EPTFriday 8:00 P.M. - 5:00.A.M. on Saturday
I told my teammates from Area 51 that I was going to sleep, five hours passed and I told them again. While I was laying there tirelessly wasting my time and energy "trying" to go to sleep, all I could think about was the event and not disappointing my team and teammates by having a horrible performance. I always try to carry everything on my shoulders never wanting to let it be to much for me. Since it was the first LAN event my team was ever showing up at, I was just really worried that we did not meet the expectations of what a sponsored team should be. I wanted us to introduce Area 51 with a bang.
Area 51 was usually known for its FPS games like CS1.6, CSS, TF2, COD, and BF3. This is the first time they hopped into an RTS Game and I didn't want them to regret it by not even making it out of my pool play. I was worried about so much that I went to the LAN with about thirty-forty minutes of sleep.
Saturday 6:30 A.M. - 8:30 P.M
I arrived at my teammates Strength's house and we left at 7:00 were would then have to enjoy a four hour drive(Which actually was not bad). When we got there, we met our last player Mind. He had been there for a while practicing and waiting for us to arrive. We had time to warm-up and relax while we waiting for the rest of the players to trickle in. At this point I managed to meet the event runner Torenhire, who I must say is an extremely nice guy. I also met NrGLuckyfool, someone I have known since released but never got a chance to meet in person, who is also an extremely nice guy.
At 1:00 in the afternoon Pool Play started. I was casted for the first game against a Zerg. My hands were shaking so much, I couldn't control it. It made me play pretty poorly but somehow I managed to overcome it and won. After that, pool play seemed pretty easy but when we got to bracket play a whole other beast was opened.
While I was waiting for the brackets, I was quite worried we might have a team kill since all three Area 51 members were still in. As the brackets went up and I saw it, I felt as ease because we avoided a team kill during the round of 16. Somehow we all managed to make it to the round of 8 and that I could say I was proud about. My round of 8 opponent was vGAnfield, a toss player who beat Vileillusion in the round of 16 which made me feel anxious and scared. VileIllusion is a really good terran player and if this toss was good enough to beat him, I thought he would then be a lot better than me. But that wasn't the case. I managed to come out with a 2-0 victory over him. I thought that momentum would carry over to the round of 4 but I found out that both my teammates were eliminated in the round of 8 which made me very sad and made me feel like more weight was put on my shoulders. I didn't want to let my team and teammates down.
During the round of 4 I lost pretty badly to this Zerg player which hit me pretty hard but I found out soon after that there would be a 3rd place round were both the losers in the round of 4 would play to see who would get 3rd . At this point I felt like I had nothing else to lose so I played the best game I could play managing to beat NrGLuckyfool in close 2-1 victory.
Thoughts On Event!
After all that I got a chance to relax on the way home after realizing what just happened. While I was at the LAN I met amazing players and people. It gave me a chance to improve my play while meeting people around my area. I also had a chance to cast with a great caster NaNManLXG. These are events no one should ever miss because they are just that fun.
I couldn't have gone to this event without the help of my team, "Area 51 Gaming" and my teammates Strength(driver there and back-god thank you), and Mind for showing me how to play and always giving me tips. Thanks to the sponsors: SteelSeries, End of Reality, Hurricane Host, Ammo Energy Drinks, and Killer Gaming.
Here is the link to the Vlog: http://www.twitch.tv/therealnanman/b/306153782
Here is the link to the Pics: http://s760.photobucket.com/albums/xx250/zStrickened/DC Netolic Lan Area 51/
