EPT
We (me+Xeo) arrived at the hotel the day before the event at around 10PM after a long drive with Nyovne and his friend. I decided we should call Haji to try and meet up with him, Chill, Manifesto, Kennigit and Meat. I called his hotel reception desk, asking for Hajime Murakami. They connected me to a hotel staff member named Haji. There was a lot of confusion when he started talking French to me while I was rambling in English about Team Liquid. Finally they connected me to his room. Haji, unfortunately did not pick up.
One hour later Meat called me. He said he, Chill, haji and Kennigit were hanging at some random bar. It was already 11PM and during the phone call it was suddenly decided it wasn't worth it still meeting up. Me and Xeo just had a few beers at the hotel and watched Saw 3 dubbed in French before going to bed.
Day 1
We went to the event at around 11 AM, not wanting to wait in a line filled with WoW players heavily sweating beneath the hot sun. We promptly went to the Diablo 3 reveal ceremony, which was really cool. That was not why we were at the event though, so we started calling TL members to locate the TL group. Shortly after that, we met up with them at the SC stage. Everyone was so laid back, it was pretty cool. Eventhough I had only already met Liquid`Meat, I didn't feel uncomfortable at all around the TL members. Everything seemed so natural.
After introducing me and Xeo introduced ourselves to everyone, we watched Mondragon vs Sea. I guess I don't even have to say that watching a game like that live with a bunch of TL people is different from watching it behind your computer. It's so much more fun when you can discuss strategy live while watching it and when you can cheer for the players. Blizzard set the video feed up nicely, getting both player's FPView as well as the observer view up on big screens.
Directly after the game we all met up with Mondragon, Sea, Stork, KaL and sAviOr. Like you probably already have noticed from the numerous threads, sAviOr and Sea were the most open and nicest players by far. They not only were grateful for what we gave them, they really did their best trying to communicate with us. They seemed to be trying to get involved in our cosy little community website.
Stork vs KaL was equally awesome, with some nice matches and some nice cheers. Too bad Stork didn't see our various creative attempts to remember him to get Dragoon Range. He must have sensed it though, as he got it in each of the games.
Me and Xeo went outside for a bit to get some fresh air and smoke cig before the Dreiven vs KaL match. When we came back, we couldn't spot the TL members between the big observing crowd anymore, so we took 2 empty spots next to Sea[Shield]. Sea was nice, commenting on various aspects of the games. Quotes such as 'Dark Templuh bad mannar' and 'Dreiven many mineral, very bad' come to mind. He also rose from his seat in between the games to say something to his MBC coach but rushed back really quickly when somebody tried to steal his seat. He promised to come to the TL meet too. After Dreiven vs KaL he had to go play vs KaL, so he left us.
After those games, I played some SC2 and did a videointerview with IdrA. We then proceeded upstairs where me and Xeo went outside for a cigarette. Surprisingly, the CJ manager was having a smoke there too, with sAviOr at his side. I gotta tell you, that CJ manager is awesome. Me and Xeo approached them and we ended up talking for like 45 minutes. Both him and sAviOr were really amazed at how much the TL crew knew about progaming and how we got all that information. We kinda explained how TL works, talked about sAviOr's recent games and asked the CJ manager if sAviOr wanted to play on Team Liquid Attack. Of course the answer was positive. The CJ coach invited us to visit the CJ house if we ever came to Korea. Then they had to leave cause sAviOr had to play, so he gave us his business card to contact us that night, because obviously sAviOr wanted to be at the TL meet.
The day progressed further, with more SC2, until it was time to go the the TL meet. Thanks again to Taiche for setting this up for all of us. Upon arrival at the TL meet everybody started drinking casually and having group conversations. Again, it all felt pretty natural, as if we weren't random people from all over the world obsessed by the same computer game and its Korean e-sports scene. Unfortunately some people couldn't make it to the TL meet. SaviOr and Sea played for 2 hours and their games only ended at 11PM so they were too tired (the next day they told us they felt really guilty, more about that later). Manifesto also couldn't come because he had to get up really early to organize the cast of the Star Craft finals.
After like 2 hours of drinking/eating a few more people joined us. First was the WGT crew, consisting of DKnight, Jaap, Error and some more guys I unfortunately not remember anymore. Following was Mondragon with his friend and girlfriend. Last but not least, an small Blizzard crew wearing their team liquid shirts!
Now, the entire TL meet was set up as a trap to get Mondragon to play TL Attack. We forced him to get him in the middle of all the Team Liquid people when he had already downed a few wodka's. We then used peer pressure to convince him. He conceded.
The TL meet ended with a few people being drunk. Notably haji, Mondragon and DKnight. I, too, was slightly buzzed. When me and Xeo went back to our hotel, I had to piss really badly, so I just pissed in a garbage can in the subway station. Xeo filmed that for some reason. It was pretty scary too because there was like a huge crowd of rugby fans coming in our direction, and I dont perform well under pressure. Once I got that rounded up we went to our hotel, discussing how awesome the past day had been.
Little did we know the next day (and especially night) would be even better..
To be continued
![[image loading]](http://zatic.net/DSC00050.JPG)
