So instead of putting this off and putting it off... (not doing it) I'll just write some words now about ACL Melbourne and hope people read it~
(Gonna write it in blocks of my favourite experiences at melb)
THE ******* TRAFFIC
Holy ****. Never bloody going by car again, there are too many people in Melbourne for a car to be a viable mode of transport.
Matt93 is a liar, Melbourne is shit. (jk, only matt is shit)
The people also never waved when you let them into a lane... that's my biggest problem. BE POLITE M8.
Da boiz
It was awesome meeting up with the fray boys again, and meeting some guys who didn't go to Sydney! Fourby the blink god was great company on drives to maccas, and Fuhrer Chad was just as nice as I imagined. (I was paid to write half of this about chad)
Supporting eachother during the event, yelling at HuT for meching like a heartless shit, creating the Uncle Ben Invitational, proving to people Alopex was a real person... and having miniature parties in hotel rooms and almost being thrown out... this is honestly the greatest team and community i've ever been a part of - luv u bbz xoxo
Silicon Sports Guys
Shit has been talked, games have been decided.. and we do battle on Thursday... However this didn't stop honestly the nicest bunch of guys (outside fray, ofc) from chilling with us for a good part of the weekend at the hotel and discussing anything from strats to Petraeus shirtless on a beach.
I was slightly worried Ryan "Bullydude" Jones would intimidate me with his sick Premier and Challenger league status, but it was not to be... he was actually extremely nice and made time for even the dumbest questions about shitty matches! Ryan #1
Lawrence scared me with his play tbh.. It was like watching ******* TLO or some shit, it was amazing and innovative... unfortunately he suffered the same fate as TLO and lost a good portion of the important games towards the end there. Impressive play nonetheless! Good stuff mate! Also, I'm happy we made you feel wanted during the coffee break in the morning.
Petrify had some sick banter goin', i was afraid i'd get rekt in the pregame lobby and punched in the face after what I did to him - but even through the rust he was a formidable and well mannered guy, thankyou for sparing me for playing the easiest race
I'll touch a bit on Pezz later, I didn't talk to deth much but it was still awesome to see the big boy in person meching it happen! ^^
My own performance
To be honest I didn't prepare nearly enough for Probe, and I had only half-prepped for Azure.. but I knew regardless that I'd get stomped. My original goal was to not go down without a fight and have a nasty "0" under my match wins.
Stop making units you little shit.. let me make colossi and storm, then we can fight! ;;
It's always a fun challenge vs Azure, from the pre-game banter to getting shrekt when my do-or-die cheese/shit macro fails.
Without going into detail - I got absolutely rekt, Azure played super well in both games and it was a pleasure getting rekt by this little shit.
So Probe hasn't played on the stage before... I knew I had to take initiative and push the admins to allow us to play up there! And thanks to Abbadonz being a sick **** we got there.
My mum, dad, sister and grandma watched the game online (they barely even know how to use google lel) and cheered me on, but even better was that after he slapped me 2-0 where DT's lost me the game both times (**** my targetting of buildings is so shit) my family cheered Probe on in the finals!
It was awesome getting a call from my dad yelling at me to sort Probe out so he wins when he dropped that Iron Fortress map. I also felt relieved that I got slapped so hard in groups by the eventual winner... and King of Dongers, Probe. Well played brother, well deserved!
I played like an absolute filthlord... having studied Schnitzel I felt like if I lost this series, I wouldn't bounce back and definitely not take a match in my group... I literally practiced so hard not to lose this match, and I'm sorry for the things I did Schnitzel... luv u. xoxo
(oh i won and schnitzel played so ******* well in the end, his micro was so intense i was worried to engage during both games..)
(OH AND I PLAYED A MACRO GAME AND TOOK A 5TH BASE, WTF GUYS)
At this point it was clear neither of us were getting through to the final bracket, but we played our games for.. fun i guess? that's a thing right?
I was scared Petrify would rek me mentally with pre-game banter.. as i said earlier - he turned out to be a super nice guy and despite cheesing me (tsk, filthy cheeser ), he showed a lot of his former skill.
