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Well the first Blog was a lot of summarizing and memory work, but I felt it was pretty good. This blog however is way more fresh in my mind and way more detailed and confronting.

I’ll start out by saying that my life as it is now I am very fortunate to lead. I have amazing parents who despite being much older than most peoples parents, still understand me so well and give me a lot of leniency. That’s not to say they are too lenient, and especially recently I’ve been able to learn and make much wiser decisions on my own without needing their guidance.

Currently besides StarCraft, I’m unemployed and not schooling. I have taken a gap year this year, and although I would have liked to get job experience under my belt (haven’t had one before) I’ve been very entertained nonetheless. My education for next year is sorted and confirmed as I used the 5 weeks I had without a PC wisely, but I would still like to make sure this year isn’t a complete bludge as nice as it is. When I look back on the past 6 or so months it will only be a tiny blip on what has been a great life, but to most people who would know me they know I’ve been very lax this year.

It started out early this year, around February. I was feeling quite down, and wasn’t able to make a few things happen. I was showing signs of depression, but it wasn’t serious enough that they were shown often. TA Retreat was the perfect thing for me at the time, I had an amazing trip and it really rejuvenated me, but as soon as I got back I was very down again.

By around March, I was without knowing isolating my friends, and even people I knew in StarCraft. It’s still quite a blur to me what I actually did in that time, but around mid April I really looked at the 2 previous months and realized how down I had been. I’ve been so lucky in life that it feels like a first world problem to say I was depressed, but I did indeed have depression for a significant period of time. My whole life I have had anxiety issues, and it has crippled me for many years – mainly all throughout primary school and high school, but in the latter years of high school I started to show much improvement. A lot of it I can attribute to Brood War too, but at the time Brood War was just a really fun hobby and I made some good online friends. It was just a nerdy habit to me as much as I loved it.

…and along came SC2.

I’ll start by saying Starcraft 2 has improved me as a person so much. It’s weird how a simple game where you make workers, units, buildings and mix in a lot of build orders, tactics and reads can change you so much. I started in 2010, and was surprised about how ‘good’ I was comparative to the top of the scene. I had barely played 100 games and I was in the top 100 of the SEA weekly rankings. Soon after, I qualified for Psi Storm, and soon after I won my first tournament – the Dogsi Monthly Open – over my good friend from Brood War Voices. Soon after that, I won a Community open, got 3rd in a masters cup, won the Australian KOTH and enjoyed great success. This really helped drive my passion. I led a pretty fun ‘real life’, enjoyed school enough to want to go but due to my immense love for SC2, as well as only being able to ladder at night/early in the morning because I just didn’t want to sleep for the next day, I became quite fatigued throughout the year. Regardless, I wouldn’t have it any other way and 2011 in SC2 helped me to understand that it’s not just a nerdy hobby, it’s a passion and a vehicle for meeting some amazing amazing people.

Now it’s 2012, and I’ve gone to my first 3 big LAN’s finally after being ‘that guy that doesn’t fly’ or ‘that guy that doesn’t attend LAN’s’’. I’ve met so many people in SA that are just amazing people, including Champi and Bigbird who I’ll always be mates with, SC2 or not, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting many amazing personalities in Sydney and Melbourne too. I kind of think to myself ‘why didn’t I push to do this faster?’, but the reason I didn’t travel as much besides my own anxiety (which as I said before has been improving heaps since the latter high school days) was simply that my parents are very cautious of the online life I’ve had, and are very old-school with their methods. You know what, I respect that. Unless I was 100% set on something I would understand where they come from completely… however after travelling to TA Retreat, ACL Melbourne and WCS Australia their appreciation for what this game and this community gives me has increased greatly.

I don’t know, this year has been a crazy one. In SC2 but out of playing, my team Archaic MSI disbanded, and members Rossi, Pinder and Deth all moved onto a great team named Nv managed by the amazing Dox, and I felt very bitter about it. I understood without being told why, they want people who can represent their brand at LAN’s, and I historically had not done that outside of SA ones. I was bitter, but not for long as I respect all those players incredibly and also Dox’ decisions. I decided to not dwell on it or be sad or seek sympathy, I decided to take action. I was told by Pinder, and soon ChadMann that Carnage eSports was looking to dip it’s toes into the Starcraft 2 Scene, and immediately with great friend Voices we did that. We knew the talent in Australia had been close to sucked dry (at least the immediate tournament winning talent), but I and ChadMann wanted fresh blood to get a chance to shine, to get a chance to really flourish in the game much like I had back in 2010. However compared to me then, if these players have more guidance and more reason to play, who knows the possibilities!

Just to note, I conquered my depression with the help of my friends and through simple realizations that I discovered.

Now that’s out of the way, how have I been approaching SC2 this year?

