I am not a very good writer, but Prima said I have to write something.

Late last year, I had the idea to put together a community-run tournament that was much larger than anything I had ever done before. The more I talked about it, the more people got involved. A large number of people, from SoCal eSports, CSN, BarCraft organizers, CSL teams, and LAN centers came together to form the core group behind the event.

The GESL was, in many ways, an experimental event for myself and many of the people involved. I realize that the final product was not perfect, but the whole point was to see if an event like this could even be successful. I learned many things from my experiences these past few months, and that list is potentially endless and cannot be efficiently explained here. What I can say is that I have heard the constructive criticism and requests that have been made by the community, and I have taken them to heart. Our future events will be more enjoyable and entertaining for both the audience watching at home as well as the audience on-site at the event. I hope to be able to to host another event in the future to show the ESPORTS community what our team can truly do.

I would like to give thanks to all of our sponsors, all of the Cal Poly Pomona volunteers, SoCal eSports, Cyber Sports Network, and everyone else related to the running of this event. I would also like to extend special thanks to my parents, and I offer my apologies to them for scheduling the GESL during Father's Day.

Finally, a sincere thanks is in order for everyone out there who attended, watched, and supported the GESL. Oh, and thank you to Liquipedia.

Sincerely,

Bobby Omari

Replays

GESL Replay Pack Ver 2
~~GESL Replay Pack Ver 1~~
note: Clide plays as SlayerSCella
Ryung plays as Zerg
Alicia plays as shortstuff

The current pack contains about half of the StarCraft 2 matches played over the weekend. We are still tracking down replays from the main stage computers. If/when we locate the remaining replays, version 2 will be uploaded. Main stage replays found thanks to Ghostclaw and itsjustatank. Version 2 includes all bracket stage replays (except (P)

Alicia vs

Insur ro16) and two-thirds of group stage ones.

We didn't have a good procedure for saving replays this time. If anyone have a suggestion on how to better handle replay archiving, please share!

VODs

Completed Event on r/SpoilerFreeSC
by SyncOne (thank you!)

On Youtube
Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Finals

Photos

Photo Galleries
Photos by itsjustatank
Photos on GESL
ESFI World Day 1
ESFI World Day 2
By Carlton Beener TBA
Photos by Ghostclaw
By Leafeator

Coverage

Newegg.com

Cyber-Sports.net
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by CSN] +

Beastyqt at GESL interview
Alicia, Dream, Sleep, Ryung, viOLet, Monster, Clide, and Tails at Disneyland
Day 0 of GESL
A message from GESL
Team Dirt Nap Interview
MVP TAiLS Interview

ESFI World - Event Portal
+ Show Spoiler [Day 1 Coverage] +

Photos
Live from GESL: Day 1
GESL 24 players make battle this weekend
First hour problematic
Group drawing
CSN John Clark discusses Day 1 issues
Venue tour
(Z)

Golden finishes GESL Day 1 at 3-0

+ Show Spoiler [Day 2 Coverage] +

Photos
Live from GESL: Day 2
(Z)

Machine assesses day 1 performance
(P)

Alicia riding momentum from MLG into GESL
GESL releases bracket methodology
Playoff bracket revealed
(T)

Illusion advances to GESL playoffs
Interview: GESL event directory Bobby Omari
(Z)

Mystik looking to bounce back after GESL disappointment
NintendudeX interview
HotshotGG interview
CLG COO CyberBoB interview
CLG Black Zuna interview
(P)

Rhythm interview at GESL

+ Show Spoiler [Day 3 Coverage] +

Monster defeats Sleep 4-2 to win GESL
(T)

KawaiiRice "Zerg is really broken right now"
(T)

DeMusliM discusses GESL, MLG, NASL, and TvZ

Girls of StarCraft
+ Show Spoiler [Interviews by BrightSide] +

Zoia at the GIGABYTE ESPORTS LAN with surprise guests (T)

Clide and

Ryung
EG Azael interview
DoA interview
Dynamic Moms interview
Gwin interview
CSN John Clark interview
(Z)

