the crowd was also very cool and friendly, but I guess that's to be expected from a huge group of fellow Canadians
All in all it was a great weekend and despite being grumpy about a Starbucks being the only quick beverage booth and super overpriced (and terrible) drinks at the bar, I still loved the setup. This event was definitely a huge upgrade from the last time an event came to Canada, and here's hoping that it only continues uphill from here.
Anyway, enough of the rambling...which I do a lot of...and to the photos/videos. I uploaded the photos a few days ago but figured it might be worthwhile sharing here with some added video clips (which I took hoping to compliment the photos), so you can click here for the full album!
If you click around you should be able to find my NASL3 album from last year too (or go here if you're lazy).
Feel free to let me know how I did (but only if you go easy on me)! Thanks all!