Well I’ve realised that my early success in 2011 ending with the strong SEASL 2nd place was done without strong practice, and I’ve really missed huge opportunities. These opportunities start from mid 2011 onwards. I have bad practice ethic, when I get into it I do alright and as this year has gone on I’ve improved, but like I do in education I procrastinate big time. I feel quite sad that after I reached my peak result in SEASL, I dropped off. I was surpassed by the ever improving PiG, the strong NA personality who was getting more into the SEA scene tgun and my good friend MaFia who with his amazing work ethic and mindset has excelled so much. I can’t be angry, but I am regretful that I was not able to keep up with them and have since dropped off to ‘that other zerg’. Hell, even Ninja and Techtron have improved rapidly to the point where it’s still exciting to see how they progress, but I’m an ‘old school yet young player’ in SC2 and I feel I’m in an awkward spot.

Who knows, maybe I’m wrong but I really know I need to put in more. Once I got my computer back and rapidly qualified for GESC I was like I’ve still got it, but a day later I got cleaned up at the ACL/WCS qualifier and the sadness I felt after that was amazing. I’ve learnt to take things much better in SC2, when someone points out ‘wow you beat edge’ I used to take it as an insult to my skill, but I soon realised it’s someone noticing that I’m a hard opponent for someone to beat and I took the response to Luke’s victory over me well – but I could not ignore the fact that I had lost a great opportunity, and probably lost more notoriety in the SC2SEA community.

I went into extreme practice for me at least, and really tried to solidify my play. I soon realised that already there was a last chance qualifier and as I wrote in my last blog, I won that. I went on to practice hard with people like MaFia for ACL Melbourne, and I performed satisfactory. You know though, I beat who I was ment to, and lost to who I was ment to. I took my results really well, but I’ve since realised that as nice as it is I have to aim higher. If I feel such regret, such envy of the current top players and such drive to be better than them, why is this enough?

I know I played well vs tgun and mOOnGLaDe those series. I know what I could do better. I also know that they deserved to win, as anyone can say ‘oh if I did this and this and this well there you go no.1 in SEA’ no, you have to bring it every game every series. It’s about results, and my want for more of them was increasing by the minute.

I’m going to say now I’m not looking for sympathy from anyone who cares about me or this blog enough to read this far, but just know that the emotion I’ve got from SC2 and my want to get back to my spot that was once ‘no.2 zerg in Australia’ which I was for a brief period is stronger than ever and that every bit of support I still get from people I cherish so much. I appreciate anyone who even cares enough about the value of the ID cr.edge to know a game of mine vs player like Rossi is still a great game on paper.

Now, here’s the kicker. I mentioned it in pt.1 – I was going to quit SC2. It became I was going to quit SC2 after WCS. I Legitimately was going to quit after WCS. I felt my time had come, my fan base was limited, my mentality wasn’t great and my real-life should be sorted and focused on… and I couldn’t take the balance whine, the witch hunts, the negativity that followed such a great game. I ignored the great times, the great people, the great emotion I got from it and I felt for a moment in time that my time was up. I still put in great practice, but I even teared up during a practice session thinking this was my last shebang. I even couldn’t play games just imagining writing a blog saying goodbye to the scene.

The event itself which I will cover in the next 3 sections may briefly mention the above, but if anyone wants to know – I’m not quitting. I need Starcraft 2. I need this community, the fans, the friends, just the game itself keeps me happy no matter how down I am. I have a new mindset, a new drive and I hope people can support me as I go for the top.

My first flight, the biggest tourney in Australian history, the biggest party in Aussie eSports history? These were just some of many things going through my head just prior to the event. I sat at home practicing, packing, planning and cycled through those repeatedly. I was nervous, but hopeful. Was this really going to happen? My I.D is currently 8 days late and I didn’t have that, so there were nerves about that coming up to. I am a worrier, and I was worried, but I was also so so excited for the World Championship Series but I knew I was there for a reason – to represent myself as a player and help Australia get the recognition it deserves.

Anyway, the early morning drive to the airport took off with my Mum and Dad. They were very proud and excited for my opportunity and were taken aback by how I have flights, accom etc. covered and the money potential I can get. I got to the airport and met up eventually with my good friend and SA Compatriot, Luke ‘BiGbiRd’ Bridley. Luke got to meet my mum and not many people can say they’ve met the elusive ‘Cams Mum’. After some good chats, seeing Kurt Tippet the AFL player and purchasing a Crossword puzzle and forgetting to buy a pen, our flight was ready. I said goodbye to my parents and me and Luke embarked on what was to be a magnificent journey.