EG.IdrA interview
(T)

EG.DeMusliM interview

+ Show Spoiler [Axel for the Girls] +

Brandi BrightSide interview
CSN John Clark interview
Wombat interview

State of the League
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by SotL] +

CLG Chauster - Pre GESL talk
Crs Saintvicious Interviews Travis on Living with Doublelift
Dan Dinh on Casting, League eSports, and more
TSM Reginald - Gaming House to California, MLG Anaheim, and GESL
TSM Leena - Hanging with TSM, Fangirling Scarra, and More
GESL Cutting Room Floor Footage with Curse and TSM Leena
Dirtnap Gaming Interview at GESL

Custom PC Review
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by Custom PC Review] +

Interview with GIGABYTE PR Manager Irene
Cooler Master Shows Off Sonuz, Stryker @ GESL 2012
AverMedia Shows Off Live Gamer HD, Live Streaming @ GESL 2012
Event preview
Patriot Memory @ GESL 2012 – Viper 3 High Performance DDR3 Memory
Enermax / LEPA @ GESL 2012 – LED Fans, Cases, Power Supplies, and More!
Antec @ GESL 2012 – Cases, Power Supplies, and More!
CyberPower PC @ GESL 2012 – Zeus, Gamer Xtreme, Playseat, and More!

Legitreview
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by LegitReview] +

GESL Walk-Through with interview
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 WindForce 5x Video Card Spotted
Antec Booth Tour at GESL 2012
CyberPower Booth Tour @ GESL 2012
Enermax Shows Off Platimax Coolers at GESL 2012

Cadred - Event Portal
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by Cadred] +

Forcefields of Fury
SC2 Groups ◘ LoL Groups
Day 1's Disaster
Day 2 Preview
(Z)

Sleep Gets Slept On
(Z)

Mystik Makes Mistakes
You Don't Need a Saint Against a Curse
LoL Bracket
Day 2 Repeats History
Day 3 Preview
Final Standings

C4BorN
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by C4BorN] +

Team Dynamic interview The Moms of Team Dynamics
CLG at GESL
MegumixBear interview Part 1
MegumixBear interview Part 2

Quantic Gaming
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by Quantic Gaming] +

Illusion and Theognis Competing at the GESL
Recap of Day 1
Recap of Day 2
Illusion Finishes in the Top 16

CLGaming
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by CLG] +

Preview
Day 1
Day 2
Final Day
Interviews

Dirtnap Gaming
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by Dirtnap Gaming] +

Day 1
Angel's GESL perspective
Interview by Rachel

SK Gaming
+ Show Spoiler [Coverage by SK Gaming] +

Preview
Day 1 Results
TSM taking home 3rd title in a row

Dryus interview at GESL by SworlessSlasher

High hopes for a tough lineup by Evil Geniuses

Round 3 for Axslav and Insur by Infinity Seven

GESL League of Legends Tournament by GGG

For media, team, and general inquiries, please write to support@thegesl.com.
The GESL reserves the right to make any changes without event notice.

Oh wow, you read the whole thing. Here's a bonus Prima's statistics corner

Statistics by Stream


Stream		Video Views		Unique Visitors		Hours Viewed	Concurrent Peak
TheGESLoL	1,316,744		388,225			362,535		33,736
TheGESL		834,571			249,156			68,647		7,856
TheGESL2	261,785			90,272			23,274		2,429

Statistics by Day


Dates		Videos Played		Unique Visitors		Hours Viewed	Concurrent Peak
Day 1 		352,064			190,266			114,298		22,937
Day 2		613,917			284,396			255,374		39,115
Day 3		533,490			252,991			84,784		25,389

Event Total
Videos Viewed - 2,413,100
Unique Visitors - 727,653
Hours Viewed - 454,456
Concurrent Peak - 44,021

Casting Pairs

		J	G	Ax	D	Z	Az	T
Jorosar			3	2	2	4	4	3
Gwin		3		4	2	2	1	2
Axeltoss	2	4		4	3	2	1
DoA		2	2	4		2	1	1
Zoia		4	2	3	2		4	3
Azael		4	1	2	1	4		5
Thundertoss	3	2	1	1	3	5

Sets casted
Jorosar - 18
Gwin - 16
Axeltoss - 16
Doa - 12
Zoia - 19
Azael - 17
Thundertoss - 15

Xeris

Iran17695 Posts

June 24 2012 02:09 GMT

excellent wrapup! hope the next one is even better, it was really enjoyable to attend.. .can't speak from the spectator online view.

