[breadfan]

Usually Dox looks after us with these posts, but since he is busy competing, here's a Dox-style progress report.

Open Bracket
http://s3.majorleaguegaming.com/2012...aft2-open.html

Round 1
NvYoonYJ - BYE
iM`Light 0 Def. URWaZ 0 (walkover)
iM`MaFia 2 Def. Nathanias 0
NvRossi 2 Def. shadow154 0

Everyone else (except GLaDe) was placed directly into Round 2

WB Round 2
iM`tgun 2 Def. NvDox 0 SEA KILL
Nvdeth 2 Def. jjled3406 1
NvYoonYJ 2 Def. cAdama 1
iM`Light 1 Def. By CaliberLighT 2
iM`MaFia 2 Def. Perfectsc 0
NvRossi 0 Def. vileState 0 (walkover)
kiwiLighT 2 Def. Kanbei42 0

LB Round 1
NvDox - BYE
iM`Light 0 Def. escapismc 0 (walkover)

LB Round 2
NvDox 0 Def. By QuanticFlo 2
iM`Light 0 Def. CombatEx 0 (walkover)

Dox has been eliminated. GGWP Dox!

WB Round 3
kiwiLighT 2 Def. sfynx929 0
iM`tgun 0 Def. By SK_MC 2
Nvdeth 0 Def. By iS_insur 2
NvYoonYJ 2 Def. coLQxc 1
NvRossi 2 Def. karasaj 0
iM`MaFia 2 Def. all3nvan 0

LB Round 3
iM`tgun 2 Def. k0ali 0
Nvdeth 2 Def. Jecko 0
iM`Light 2 Def. Jag783 0

WB Round 4
kiwiLighT 0 Def. By QuanticApocalypse 2
NvRossi 1 Def. By iM`MaFia 2 SEA KILL
NvYoonYJ 1 Def. By iS_insur 2

LB Round 4
Nvdeth 0 Def. By coLQxc 2
iM`Light 2 Def. epgimix 1
iM`tgun 2 Def. LuckyFool 0

Deth has been eliminated. GGWP Deth!

LB Round 5
kiwiLighT 2 Def. smaug81243 0
NvYoonYJ 0 Def. By massan 2
NvRossi 1 Def. By SniXSniPe 2
iM`tgun 2 Def. Veritus 0
iM`Light 0 Def. By StarDustLighT 2

Light has been eliminated. GGWP Light!
Rossi has been eliminated. GGWP Rossi!
YoonYJ has been eliminated. GGWP Yoon! Best of luck in life post-SC2, thanks for the memories

WB Round 5
mOOnGLaDe 2 Def. SK_MC 1
iM`MaFia 0 vs EGSuppy 2

LB Round 6
iM`MaFia 2 vs futureSC 0
kiwiLighT 0 Def. By stoicfuzzy 2
iM`tgun 0 Def. By Ngyn 2

kiwiLighT has been eliminated. GGWP Tileä!
tgun has been eliminated. GGWP tgun!

LB Round 7
iM`MaFia 0 vs Liquid`Sheth 2

Mafia has been eliminated. GGWP Mafia!

WB Round 6
mOOnGLaDe 2 Def. EGHuK 1 Match Streamed


Championship Group Stage
mOOnGLaDe - Group C

http://s3.majorleaguegaming.com/2012...ft2-champ.html

Champ Group WB Round 1
NvmOOnGLaDe 0 Def. By AZUBUviOLet 2

Champ Group LB Round 1
NvmOOnGLaDe 2 Def. ROOTMajOr 1

Champ Group LB Round 2
NvmOOnGLaDe 2 Def. TSL_Revival 1

Champ Group LB Round 3
NvmOOnGLaDe 1(1) Def. By AZUBUviOLet 2(4) Match Streamed (Extended Series)

Based on his performance, mOOnGLaDe moves to the 4th round of the (post-group stage) Championship Lower Bracket. See the bracket on TL here.

His opponent will be one of Acer.Scarlett, Liquid`Hero, EGHuK, QuanticApocalypse, ROOTViBE or ESCDaisy.