My first time on a plane was great. I felt pretty good about it, turbulence didn’t bother me and a nice guy let Luke switch seats with him so we were in the same section. I was also sat next to an older Lady who was actually quite chilled. Some of her best lines included ‘Oh I used to love Family Guy, that Stewie is a menace’ and ‘Yeh me and my husband had 44 great years then he stood up and said ‘well, goodbye I don’t love you’’.
The flight landed and we were in Sydney. Evanescence’s ‘Bring me to life’ played on our TV as we landed, and was quite an epic start to our Sydney journey. We went through Sydney airport, almost forgetting that I had my luggage to pick up. We met up with the ever handsome Nick ‘VanzR’ Vanzetti, who told us to keep a lookout for the Perth boys. Half an hour passed and we were in a van with Frustration, yang, and Frustrations cousin Steve, affectionally known as simply ‘Cousin’. Seeing Sydney was quite nice, and the weather was amazing but soon enough we arrived at the destination eager to see what was in store for us.

The venue was great. It was pretty damn big, but not overwhelmingly so. Immediately we met up with Champi aka Bob the Builder and MiLes among others. Soon after I also met up with techtron and Legionnaire who were already there. It was great to see techtron again, but Legionnaire was awesome to meet and he is just a top bloke as I would further find out all weekend.

Ever the deviant, Peter 'Legionnaire' Neate'

I settled down and got a good feel for the players lounge and let me tell you – The player lounge was just amazing. I felt so spoilt to have it all weekend, especially since I was so tired and I had a place I could just lounge around and also talk to some amazing staff, players and let’s not forget out 4 beaut casters. Soon after MiLes reunited me with my Pillow, the eSports Pillow Burrito who would later get signed by Tasteless and also slept on by him!! Truly an honour that me, nor my pillow will ever forget. Lunch with deth, bigbird and the techtronator soon followed and I already knew it was going to be so amazing.

Computer set up ft. Couches in the Player Lounge

Linc holding the eSports pillow, Burrito

Tasteless having a snooze on Burrito

We got the run down of what was happening and got to mess around a bit, with tgun suckering someone into the usual bo3 rvr where he somehow wins. I’ve forgotten a little bit since my memory took a big hit Sunday night, but I don’t think too much happened on the Thursday. It was just really nice and relaxing.

Several of us now departed for our hotel to prepare for the big V.I.P dinner, including myself, tgun, iaguz, techtron and a couple of others. Tgun had a great time annoying iaguz while I picked a target for his twitter tomfoolery. After everyone freshened up a bit we headed down to the lobby, where a number of us met the Casters for the event, Tastosis and HDUser. First off I had good chats with HD who was a really friendly guy and keen to know about Australia and its players, as well as talking to legend Legionnaire who I shared the love of Brood War with.

The dinner was great. I sat at a table with tgun, techtron, ninja and Tilea and we were occasionally joined by HD. Tgun said it best in his blog, techtron really ******* loves parmigiana. He even went on to berate me for eating the salad before eating the parmigiana. ‘I’m saving the best for last’ I said. ‘you are a horrible person’ he said. It truly was good friends talking the good talk. I also threatened Tgun with a knife, so that was good. Ninja and Tilea are also bosses.

I went on to mingle with a few other people there, talking to some peeps I had never met before and also many other SC2 friends. I also had my first chat with Tasteless too, where he continued to shit on the communities such as reddit for some of their posts. He also mentioned how it was his birthday this weekend, and Luke and I shared a look and we both contained out glee at what was to come regarding that. The evening was just great in general, and after cheering Dox on with his belated meal Luke and I headed off for an earlier evening in preparation for the next day – not before getting lost and going to the wrong Meriton hotel that is.

Before this section ends – let me just say the Meriton was an awesome hotel and many awesome elevator and lobby moments will also stay in my mind forever – I may mention some soon .

Game day had arrived. I woke up and was one the last players to be ready I believe, but it was still quite early. Myself, Ash (part of the filming archon) and MiLes went to get food before embarking on our journey. I got to see Sydney’s huge ass buildings a bit, but I was off now to stay in the cozy little venue to win myself some eSports dollar. It felt cool walking into the venue, even though it was still limited to guests I felt like a mini-rockstar.

The atmosphere was already great! The day was really chilled, as guests just walked in and out the extra open doors from time to time early on and they got to experience how awesome it was in the lounge. Eventually it became more player/staff focused and understandably so, so I would often ferry results from games to Kez, Chad and co. but even the thrill of their reaction made it awesome.