Primadog

United States4411 Posts

June 24 2012 02:13 GMT

We know the stream experience can be a lot better, and we will do better next time.

I am looking forward to the feedback from this thread. The sponsors are happy enough that there'll be more event from the SoCal community again in the future, but we won't grow if we don't know. We want to do better, so future events can be ones the community can be proud of.

ES_JohnClark

United States1121 Posts

June 24 2012 02:23 GMT

wow!

Sermokala

United States14105 Posts

June 24 2012 02:29 GMT

very nice op for the wrap up of an event. Are the lol vods up anywhere?

Nightmarjoo

United States3360 Posts

June 24 2012 02:30 GMT

Cool, thanks for the replays.

Primadog

United States4411 Posts

June 24 2012 02:32 GMT

On June 24 2012 11:29 Sermokala wrote:
very nice op for the wrap up of an event. Are the lol vods up anywhere?

Working on it. Will get it posted tomorrow.

Torte de Lini

Germany38463 Posts

June 24 2012 02:35 GMT

My article is up there :D sweeeet

http://infinityseven.net/round-3-for-axslav-insur-gigabyte-esports-lan-invitational/

itsjustatank

Hong Kong9172 Posts

June 24 2012 02:45 GMT

thanks for putting this together, after I do some final edits ill make a larger photo blog with my photoset from this event here on teamliquid

kAelle_sc

287 Posts

June 24 2012 02:53 GMT

#10

yes replays! :D

and mlg still none...

cant wait for all of them to be up! thanks so much again~

Dodgin

Canada39254 Posts

June 24 2012 02:59 GMT

#11

Interesting stats, seeing the unique visitors it looks like the sc2 stream had a lot of hits but most of them didn't watch for very long, making it look worse than it actually was.

leafeator

United States34 Posts

June 24 2012 03:20 GMT

#12

Had an amazing time working and spectator. Have a lot to learn from this, but feel like the sky is the limit. Really excited. <3 SoCal eSports. Thanks for the plug too, Prima.

Primadog

United States4411 Posts

June 24 2012 05:21 GMT

#13

Main stage replays found! Special thanks to ghostclaw and itsjustatank for making a backup copy. Here's the replay pack v2: http://www.mediafire.com/?s6nm9ad9ldkymcf

We got 96 of 142 maps played in group stage. In bracket stage, we managed to archive all replays except for (P)

Alicia vs

Insur ro16.

Merikh

United States918 Posts

June 24 2012 05:44 GMT

#14

Great write up

Kevinshi3

United States148 Posts

June 24 2012 05:50 GMT

#15

Wish the sc2 part of the tourney was more popular

but great Lan all and all!

ZombieRitual

United States121 Posts

June 24 2012 14:21 GMT

#16

I attended Saturday evening for a few hours and left early because I couldn't watch SC2 at the venue while League was being played in the main stage/hall. The other TV's that I could find that were showing games had League and not SC2. I would have stayed until the event finished for the night but I don't care for League. I would have had a better spectator experience at home, on stream.

Axeltoss

United States283 Posts

June 24 2012 20:12 GMT

#17

Wow fantastic post prima. Great job!

NeMeSiS3

Canada2972 Posts

June 24 2012 20:15 GMT

#18

First thing I read "I'm not a very good write up" so I scroll through it all... Amazing freaking wrap up +1 on quality (even if the person who said not good write up didn't create it!). I saw most of the games (though some clash with DH but not much) and really enjoyed the matches, though Zerg dominated pretty hard. (was it top 6 all zerg?