Championship Bracket

LB Round 4
mOOnGLaDe 0 vs ESCDaisy 2

mOOnGLaDe has been eliminated. Congratulations on doing Australia and all of SEA proud.

I believe GLaDe shares 17th place, while sharing second highest finish by a foreigner with EGSuppy and BabyKnight.

Quick Comments

	Demosthenes:	Awesome work breadfan!
	Eddie:	Thanks for setting this up :)
	nirvAnA:	nice!!!!!!
	Mox:	Breadfan so gosu
	Baldie:	You so good!
	ToRSpartaz:	YEAAAAAH MAN

[VB_WhiplashJC]

tgun vs MC oO

[FaDeBadger]

Poor Tgun, also what's with the country kills? Dox v Tgun. Mafia and Rossi in the same bracket, Tgun v Glade (potentially) Deth v Yoon next round if they both win. o.O

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by FaDeBadger

Poor Tgun, also what's with the country kills? Dox v Tgun. Mafia and Rossi in the same bracket, Tgun v Glade (potentially) Deth v Yoon next round if they both win. o.O

Yeah it is rough but SEA does have a pretty good spread overall at least. Not to mention double elim so my hopes are still high!

[Mopster]

Originally Posted by breadfan

Yeah it is rough but SEA does have a pretty good spread overall at least. Not to mention double elim so my hopes are still high!

True. Lets hope we get some SEA Power though.

*also awesome thread Bread

[NvPinder]

Provided mafia now wins his OWR3, we're going to see rossi vs mafia in OWR4...

Not sure if happy because aussie will definitely make OWR5

Or sad because SEA-kill....

edit; mafia won, SEA showdown in OWR4.

Quick Comments

breadfan:

Yeah :( on the bright side, the loser will still be able to tear up LB!

[Dox]

YoonYJ just won the most ******* epic series against qxc - just uploaded game 3

check it out here

http://www.sc2sea.com/replays.php?do=viewreplay&id=2050

Quick Comments

	breadfan:	FASTEST REPLAY UP OF ALL TIME TYTYTY
	Dingobloo:	That was great, having more obitals > having more scvs.
	Malice:	Unhappy that YoonYJ is quitting :(
	fur:	WATCH THIS GAME. This is why I love starcraft. Insanity. Mad respect to yoon for pulling a win out there.
	Thrasher:	Shit yea, awesome to have.
	Spud:	Hot of the press nice man
	crAzerk:	best use of SCVs evaaa

[FaMe]

Haha at the 'SEA KILL' formatting.
Nice work Yoon on beating qxc

[Cronium]

I still think tgun should have let Dox win so we can experience Dox having a mental breakdown as he realizes he has to play MC.

Quick Comments

	breadfan:	*MC having a mental breakdown as he realizes he has to play a ******* dragon
	fray`Eros:	Remember the Dox beat cella in that one thing that one time

[NvPinder]

******* SNAP yoon 2-1 qxc wdup wdup

[Nv.GTR]

Straya kenttttttttt

[AxS.Sorathez]

mOOnGLaDe only has to win one game to get in to group stages. Fingers crossed!

EDIT scratch that, he needs to win 2

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by FaDeSorathez

mOOnGLaDe only has to win one game to get in to group stages. Fingers crossed!

EDIT scratch that, he needs to win 2

Yeah so the scenario is he needs to get a 2nd win before a 2nd loss and he's through.

[syfMiley]

Yooon baby

[Thrasher]

Going pretty well so far. Yoon did well to beat qxc.

[sl0th]

wow nice 1 yoon, i watched the replay it was epic
mafia and rossi taking a while

[syfMiley]

Just watched the rep of yoon, why don't they stream games like this!
Getting the ultimate viewing experience with TA and friends over here and reps like this

[syfSoundwave]

Mafia beats Rossi 2-1 to advance to Winner's bracket Round 5. He will play EGSuppyRC tomorrow.

So, we end the day with 2 Aussies still left alive in winner's bracket, just 2 Bo3s away from group stages. mOOnGLaDe and Mafia! FIGHTING!