The Lounge set up was really nice, the lighting was great and the computers were smack-bang in the centre of the room. I was up to play my games now vs my great friend yang, and I was ready and raring to go. I was confident but only to an extent, you can’t be too confident vs ANYONE in this tournament. The LAN feel + the fact that skills are relatively close for me and most players meant I had to keep a cool head. The games started and I actually had no one really watching behind me. I was playing a great game 1, and yang was playing a macro-oriented style as I had hoped since I was more scared of 2 base all in timings. I got my 4th up, hit all my timings and had a nice composition when he moved out at a weird time. I got a sick flank off and crushed his army, and in the corner of my eye I saw Ninja with a cute smile and a nodding head and right then any tension I had went away.

Game 2 started on entombed and yang did the same opening that BiGbiRd did vs me in practice, so I was way more prepared to face it. I droned up well into a ling/infestor + drop bane composition, and traded his 4th and units a few times. Eventually, I got my 5th up and hive and actually traded quite badly but with his delayed 4th, no mommaship and my improved droning giving me ample money I was still in a great spot (FU Ray I was doing fine!)

I eventually hit the imba spot on Entombed for broodlords and yang tapped out. I was so happy with the result, and was able to play my best game. I was not nervous which was crazy for someone with such nerve issues as me, and this was another reason SC2 has improved life issues I’ve had – I face my anxieties head on and crush them.

After good chats with people about the game including one with Artosis, I learnt the sad news that I would have to face old m8 PiG, who had been in excellent form and just took out my team mate Ninja who I believe to be comfortably better than me. Ninja was down from the loss, but I wanted to avenge him and I damn well knew I could.

how can you not avenge someone so cute?

I was bugging everyone around the player lounge for an interview, and by everyone I mean Maynarde. Eventually I got one with Part of the Casting Archon from NZ – Alex. It was a fun interview and Alex was great! Before my game, Luke (BiGbiRd) took down Iaguz 2-0 on stream and I was so so happy and impressed. I’m as big an iaguz fan as anyone, but Luke getting this result was simply amazing. The play may have not been the best in those games, but I was already happy enough knowing that he goe this result. Seeing the replays as he walked into the player lounge just keep going and going was quite awesome, and it was the happiest I’ve ever seen him or at least close to it.

Such raw emotion was beautiful

Series business now though, as I start my series vs PiG. Game 1 was a standard enough opening, but I delayed myself by about a minute doing weird stuff. I had less gas than I should have, forgot my roach warren and basically just held my dick and let him get a lead. My all in timing did ok, but he defended it very well and went on to win as my mass roach to compensate for being behind could not bust his roach/infestor play.

Game 2 on ohana commenced and I believe he opened up with a Jerry-esque timing off a hatch first vs my own hatch first. I remembered to get my baneling nest ASAP, and defended the timing without a scratch. My own counter aggression took out some drones, units, a queen and delayed his mining for a while. I had a bit of a life, and it became a stalemate of sorts. I took the earlier fourth and had earlier hydras, and I noticed he was making many crawlers earlier on so I knew he felt I was ahead too, and abused that as best I could.

Eventually I used MaFia’s advice for when I float just minerals before an attack, and made a round of lings. That round of lings would be a catalyst for my victory, as the fight broke even at the third with me pulling back, but I killed every drone in the main, the queen and did good damage. I kept trading and trading, remembering to sneak roaches into the main to pick off key units and eventually I broke Jared and was so excited that I took down one of the best in Australia right now by far. I was confident.

Prior to game 3, I had chats to people and they were all saying PiG is throwing in very aggressive builds, and things like he’s cheesy. I was initially going to use my edited version of Andy’s 10pool that we worked on, but I soon forgot for some reason. I was then going to hatch first but Fenner explained that 10p speed is one of PiG’s go to’s on this map. I settled for a 15 pool, and I facepalmed after seeing a 15h 17g 16p. I wasn’t gone though, 15p is still a strong opening and we fought a good opening to the game. My plan was to go ling infestor on this map, but Jared was thrown off by my wacky timings and went 2 base lair speedroach. I promptly mass-crawlered expecting it to be a hatch-tech roach/bane bust but upon seeing the third I thought he was pulling back. No dice. As soon as I pressed escape on my 6 building spines, roaches and banes come in and I’m out. I lose 1-2. I was so devastated, this was the worst way to lose. PiG is amazing, but knowing I could go toe-to-toe with him and also know I had so many things that could go better for me in game 3 made me really sad as now it was a huge struggle for Oceania. I mentioned it in an earlier section, but I still can’t dwell on the what if’s in a game – I need results. I dwelled for a while, but eventually I accepted my loss and who knew PiG would go on to win said event.

One of the few things that happened after the loss that I can vividly remember was my interview with Maynarde finally coming to fruition, and with his beanie in tow (thanks again for letting me wear it Leigh!) I got my wish finally of an interview with the big boy.

