MLG Columbus 2011

Hey, everyone. Welcome to my Starcraft II blog. I've been an avid follower of e-Sports ever since I was a young lad and it all came to fruition when I finally mustered up the courage to head out to MLG Columbus this year. I'm from Chicago, so Columbus is by no means close, but I took the plunge and bought my tickets the day before the event. It was a hectic night of packing and a six hour drive in the morning but there's only one thing that really needs to be said.

It was worth it.

Honestly, this event changed my life. If you're one of the many people who've always wanted to go to an MLG, but never have, you are missing out. Walking through the doors for the first time literally took my breath away. You could feel the energy as soon as your approached the stages, with tons of people crowding around talking about the games they were witnessing. I have never before instantly connected with a few dozen people simultaneously like I did when TLO dropped a nuke on iNcontroL's army.

The actual tournament structure was 3 days of madness. The pool play and simultaneous games going between the blue and red stream made following the event in person a real mess. The brackets were displayed but it was a hassle to have to keep checking in to see what matches were coming up and what stage each game was being played at.

The open bracket was equally messy, with 3 long rows of stations. Only players and media could enter this area so spectators were forced to watch these game from a distance, or perhaps not at all if the player you were looking for was in the middle row. The amount of players was staggering at 256, a full open bracket.

The first day was a pretty relaxed day. After the amazing IdrA v MC series, I walked around the open bracket a few times and got to witness an extremely funny rage quit. I stopped by the second stage to watch IdrA v SelecT, and was shocked to see SelecT absolutely dominated in both games. Most of the day was spent being absolutely blown away at the amount of Starcraft that was surrounding me.

On the second day I made it my goal to watch all of ThorZain's games as he made his was through the remainder of the open bracket and into pool play. When ThorZain wasn't playing, I tried my best to sit by the main stage but the inadequate amount of chairs meant I had to sit on the floor. Watching IdrA v ThorZain on the main stage was quite entertaining. ThorZain ended up giving IdrA his first loss of the event, and the crowd was going absolutely crazy.

Championship Sunday was everything anyone could have hoped for. IdrA's early gg againt MMA, MC's rematch against IdrA, and the Korean Top 3. MMA completely dominated the competition with impressive drop play pulling Losira's army in every direction.

This event really surpassed my expectations, and it's a tremendous showing for e-Sports in North America. The Koreans that attended the event had nothing but positive things to say about our hospitality and all the fans that showed their support. When the top three remaining players in the tournament were all Koreans, I assumed the size of the audience would go down. I was absolutely floored when the Halo and Call of Duty sections filled up with Starcraft spectators and all three main stages switched over to Starcraft for the finals.

I managed to snap a few pictures of pool play on Saturday. I'm pretty proud of these pictures because I didn't have a media pass and I was also completely unprepared for the extremely dark venue.

EGiNcontroL

LiquidTLO

StarTale.July

mouz.ThorZain