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My First ACL
 

Hey all, so over the weekend I attended my very first ACL. It was located at The Edge, it was a nice venue, a little small and very hot, haha, but nonetheless a great space to watch some amazing games and meet some amazing people.

The first day for me personally didn't go well, I missed my train, walked about 10 mins in the wrong direction, then checked with my GPS and started moving the right way, funny haha. The location was really nice, right next to the river and the buildings are so beautiful in that area, it was truly a beautiful sight to see.

As i got to the venue, I saw a few familiar faces, mainly because of streams. I felt very nervous and stayed outside, until I heard DoMo and the guys I knew wouldn't be arriving for another 2 hours, crazy I know. So I reached out on sc2sea for where the sc2 players were, as I could only see COD players, Alpha messaged back saying they were upstairs as DG.WoLF had rocked up, he introduced himself and we both walked up.

Again I saw familiar faces and sat down in the corner as to avoid people, I'm not really strong in the social aspect of my life, so I find it nerve racking trying to introduce myself to people. As I saw DoMo, Wally, Law and Phoenix come up the stairs I felt a little relieved that finally someone I knew had shown up.

Mind you, ChadMann was already there and set himself up at a keyboard, I didn't recognise him honestly, but I think him and most others knew who I was.

As the day progressed I still remained pretty solitude and felt a little intimidated to be quite honest about the company I had shared, HuT, Petrify and Kez (holy crap he's tall).

A short time later PiG had arrived, he had noticed me fairly quickly and took his time to say hi and I felt kind of relevant, someone as skilled and well known as him recognising me from our coaching sessions (Skype DP).

It was now pushing towards about 2pm at this stage and ChadMann went to his car and got some cool razor gear for the guys and gave me a small razor pack which I thought was pretty cool, shortly later though, I had felt the need to go home, so I picked up my stuff and headed on out, while good stuff had happened, I still felt nervous and anxious, being in a room with people who may have noticed me, who may have even liked having me there, I still felt as if I didn't belong, this was not their fault, it's how I have been for awhile.

I got home, my parents were fairly disappointed that I wasn't at the event I was looking forward to going to and they could see I had struggled to try and talk to everyone and hadn't gotten any of my goals for the event, those being photos with PiG, NXZ, Petrify and Kez as well as getting my keyboard signed from PiG.

That afternoon/night I streamed for a few hours and DoMo asked me to come back tomorrow and I could just chill with them and just mellow out a bit. So I agreed.

Now onto today, I got my train on time, it took a short run and then a jog up some stairs, but I managed to get to it this time. Day was going better already, as I got into the venue, Val, Schnitzel and a few others were already there.

As DoMo and the gang got there, talked with them for awhile and watched some great games, most notably the series between Law and Val, was an epic back and forth in the first with Val coming out on top, then Law let it go for the second game, got a great lead then played a bit passive for awhile, eventually winning the game, by this point Law's confidence must have risen greatly as the third game, you could really see Law in his stride against Val's lovely mech style. This of course ended the series 2-1 in favour of Law meaning he was able to advance to the championship bracket.

Another great game we got to watch was Wally's epic series verse NXZ, honestly the replays for that should be loaded up if someone has them, they were epic and the bane hits were real Wally's reaction's though throughout the 2 days during my time there were priceless, notably his 2-0 I think it was and he just throws his headphones down, as if to say, #EZ #REKT

DoMo, Phoenix and I went and grabbed some lunch and had some nice chats and such, was really good spending some time with really quality blokes.

I then built up some courage as the day progressed even further, first getting my snap with NXZ, then with the SLCN guys (Kez and Petrify) and then finally with PiG. (Ill get these uploaded tomorrow and post them in)

So all in all, I wish I had of stayed the first day and just chilled with the guys some more, there's a real sense of love of the game between the people that attended the event and I'm so glad I had DoMo to convince me to comeback for day 2, I really want to say thanks to a few special people:

DoMo: Despite everything dude, you have always shown support for me, regardless of the situation, you will tell me how it is and get things going well for me again and I really do appreciate having you there dude

Wally: Hey man, even through everything, the bm, the Snx chats and all, I found that you are actually a pretty decent guy, so I'm glad I met you in person, so chilled and so much knowledge about the game as well as things outside of it.

Phoenix: This guy, not sure man, he is tall, but really chilled and I am really glad I got to meet him, hear about the game from someone with so much knowledge again, was epic chats to and from subway, haha.

NXZ, Petrify, Kez and PiG: You guys share your paragraph, you 4 are brilliant, so humble and so much love for the game, the effort you put into is something I strive for. I really am glad I managed to get photos with all 4 of you after I felt so beneath you. My reputation and you still said yeah sure man, really made it so much better being at the event and hope to see more of you all in the future.