Reppin the axe of the guz' during my long awaited interview with the man himself

I was done for the day of playing, and just watched the remaining games before retiring to my van for the hotel. I got some subway and was quite down still, but my mood improved. I went up to my room now and then left soon after, realizing to my shock that I left the key in their. I was sad as I didn’t want to let anyone down like MiLes with this. I got a replacement key and with a lot of going up-going down and leaving poor MiLes stuck, we had our key back. One great moment from the elevator was opening it up to see Tasteless on his own enter with a Jim Beam bottle in hand. Truly a moment to tell the grandchildren.

I went out for my first Korean BBQ after being convinced by ChadMann, mOOnGLaDe and Livi. I didn’t want to eat at first as I was a bit full, but I tried some of the stuff and it was quite amazing. I also enjoyed my first Soju courtesy of dippa, and had Hite Beer (I chose Hite thanks to their sponsorship of Brood War !). Getting to know Jinx and UHF better was great too, as they are quite amazing and helped greatly at the event. Chats with dippa and Chad are always a pleasure too . Getting back to the hotel, we enjoyed some quality gymnastics at the Olympics as Luke was getting quite excited, and had a bit of a talk to Frustration about the concept of GG’ing in SC2 – and then it was sleep time.

I believe this was the day that I and Luke woke up to MiLes bringing us an amazing breakfast, and I just want to mention how awesome MiLes is again. We had a nice bacon, egg, tomato and mushroom breakky and hydrated ourselves in preparation for our elimination games. I was up against clan mate, ex-team mate, great friend and amazing Italian stallion NvRossi, and it was the LAST person I wanted to verse in the tournament.

My ZvT is my worst at the moment and that shocks people, ZvZ I went toe-to-toe with PiG, ZvP I was quite comfortable vs yang and ready for Light, but ZvT I’m still off about. In particular, I was worried most about Deth and Rossi. Yoon was a worry too, but we at least had practiced and I had plans for him. I could imagine the games in my head before they happened, and game 2 was actually similar. I was able to give my 3rd interview of the weekend in this time with Team Immunity. It is apparently going on tv!

We spent a fair chunk of time sorting out entrances and all that good stuff, and I entered second. I was sad we didn’t get to use my theme song, my theme song was the Vegeta Super Saiyan theme. An epic theme was what I wanted as I couldn’t find the right humorous song, and I was sad no one got to hear it. Anywho, we got off stage and heard the voice of Tychus, and myself and Rossi got right back on. We were still casually speaking to each other but I did give him a few death stares.

One of my glances directed at Rossi before the game

I was in the booth now and setting up. Nerves didn’t get to me but I was just tense, and my mind was racing. Champi was so helpful to every player setting up, and besides that he’s an amazing person who really helped me ease any of said tension, so big props to him.

A facepalm I prepared for the hellion runby game 1

So there I was, sitting in the closed both trying to improve the fps before my game with white noise (quite loud white noise actually) going through my ears as well as the crowd, the casters and my game sounds. I couldn’t focus but I wasn’t nervous, so I was happy about that. The games started and It was on a map I struggle on yet picked anyway in Cloud. We all know what happens by now, I was stupid and Rossi played extremely smart by putting the bunker at the third. I was dealt a crushing blow from the hellion run by, and tried my best to come back but it was too late. I felt embarrassed and pretty fucked off after that. All the hard work to overcome my worst race, and I lose game 1 like that. I look over and see Rossi’s little gunshot celebration and I did smile, he played fantastically well still. I eased myself and focused on game 2, this was it!

I was very cautious this game and was not greedy because of it. Rossi took a strong lead throughout the game with his economy, but I was winning the engagements. I know what went wrong too, but alas I have to improve my decision making in the heat of the moment to claim victory. It was one of the best moments of maybe my SC life when I flanked rossi’s huge army and my rear banes exploded on 20 marines. I heard the yells of Artosis and Maynarde, and heard the Crowd chant my name. I was so happy and if my weekend wasn’t already the best ever, that made it so. Perhaps that adrenalin led me into my doomed to fail 3rd attack, but it was my fault for even considering such an attack.

Me after the great flank of 2012

Eventually I went down and wished Rossi luck. He was very mannered to come into my booth, and I actually considered raising his hand to the crowd, but I forgot after I had been defeated. I went to the back to the bad luck’s of everyone and people were proud of my effort, so that put a smile back on my face. I was quite fatigued out of nowhere and in a lazy mood so I just watched games keenly, in particular Luke’s.

The great flank of 2012 *note: open in popout and go to the time if there is no sound

http://www.twitch.tv/aclprosc2/b/328183332?t=31m21s

Anyway, since it was Saturday though I got to meet a bunch of people. I finally met SenSei, Cosmic and LoSt – 3 long-time friends of mine, especially LoSt who I have known since 2006 if you can believe that. I also met Winston, Mafia’s old Primary school friend who has an amazingly happy personality. He was crazy about buying me drinks and eventually wasted $42 in Pure Blondes on me, but this was nothing to him. He was loving it! He eventually snuck into player lounge on the Saturday, but he was there Friday where I actually did initially meet him. I sat down for a bit with Cosmic and LoSt and watched some games, whilst they were in the middle of arguing about who’s shout it was, and began to enjoy the day more after my loss.