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by ETL.Soundwave

Mafia beats Rossi 2-1 to advance to Winner's bracket Round 5. He will play EGSuppyRC tomorrow.

So, we end the day with 2 Aussies still left alive in the winner's bracket, just 2 Bo3s away from group stages. mOOnGLaDe and Mafia! FIGHTING!

Absolutely correct, sir

Quick Comments

syfSoundwave:

left alive in winner's bracket*

[FaMe]

Originally Posted by ETL.Soundwave

Mafia beats Rossi 2-1 to advance to Winner's bracket Round 5. He will play EGSuppyRC tomorrow.

So, we end the day with 2 Aussies still left alive, just 2 Bo3s away from group stages. mOOnGLaDe and Mafia! FIGHTING!

Still Losers Bracket aswell

[ToRLegit]

Aus Vs Suppy and MC DAYUMMMMMMM................

[iMSystem]

How good is Andy's ZvP?

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but, is it just Suppy, Moonglade, Naniwa the only non-koreans left?

If so, amazing feat by Glade O_O

Edit Suppy just got knocked out! That leaves just 2 left!

[ToR.Arnor]

Originally Posted by iMSystem

How good is Andy's ZvP?

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but, is it just Suppy, Moonglade, Naniwa the only non-koreans left?

If so, amazing feat by Glade O_O

only Naniwa left

Suppy, Glade and BabyKnight all fell in the same round ;(

Quick Comments

iMSystem:

Ah cool, ty

[Thrasher]

Well it wouldn't be a great event if the competitors just died

[nirvAnA]

YOOOOOOOON!!!!!! sick win over QXC!!!!

[NvJazBas]

Why Yoon bro so imba!!?

GL to all keep it up fighting!!

[Hocus]

Eff yeah! good work fellas, and good luck tomorrow!

[syfSoundwave]

Holy shit, I watched that replay. Yoon's play was ******* impeccable.

[ROOT`iaguz]

It's a good replay.

Quick Comments

Tileä:

you have my axe. -kawaii

[NvRossi]

http://www.sc2sea.com/replays.php?do=viewreplay&id=2051
http://www.sc2sea.com/replays.php?do=viewreplay&id=2052
http://www.sc2sea.com/replays.php?do=viewreplay&id=2053

Completely exhausted, this series finished at midnight here. Managed to grab the reps, hope you peeps enjoy. Pretty epic series

Quick Comments

	Maynarde:	tyty!
	breadfan:	ty sir
	FS.Kezz:	Cheers Rossi, you mad dog!

[DUCKVILLELOL]

Originally Posted by NvRossi

http://www.sc2sea.com/replays.php?do=viewreplay&id=2051
http://www.sc2sea.com/replays.php?do=viewreplay&id=2052
http://www.sc2sea.com/replays.php?do=viewreplay&id=2053

Completely exhausted, this series finished at midnight here. Managed to grab the reps, hope you peeps enjoy. Pretty epic series

Casts of these games now done as requested by Mafia - however I'm probably not going to release them just yet because I don't really want to step on MLG's toes, nor would I want to get anyone affiliated with the matches in trouble, so I'm going to wait a little bit until I put them on public display. *Unless I can confirm with MLG people that it's all fine and dandy, and I'm going to speak to them asap

[Unstable]

With there being 8 brackets it's frustrating to see sea kills in there at all.

I think all of it more or less as expected, really happy yoon is starting to get recognition for his TvT, was hoping for yoon/tgun to make round 5 as well but losing to MC and insur is nothing to be ashamed about are both great protoss players

[AxS.Sorathez]

Just note, if Mafia beats Suppy he'll have to play either Rain or Sheth. Somehow I think Rain will beat Sheth....

Mafia v Rain gogogogo

Quick Comments

breadfan:

Somehow I think Mafia will beat Rain.

[nGenLight]

Rayray just reporting in before sleep. 2am here.