CHADMANN: To this man, I owe so much more then a paragraph, you urge me to keep going when things seem rough, the support you give me is ridiculous even with the rebuilding of a team and still wanting to help with advice etc, means the absolute world to me, so to you a very very big thank you, keep doing what your doing.

So in closing I would like to say, Thank you to all those players who attended the event, your play was impressive, regardless of the sets you won and lost. Thank you to the ACL staff for running the event and supporting the scene, you are doing well and I believe the community thanks you as well. I would really encourage those who haven't attended a LAN event whether it be ACL or not to go along, make some friends and make some great experiences, I know that this weekend will more then likely be my highlight of the year.

Cheers for reading

http://imgur.com/Qv5EEYm,QJRLiwz,MKB...U9tMeP,u36ejMq

Re: My First ACL
 

Domo is the best. Can confirm.

Re: My First ACL
 

Glad to hear you went back on day 2!
Everyone is pretty much in the same boat. Don't know each other at first, but love the game. #passion

Re: My First ACL
 

You stole my blog title m8, never speaking to you again

Re: My First ACL
 

WEOW sorry bday boy

Re: My First ACL
 

(This is DoMo on Phoenix's account)

Hey man so glad you got to enjoy the second day, I absolutely know what it feels like to be lacking in the social aspect and feeling awkward/anxious in situations where you know very few people except by an online name.

But now you are one of da boizzzz and each LAN will be more and more enjoyable because you see people you know ^_^

Also NXZ, top bloke #2 DoMo fan.

Re: My First ACL
 

Great read and great to see you enjoyed the ACL!!

I wish I could get opportunities like these~ (like the photos and whatever, maybe even the tourney hehe)

Re: My First ACL
 

Glad you enjoyed your first ACL! Can take quite a lot of courage to get out to a big event like this, I'm still hoping to come to one soon. Sounds like meeting up with others and doing stuff together is a lot of fun


And yes jesus Kez is massive plz just take my ladder pts and dont hurt me!

Re: My First ACL
 

I love everything about this blog. How honest you are and how well you expressed yourself and your experiences. It's really eye opening to something I take for granted. I've known a lot of the StarCraft community for a reasonable time and have come to feel relatively comfortable talking to people. I often forget I used to be in your situation and that not everybody is as comfortable as I have come to be in these situations.

Thank you for writing this blog not only for it's content but for reminding me to always look at ways to be more approachable and more welcoming of new players both at LANs and online. This goes for everybody but please never feel afraid to approach me in any capacity. I'm always happy to help where I can.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself in the end, makes me feel like doing this (ACL) is all worth it.

Re: My First ACL
 

At my first ACL Baldie lost my drivers license.

Re: My First ACL
 

Great write up. Really glad you stuck around day 2 dude

Always been an outgoing guy so can't say I know what it's like to feel shy and want to get out of somewhere like that but rest assured while this group of guys and girls is quite small, they're like a family to me now. You'll learn they're a passionate and gorgeous bunch!

Re: My First ACL
 

I had those feels reading this. Put myself in your shoes, factored in all the different people's receptiveness of you and stuff. Glad that it all worked out well for you and if I were there, I'd probably be with the DoMo gang and chilling with you too! Hope I'll get the chance to be with the bunch of you guys in the near future!

Re: My First ACL
 

Yeah... my bad. I found it during pack up.. in positive news you got a shiny new card?

Re: My First ACL
 

Good read, glad you had a good time at ACL man

Re: My First ACL
 

Excellent read! Glad you made it back on Day 2. I know for a fact that the SC2 community is one of, if not the best gamer community I have ever been a part of.

(Hope you asked Kez to FLEX in the photo too!)

Re: My First ACL
 

Hey Tony,

Really glad that you enjoyed day two. I had noticed you were a bit distant on the first day.. I actually went looking for you when I wasn't tied up in games to introduce you to people cause I could see you were a bit shy. But I was told you'd already left :-( I did notice that you were much more settled day 2 and it looks like you really got to enjoy yourself. :-)

You shouldn't feel shy at these events, everyone there is just excited about this awesome game we play. You'll always have something to talk about! We all share a very strong common interest in SC2 !!

Was good to talk to you, I always feel rude at these events because I'm often running around alot. Fray has been looking into CoD Xbox teams and finding the right team there took some of my time, along with casting, playing and looking after the players on fray I think the only time I got to sit down and watch and enjoy some games was the finals.. :-S

Really enjoyed this ACL and I hope I can make it to Sydney.

Re: My First ACL
 

Pictures are at the bottom of the OP