I was out in the crowd for a fair bit, but I was loving the player lounge too much. Another nicety they had in there was the food/drink table. It was constantly refilled and was awesome for all the players. Speaking of players, JazBas arrived that afternoon and I was thrilled to meet Sung Jung Cho after 2 years of online goodness. He was one of the individuals who were quite keen on the sandwiches.

We were taken care of very well

I’m sure I’m missing many things that happened, but there were plenty of great chats with everyone and awesome people to meet. One thing I was quite sad about was that I hadn’t signed anything for anyone yet, so that didn’t do wonders for my confidence but Sunday would change that. The games continued on, Luke bowed out to the very strong play of Mafia, and I also helped JazBas and YoonYJ prepare for their upcoming games a bit.

A lot of viewing went on for the next few hours, but eventually we were left with mOOnGLaDe vs PiG. I was cheering very hard for Andy as he has become a great friend of mine, but I still have respect for PiG. I was quite into the games whilst sitting with the TA crew, and also got to sit at the side with the banner for a fair bit. I cheered for both players great play as I understood what was going on quite well, but I was surprised in myself when PiG finally won. He showed amazing emotion and great play, but I didn’t actually play. I felt so bad for Andy, even though he historically wins everything. One of many hugs over the weekend was with him after that, and he was determined to get revenge as he so often does the next day. He said he was plotting devious things for the next day and considering the result it just goes to show, he won’t give up.

Artosis signing the TA banner

We all know how well the cake went, but I was backstage watching the reaction from the Staff, the stream and some of the players and it was a beautiful moment. I loved it, and the reddit threads were quite good too for reddit.

Wow i'm already not that much of a looker, but I ruined my photo with Tastosis

The day wrapped up pretty abruptly after that and our group was the last to go (consisting of I believe myself, leg, iaguz, chadmann and a couple others). Discussion on the game with Legionnaire is invaluable, so this extra time was great. We got back finally, and I put my bags down and wondered ‘what next’. I’m out of the tournament now, but my spirits were actually quite high. We ventured up to the Nv room (myself and Luke) and met up people (including Akky, CSerps, Kieran, deth, Rossi and many more). After a while Winston and I offered to get some more drinks for us, and off we went to a nice place at like 3:00AM where it was packed completely with Koreans enjoying Korean BBQ, this would never ever happen in Adelaide. We picked up some nice food and 5 bottles of Soju, but after it got a bit loud we were escorted from the room by security quite peacefully and to our own rooms where we eventually got to sleep, although quite late.

PiG's post game celebrations were great!

In typical SA Fashion, Luke and I woke up casually late (12:30 to be precise) and had missed any van’s and the like. We went in search of a train station wondering how to get to the venue in time to catch some good games, but eventually settled on a cab. We rocked up around 2, and heard KnighT vs mOOnGLaDe was amazing, 78 minutes, once in a sc2-lifetime etc. etc. We were naturally sad to hear this, but our first thoughts after that were to find out the brackets. We saw YoonYJ vs Mafia rematch, tgun vs Light, and had found out PiG took down JazBas already. I lounged around in the player area having chats to all the players as per usual, and also watched iaguz ladder for a bit (he managed to take down Thorzain, who might I add is such a cool guy). Iaguz was really into laddering right after he was eliminated, and that’s some great dedication to see.

I was more a fan today, but wasn’t drinking like a lot of others were. Still got 1 or two in, and the atmosphere was even more electric than the prior day. I went back and forth between main stage and backstage, and I caught the end of Jazbas vs Tilea, where Tilea went down to very aggressive play from JazBas. He was quite down understandably, but took it well. Tilea deserves all the credit he gets and then some, he’s an amazing player and a unique but fun person .

Discussing the finer points of imported wine with TileaLighT

I acted as live reporter for the Light vs PiG series in a sense, which came up after Andy did indeed get his revenge with some cool play, and tgun took care of Light quite convincingly. Light played some amazing macro compared to his normal ½ base shenanigans he had shown recently. Obviously PiG was caught off guard in both series, and was not on form the Sunday compared to the Saturday, but he took it very well and put in a good showing. Still, seeing good ol’ Ray and more importantly a non—zerg advance was great.

I was very proud of Light, and so was Burrito

BTW, Yoon is so awesome.