I was also scared to face his old style, I remember a game on Habitation Station where it was some cancerous hydra into muta build that gave me nightmares for weeks.. I didn't want a repeat of that, so I gave it my best and tried to not make many errors~ ended up winning 2-0! GG Petmate, was good meeting you!
So I ended up finishing 3rd in my group behind Probe and Azure, so nothing too tragic here.
Overall I'm pleased with how I ended the group, it was unfortunate David didn't show up, but I heard he's not so sick anymore so atleast there's a positive here.
I tried to make as little errors as possible vs Schnitzel and Petrify and take it to some close games vs Azure and Probe.. I somewhat achieved both, so big win for me i guess~!
D O N G E R S (and a story about chips)
First of all, congrats again to the King of Dongers (Probe) for winning ACL and bringing pride to our humble cult... i mean clan... group? w/e
It was awesome to see Namakaye/Probe/Redemption etc again, it was not awesome however that there were no ******* dongers. A petition will be started, changes will be made.. and a new donger will rize(kek).
As for the story.. uJeanZ (he doesn't like being called x5 uJeanZ because he's totally not leaving x5 or anything) force-fed me chips forged in pure zerg salt, Chadmann wasn't around to save me and i basically got tortured for like 2 or 5 hours by totallynotleavingx5butdoesntwantthetag.uJeanZ.. thanks Chad!
The Protoss guys!
Protoss is a lonely race in SEA to be honest. Sure there are plenty of Protoss players, but (at the risk of sounding like an asshole) none of them are quite at the caliber of Pezz/Probe/Blysk that I can really look up to/discuss so much to such an in depth degree with.
It's a rare occasion that such a large group of Protoss players that have shitloads of experience and/or skill are gathered together and discussing games.
It was an absolute pleasure and an incredible inspiration to spend time talking to Pezz/Probe/Blysk etc for however short or long.. It really gave me hope that we'd have a solid base of Protoss (once again? idk) in SEA that can talk to eachother and actually achieve great things.. as we saw in this event with 2 of them getting to the final! (feels good being a protoss during this year of ACL after so long of zerg domination).
And thankyou to those guys I mentioned.. for making me feel welcome and able to discuss things/offer suggestions etc. I'm really inspired to try my best and make it to that level by next year!
Azz
Azz gets his own section because I feel like I need to get this out there - Azz was the nicest guy from sc2sea that I've met yet.
We sat through many series' and games observing and even at times watching eachother play and discussing Protoss things. At one point we were literally sitting there for almost an hour analyzing NXZ vs Blysk.. or was it Law vs Blysk.. it was probably both tbh~ Whenever a Protoss played on the main stage I looked for Azz's seat and felt extremely comfortable discussing variables/strategies and such with a like-minded Protoss.
I could write so much more shit about this guy, but I'm just going to leave it saying thankyou Azz, for being an absolute legend to meet/hang out with and for exceeding every expectation I had of your game knowledge. I can't wait to watch games and analyze Protoss builds with you again mate!!
Everyone else and the event in general
I could write about literally everyone, and I'm sorry if I don't have you in your own little section with my thoughts on meeting you~ But to everyone else at ACL Melbourne (for the sc2) - Thankyou for being such a warm and welcoming community to outsiders, to old players/faces and to the somewhat new people on the block like myself.
The event was run really bloody well - the computers were great.. the internet was smooth.. the admins were SUPER nice (shoutout to abbadonz and that other dude!).
This isn't my first ACL, but after experiencing everything this certainly won't be my last. I ******* love you guys.
I'm sorry if any of this seems rushed, but it was.
Also sorry for any grammatical errors, I couldn't be fucked proof-reading.
xoxo
but seriously good read. awesome seeing you again can confirm silicon guys are pretty awesome to hang out with and probe god winning acl was pretty neat. plus azz is awesome nice and played/casted really well
Always good to see you friend! I will happily sign your petition to #bringbackdongers (I'm making that a thing, hash tag that shit) And yes it's totally not a cult whatsoever *shifty eyes*
See you at the next ACL hopefully we get on here in brisbane next year! *hint hint baldie hint hint*
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Namakaye-I GOT THIS!! Part of x5's Academy and Clans IXL and sR 2.0. herO #1. Editor
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