EPTThere is a long stretch of desert between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, in fact from Vegas on you have some of the most mundane scenery in the whole U.S. Needless to say the drive is comparable to hell; its hot, theres no one around to talk to and by all means you feel trapped. But braving this desert wasteland was a small feat when I had Blizzcon as my goal this time around. For the first time the desert conceded defeat at my hands not the other way around.
"Blizzcon has opted for a 14cc build while Sp1ral has completely misscouted and put down his third hatch before a pool. This could be bad."
I awoke with a start, that morning was only a mere 24 hours from Blizzcon. Though I had to wake up at 7 am the morning was no less epic and I ate breakfast with a certain spring in my step. The sun broke through the vague lines in the glass, after years of wear and tear my once young lady was now a wrinkled old hag. I whispered a promise to her 'If you make it there, you don't have to make it back' and set off to collect my passenger.
After stopping for gas coupled with high octane coffee we set our eyes on the distant horizon and began our journey. Now once again I want to tell you some epic story that happened on our drive into LA, but to be honest it was boring. We listened to the sweet sounds of my three speaker stereo and puffed on ciggarettes (among other things) to pass the time. Later, rather than sooner, we arrived in San Diego to spend the night at my friends brothers house. Tomorrow we would head into LA for the gargantuan nerd orgy that awaited us there.
"Its clearly a game of attrition here as Sp1ral attempts to set up some sort of map control, meanwhile Blizzcon is passively allowing said map control in favor of a all in timing push. I am not sure whats going to happen here as a lull in the action has now begun, but ones things for sure... This could be bad."
Once again the sun rose me from my bed, or the blaring siren coming from my phone did, either way I was up. The red cherry of my ciggarette lit the area around me like the red nose on Rudolph, it definitely wasn't the sun that started my rise this time. I calmly smoked as I pondered whether or not we could make it into LA in time for the doors opening at 10. For some reason I highly doubted it but nonetheless I went to awake my partner in crime so that we could begin.
Even now, not 2 weeks later, I vividly remember being extremely late and setting the cruise control to OFF in order to negotiate the winding traffic in LA. I expected to use every tactic I had learned to reach our destination on time, and I was prepared for the worst. As we neared LA and the traffic was starting to become dense my fears were... alleviated. We zoomed through traffic just in time to see the mass of cars exiting on Kattella Ave. Time to get in line.
"Well I would have thought Sp1ral would be much further behind right now, but somehow he has managed to hold his own this game. Even after winning the first game Sp1ral is still at a clear disadvantage against such a monstrous and experienced opponent."
Here is where things get a little ugly, but first my meeting with two of the coolest dudes ever and the ensuing wild goose chase. As we parked our car LosingID8 and Day[9] called me to see if they could store some of their unneeded things along with our crap. I went through the lobby to meet them outside, after ID8s description they were easy to find ("Asian dude in a TL shirt"). This may have been a joke until I realized that the very person I was searching for was walking directly towards me, sweet.
As I met up with Day and LosingID I contemplated something very deep, or I assume I did as afterward I was completely lost as to where I had entered the lobby from. We first tried and elevator, nope. We returned to the Lobby to give it another shot, at least I remembered that we re on parking level 4; there was some hope. We tried another elevator to no avail and then some stairs which were just as unfruitful, shit. Finally we followed some Blizzconers to the elevator (or one of them found it, I dont remember) and put their stuff in my car. Not the best first impression, but at least I get the sympathy vote for being under the average intelligence level.
"Sp1rals build order and timing have gone completely out of wack, this kid must be smoking on some heavy stuff if he thinks he can stay in this game after that terrible display."
I could write some epic analysis of how boring the line was and how hot it felt as we wound around the parking lot which served as the humongous Blizzcon line. But instead I won't, It fucking sucked and thats all there is to it.
The next goal was to get to the StarCraft 2 section as fast as possible, time to cram games in before going to find the TL guys pre-SC matches. This was rather easy as I guess teh WoW nerds were in such huge numbers that nobody wanted to play SC2 at first. At first we were told to exit the gaming area and re enter from the ropes, but after I pointed out the fact that there were only about 50 people in an area clearly meant for hundreds, he let us whore it up. We moved our way up and down the rows of computers there until it was finally time to head towards the SC tournament stage.
"Things are getting worse as Sp1ral seems to be too focused on expanding while Blizzcon is dropping him on all fronts. There is just too much going on for him to concentrate."
As I reached the SC stage I saw a huge sign which stated that some of my favorite people in the world were under it. "Pro Gamer Area". I rushed over immediately and pushed past everyone that I could to get as close to the gamers as possible. There werent many people there but watching Yellow play from and FPview is something be experienced withing peeping tom distance. Finally I reached the area and firmly planted my feet there for the next few hours as I watched Yellow lose to Idra and Cloud lose to Savior.
While standing there I suddenly realized that I was most likely standing amongst all of the TeamLiquidians as they would most likely enjoy this as well. Sure enough as I looked around I spotted a familiar "1v15" face. There in the flesh was the amazing and talented, LastRomantic. Chill, Plexa, losingID, intrigue, Zatic and a bunch of others were there as well watching the matches.
Far too focused on StarCraft 2 I hardly spent much time with them apart from the SC matches inside the convention. So when the matches ended I chit chatted with LosingID and Plexa for a bit about the Ygosu thing and ID8s chance to interpret Nadas interview, which by the way involved him touching Nadas MSL and OSL badges (FUCKING SICK!). Afterwards it was back to SC2.
"It seems after losing a seemingly insurmountable lead Blizzcon has handed this game back to Sp1ral. Here we go again, this game is going to drag on for quite some time."
Ill save my opinion of the game for the TeamLiquid Blizcon Review but needless to say I had fun. I tried my best to get a feel for each of the races but I found myself sitting there like an idiot for the first few games. Reviewing the buildings and tech options of each unit. My friend and I would constantly get angry at each other for attacking while we were trying to figure out the limitations of blink or something. It was fun.
Playing StarCraft 2 was alot like playing StarCraft for the first time, though I did find it much easier to catch on due to my previous experience. It was exactly what I expected it to be, nothing like Brood War. I guess this was a dissappointment of sorts but in the end I knew it would have to be this way. I faced off against StarCraft 2 all day long, trying to learn her ins and outs before my precious time was up.
"This is a battle of attrition, Sp1ral is running low on units but he has more bases right now. The map is nearly mined and I don't see any logical end to this."
Hours into my neverending grind I felt the urge to actually eat something so I went to take a rest before the next set of SC matches. Once again I sat with the TL guys during the matches which were pretty exciting (Go SAVIOR!) and overall I was very satisfied with the Tasteless+Artosis duo backed up by DJWheat. That guy doesnt get enough credit, he has a real way about the mic and can keep a crowd on noobs entertained. Props man!
After a few more hours of SC2 I was so fucking tired that I really didnt care what happened next as long as it involved food and beer. Luckily the TL dinner was already planned, with nothing left to do I bounce out to take a shower before the dinner. A great second day at Blizzcon, but I felt pwnt afterward.
"Well this is unexpected, just as the action went into a lull Sp1ral typed "EZ MODE TERRAN BITCH" and left the game. Its an unprofessional move, but obviously something is perturbing him. Oh well on to game three, the final set in the series."