Anywayyy it boiled down to the top 4 and I watched the Light vs tgun series in the lounge with the folks, and Light’s metagame based play where he wanted to catch the generic zerg style off guard was taken even more off guard by tgun’s unorthodox baneling aggression and muta play. I was really impressed with tgun’s decision making and crispness of play, and he unfortunately took out Ray but he was in great form.

Now I became a spectator in the crowd. I sat down with Cosmic, LoSt and was joined by Rossi later on (got to meet duckville too – hello to him!) to watch MaFia vs tgun. I was going for MaFia, but tgun has impressed me a lot and Oceania was in great hands for Shanghai no matter what. Still, knowing Tim as well as I think I do, you really get to appreciate him more whereas tgun’s personality and his whole self is way more out there for people to see. I’m definitely not saying that it’s wrong to have your personality on show – not at all, I’m just saying knowing MaFia well helps a lot with cheering for him .

The games themselves were good. Some nice play from both sides and it was 1-1, and I admired tgun giving applause to Tim. Game 3 and this was when Rossi joined us. I was going through the game trying to heavily analyse, and I think a bit of it was lost on Rossi but I enjoyed it. I am not someone who screams much or is natural at showing emotion through yelling or body movements, but I was screaming so hard for Tim and Rossi and Cosmic can attest to that. Game 3 was bloody amazing, the tunnelling roach adding suspense to the ‘will tgun come back?’ story, and the final victory for Tim was glorious. I rushed up to the stage and joined the TA boys celebrating, and also gave tgun my appreciation for how well he played. It was a great ending (ending as in knowing who qualified).

This is just such a great photo, TA and MaFia

Ok it was final time, and I suspected GLaDe to win as Tim would have given a lot of himself in the games vs tgun. Tim was so nervous in those games, beforehand he couldn’t stop shaking and he may seem to be a stone cold killer in the booth, but my god was her nervous and I felt for him as well as tgun. Any who, I joined Light and Mirry, and eventually after chatting with Mayo and PiG I joined JazBas at the back for the final. The games were good, but Andy won quite convincingly. I was the last one to get a high five in on Andy as he was carried through led by Derek ‘dragon’ Reball, and it’s safe to say this hand hasn’t been washed since.

The Victors


Yes, he is


There was a huge backstage get together where people got interviews, had pictures, had final chats and got their player posters back. It was a bittersweet moment, it was all coming to an end but it was better than I could have imagined. Techtron, yang and I got HD’s Real ID on NA, I got my poster signed by all 4 casters, and also I got to add meeting GTR was quite cool since I’ve known of him for so long.

Cherish photos like this

This part may seem a bit like I’m trying to brag, but I’m not, it was just a fantastic party and an amazing event.

So first off, we got back to the hotel and there was a lot of waiting around going on. We were informed the after party was a ‘get your own way there’ thing, and I understood but was quite down. Even JazBas uttered the famous words that were in everyones mind – ‘…Fuck’ followed by a cute smile.

Soon, the Nv guys entered the lobby and a few of us went up to our rooms, and then up to their room. There, we were greeted by YoonYJ and co. who were already pretty loose and as soon as we entered, Yoon went and poured the vodka for everyone. It went from half full to empty in 40 seconds. UHF and I were quite sad it was down so quickly! Haha. Thanks again to the Nv boys for allowing many of us in their rooms for 2 nights.

I join the Dragon and Final-Form MiLes in the Nv room


Anyway, we all decided to mass-taxi it to the Opera Bar where we were to meet with the casters and PJ etc. BiGbiRd shotgunned the first taxi which had GLaDe, Livi and Cheekyduck, however he was no match for my random sprint for the cab. I took the front, and GLaDe ever the showman (aka winner of many money) shouted the fare. We were first to arrive and we went in to the opera bar and met with the casters.

There are too many good things that happened this night. First off, I had no photo ID, and for what I believe is a high class place they actually asked me (after asking Ninja of course) if I had it, I said no. I thought my night was going to go to hell, but they let it slide and didn’t speak of it. I was so relieved, and went outside with Maynarde for a social smoke to ease my anxiousness. Soon after, I got to chat with Artosis for around 20 minutes and it was so cool. I had some decent chats with painuser and tasteless + great ones with HD, but Artosis was more passing comments until this. We talked about old Brood War times, SC2 scene in Australia, Korean ladder, GSL, everything. It was just amazing to be there talking with one of the most famous eSports commentators. Eventually, he stated this exact line

‘Yeh man, you guys are going places man. You, Techtron and Ninja I believe are so young and so unbelievably talented, if you guys were in America you’d be on teams getting flights to huge events no doubt’

Pretty awesome… pretty damn awesome. Another great line was uttered by JazBas, after MiLes talked about going back to his home of NZ and challenging them for the next WCS (saying he’s a diamond terran)
JazBas – ‘oh you’re fourby right hehe?’