Was an extremely fun day...The atmosphere, organization and sheer size of MLG just makes bewildered at how far esports is developed in the rest of the world. We will continue to fight tomorrow. Everyone is pretty pumped. So yeah, go sea!!!

On my own games... I lost my last game from misplacing a force field against a 4 gate that allowed a zealot to walk up TT. Tomorrow I most likely have to go up against StardustLight, an ex Kespa player who was ranked 1 on the NA server last season, in my most underdeveloped MU in PvP. nevertheless I've always made story lines in the Lower bracket so I'm in familiar territory. Will put in my absolute best!

Rayray out.

Quick Comments

	ToRDjvillian:	best of luck man, you can make it through!
	nirvAnA:	thats the spirit!!!!

[Dox]

Shall continue updating my blog in the other thread before I go to bed. Right now I'm practicing for tomorrow's match. Up until this point, I only decided to play since I was here. Why not, y'know?

But after today's experience... I wanna do some damage man. I'm gonna do as much practice as I can, sleep at like 5:00AM and hopefully leave a trail of dice in the lower bracket tomorrow.

Quick Comments

	breadfan:	You'd be crazy not to enter!
	Dingobloo:	^ my thoughts exactly, would be a missed opportunity x 1000
	NvPinder:	Fight with the will of the dragon and nothing can stop you!
	fur:	Cheese like a motherfucking boss. You got diss.

[FS.Kezz]

Thanks for the updates and everything guys! And omg replays?! That's awesome! Go Aussie go!

[jayaiwhy]

Mafia vs Rossi was way too sick

I literally was covering my mouth the whole time in game 3

[AuXCoolpuff]

Keen for round 5, go aus!

[x5.RunaMoK]

Impressive games great to see Aus bringing the pain

[TidaL]

Thanks for the updates - much easier to follow then the brackets

As much as I like MC, go Glade!!!!
Glade and Mafia for group stages!
Go SEA!

[Dox]

Didn't get around to finishing my blog lastnight, shall try to get it online asap.

[ToR.Arnor]

LB Round 1
Results

Light > escapismc (Walkover)

LB Round 2
Light > CombatEX (Walkover)
Dox 0-2 flosc2

LB Round 3
Light 2-0 Jag
deth 2-0 Jecko
tgun 2-0 KOali


LB Round 4
Light vs epgimix
tgun vs Luckyfool
deth vs ???

WB Round 5
mOOnGLaDe 2-1 osGMC
Mafia 0-2 Suppy

WB Round 6
mOOnGLaDe vs EGHuK

[HuT]

Motherfucking andrew pender!!!!!!!!

Quick Comments

	ROCCAT_Savior:	Motherfucking andrew pender!!!!!!!!
	Maynarde:	M.F.A.P.
	ToRSpartaz:	M.F.A.P indeed :D

[Dox]

I'm out! Watching Andy beat MC was amazing.

[ZizLah]

Watching Andy beat Huk was pretty good too ~

[sl0th]

moonglade awesome win over mc and huk.
finally they streamed one of the aussies
should be a good game between glade and violet, revenge time for code a qualifiers

[nGenLight]

I didn't walk over Jag >> Just beat IVNPit 2-1

Quick Comments

	nirvAnA:	YEA KEEP GOING!!!!!
	breadfan:	Sorry, I'm going by bracket. What was your score?
	Tileä:	love ur hair -kawaii

[nGenLight]

2-0

10char, up against StarDust fcuking kespauniform light.

wish me luck!

Quick Comments

	nirvAnA:	SHOW HIM WHOS THE REAL LIGHT
	Maynarde:	GO RAYYYY
	FvRphoneheha:	GO LIGHT! :D
	Tileä:	love ur hair -kawaii

[FvRphoneheha]

HOLY SHIT, Grats glade!

[syfMiley]

man down
bl deth, enjoy the rest of the trip!

[nGenLight]

I'm out too... gonna cheer on the rest of the boys!

My weak PvP has been exposed,

Also Stardust is crazy good (I was intimidated the moment he appeared with a Kespa uniform with a Korean flag on it LOL).

PROTOSS BROTHERS WHEN I GET BACK WE MUST NON STOP SCRIM PVP so we don't have it be a weakness in international events!

Quick Comments

	breadfan:	Well done man, looking forward to checking any reps if you post em. Awesome effort!
	syfChadMann:	not really many protoss to prac with in SEA :(
	DUCKVILLELOL:	what you mean chadmann, ME! nix/carrier build up in hurrr
	Tileä:	It's a LighT eSports uniform, not a KeSPA one D: We all have our national flags on our arms.

[Leefangforever]

Been watching the brackets all weekend,

Cheers for representing SEA guys, hope you had a lot of fun, learnt a lot, and plan on attending MLG's again in the future !

Lets all cheer on Moonglade! SEA Fighting!

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

welcome to sc2sea! :)

[Bash]

This may be a silly question - but how does ths affect these guys in future mlg qualifiers?

Like, do they skip the "open online qualifier" and go straight to "invite only" for next mlg? Invites were based on mlg rankings yeah?no?

[Legionnaire]

Wow go moonglade!

[RippuL]

moonglade.......wow. just...wow

[Antel0pe]

mOOnGLaDe on Stream A~

[HexRaioh]

Extended series, what more can you say...

Carn~! mOOnGLaDe! I believe in you!

[ToRMaverick]

SEA players representing.... just wish you all got some more air time. GL guys.

A link to the VODS for any of the SEA players would be awsome (with timestamp even better).... hmmm no access at this point it would seem.

[breadfan]

Grats GLaDe, those were some exciting matches (even the ones that we didn't see live, and instead had to be content with mashing F5 on the bracket page)

[AxSGRiM]

Daisy really has amazing PvZ, but you played freaking amazing all the way from the open bracket MG! GO SEA!!

[Snx.Mufasa]

Originally Posted by sRGRiM

Daisy really has amazing PvZ, but you played freaking amazing all the way from the open bracket MG! GO SEA!!

when you say amazing pvz... you mean immortal sentry right?

Quick Comments

PiG:

lolol yep :P Best build to do when tired

[[TOG]Chrisau]

Awesome results especially by glade - MC, HuK, MajOr, Revival - what a run! Certainly made a name for himself!

[Daboo]

Wowow I just heard the results,awesome guys!

[IcedTea]

You guys, all did freaking amazing. POST ALL THE REPLAYS!
Great work to all of you! Made us proud!

Must of been an amazing experience.:3

[VB_Blake]

Great job guys, some sexy results

[NOM]

so proud of all the aus/nz guys. Everybody did a fantastic job .
Felt everybody enjoyed there MLG experience, and thats the most important thing about playing in tournaments.

[TCPKerO]

Great work guys, I'm so proud of your performance. Keep up the hard work and crush them koreans .

[PraiseB]

Well played guys, great to see some SEA representing, and even better to see Glade up on the main stage, was screaming down the house during the Huk game, got in trouble with the wife but it was worth it well played.

[Snx`Azz]

gr8 job glade, shared 2nd place foreigner is an amazing performance.

[Heady]

Vod of Moonglade vs Huk at 2:47:15
http://www.twitch.tv/mlgstarcrafta/b/337944684

Quick Comments

	VB_WhiplashJC:	Legend
	ToRMaverick:	Now I just need to subscribe and pay the $15.
	Dox:	thank you so much

[nirvAnA]

Summary of MLG so far. (ty hut)

Quick Comments

NOM:

<3

[ikki]

LOL, at work guessing the flash vs life was one sided, anyone wanna recap for me?

[nirvAnA]

it wasn't one sided, but flash won 2-0 convincingly which was surprising since he brushed past taeja with such ease. nows the rematch to see who gets into the finals vs leenock.

update: looks like i jinxed him as flash just lost 0-4 lol

[|Erasmus|]

man, flash beasting it up is pretty exciting. Can't wait for MLG replays...