Queue minutes of laughter. I love JazBas haha. Also, don’t ask how it started but Burrito became the eSports Tampon, subsequently causing Zepph to spit her drink out in laughter.

The place closed down and we went to the Shipp inn close by. There they checked ID at the door but I made a great decision in standing next to iaguz when going in. Iaguz simply had to feel his beard and go ‘I have no ID but look at this’; truly a wonderful man. I was allowed in too without it, so the night kept getting better. It was a nice place, and I was able to chat a bit more with PJ and Vanz who were quite loose by now, a bit of a change (at least for vanz!) from his usual self on the weekend.

First time seeing the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Winston found his way to the venue as a +1, and decided to make do in his promise to get everyone wasted. It didn’t occur to me at first, but after my first shot of it I knew Winston was actually a sadistic murderer – they were ABC shots.

I thought 1 was enough, but eventually I figured trying to outdrink Painsuer was a good idea. I ended up with 3 of them, and the 3rd shot was the last thing I remember about the night as for the first time in my life I had drank too much, and don’t remember anything after that. I did nothing silly and was apparently just funny, so I’m so thankful that my ghost of a self was doing good. Big big thanks to Cosmic for taking care of me that night, and also to Rossi and Bayney.

I woke up at 5 in the bathroom with my legs crossed, truly a fantastic way to awake. I crawled into bed and slept for a further number of hours. Amazing.

The last eventful thing was the car drive to the airport. Doble let loose 2 of his most daring moves to date, the ‘bus lane of triumph’ and the ‘right turn of death’, where he turned right where there was a no right turn sign and nearly knocked another car. If he didn’t do this however, me and Luke woulda been late to our flight. Echoes of ‘Sydney!’ to make up for the silly driving went through the car by the great ACL staff driving us, a jolly ending.

Luke and I were joined by Flamga on the Flight, and It was great to talk to him the whole way. Love that man, one of the finest in SA along with Maynarde, Baldie and of course Spook.

Shoutout to Blizzard ANZ for the amazing event, giving me the honor of representing Australia, and just for being associated with such a great game.
- Shoutout to PJ, who was amazing in every way.
Shoutout to ACLPro, and all the hard working staff including JB, Josh, VanzR, Infeza (best obs ever), Dox and Norksmann + all the staff such as door guarders, player liasons and the like.
Shoutout to TA – for being amazing in the audience, special shoutout to MiLes for his amazing banner that was a highlight for the stream.

Shoutout to everyone there really, supporting me or just supporting eSports. You were fantastic. (go SASL!)

Shoutout to Carnage eSports for being a great team to me and supporting me through my games

Shoutout to the security guard who asked where my green band was, and I responded by pointing to my player banner.

Shoutout to the casters for having a sick personality and doing a great job. Honor to meet you.

Shoutout to Maynarde for being incredibly nice to me in general, when casting and for your amazing MC and casting job.

Pure beauty

Shoutout to every player there:
mOOnGLaDe – for being awesome, grats on winning
MaFia – for qualifying and showing the most emotion you may ever have!
Light – For doing protoss and me proud, and for your first time on twitter
tgun – you’ve grown as a player insanely mate, and deserve all the credit you get.
Frustration – you may have got under a few peoples skin with the no gg and the like, but you are a nice kid at heart
Techtron – you are such a crazy mofo man, loved spending time with you!
Ninja – you did carnage proud man, you did better than me and we took down the evil yang!
Rossi – for being a sickunt all event, and for taking me down like a boss in the biggest game of my life.
deth – being beautiful and taking your losses extremely well, you big boy
YoonYJ – Showed some great games man, and put me in a good mood with how happy you seemed to always be!
PiG – We woulda had more ‘oh SEA is only moonglade’ if you didn’t win. You did Australia proud and played great!
Legionnaire – You are an inspiration man, it was great to talk to you so much.
yang – I’m sorry we met first round, but you were nice all weekend with surprise hugs
iaguz – for letting me carry your axe around everywhere and swing it at people.
and to BiGbiRd for being the SA representative with me. Couldn’t pick a better guy to have to share this with, and I felt we did alright brother. Very proud of you, and hope you can move house and get better internet you mother ******, cmon!
So many more I’ve missed, but thanks for reading this ******* massive blog or at least any part of it. I’m going to continue on in SC2 with great pride and inspiration. Go SEA!

edit: oh and lots of love to Tilea and Jaz. Great to get the final piece of the nGen Puzzle by meeting you, and also cool to see such great terran play come out of NZ with tilea.

P.S - Shout out to Cams Mum, AND Cams Dad. I'm home and taken care of too well by them.
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This now hangs proudly in my room. Never forget WCS Australia 2012.