Quick Comments

Dox:

mlg pretty much never releases replays

[SayfT]

Don't hold your breath for the MLG replays, they haven't been releasing them quickly for a while

[FS.Kezz]

ESFI world interviews mOOnGLaDe:

You Tube

You Tube

[Cyanide]

TL interview as well

[|Erasmus|]

and an interview with tgun:

You Tube

You Tube

[syfMiley]

Dem drop bears

[LordByrnsy]

lol tgun! that interview was awesome haha

[Dox]

Okay I'm a few days late with this one. It was really hard to find time to sit down and type, 'cos I was either at the venue, travelling or sleeping. I'll try to summarise the entire event via a series of small paragraphs.

After lining up at the event and collecting our passes, we all went back to the hotel to practice for a few hours. Even on the "shitty" hotel wifi, the ping was flawless. Nothing beats playing without lag. It feels like a whole different game.

With the exception of Rossi, we all took a nap from around 2:00PM till 4:00PM on game day. At 4:30PM, I rounded everyone up and we got ready to head over to the venue. Matches were scheduled to start at 5:00. We walked through the door and who do we see walking beside us? Flash, man. And on the other side of the door, there's HuK, sitting on the feature station playing some warm-up games. I get out my phone and start snapping pictures. This was the beginning of a very frantic and exciting journey as I started humbly slinking around the venue asking every pro I saw if they minded if I took a photo of them.

EG.HuK


EG.DeMusliM


MrBitter & Kennigit


SK.MC, QxG.TheSTC & FXO.Leenock


EG.iNcontroL


coL.qxc


EG.Machine vs JookTo


Liquid.Sheth


A familiar Kiwi appears!!


ROOT.ToD


Clutch with the opening ceremony


"I thought Aussies were cool... until I met him (Rossi)." - Naniwa


Words can't describe the passion of this crowd.


deth crushing face in Round 1


YoonYJ vs bbSiphon


By some trick of the lens, I look taller than everyone. I don't know how that happened...


Slasher


mOOnGLaDe, Liquid.Ret, EG.ThorZaiN, Liquid.HerO


This match wasn't broadcasted, but the crowd of spectators was huge! Grubby vs EG.IdrA


FXO.Leenock, ST.Bomber and TSL.Polt

So anyway. The bracket was delayed by an hour and a half. Normally people might complain. But consider this. MLG was operating with a skeleton crew - approximately 80% of their staff were unable to make it due to the Hurricanes in the east. Those who did attend, drove for several days to get there. It was a phenomenal effort, made even more spectacular when you consider the resources that were available to them. So anyway, the brackets were published. With 8 Australians and 1 Kiwi in a bracket of over 200+ people... the chances of two Australians being matched in round 1 were pretty slim, right? Wrong.

Station 7: Nv.Dox vs iM.tgun. Damn it.

I take five minutes to talk strategy with Dan. He suggests I go for a 1 Rax FE into double gas, double fac blue flame hellions. I decide that I'd be most comfortable executing this on a map like Ohana, where he'll be struggling to reinforce his 3rd base and Queen reinforcements won't be an option. I throw out some strategic vetos which inevitably result in him choosing Ohana as the first map. Excellent. Now I just need to hope I manage to Random Terran! The game loads. I randomed Zerg. But wait... the map speed is set to "Fast." We re-host the game on Fastest. I randomed Terran this time. Excellent.

I execute the build flawlessly. I manage to deny his scouting perfectly and hide my double factories. I sneak around the western side of the map - out of watch tower range - and slip into his 3rd base without a hitch. I take down every single Drone, before saccing the Hellions into his natural. A few more drones go down on the way. I send a Banshee into the main & the 3rd, taking down another ~12 drones. So far so good. He's down 30+ Drones and I'm looking okay. Sadly I wasn't sure when I was supposed to take my 3rd. Either way, it was far too late. I sat back and wondered how I was supposed to transition next. I had a "decent" Mech army and saw him throw down a 4th + 5th Hatchery. I started getting anxious, feeling compelled to attack before these bases complete. I move out with a 130 supply Mech army. My screen freezes. Everything goes black. I pause and contact the admins. My screen fixes itself - apparently my computer ran out of memory. Everything seems okay, and I resume the game. I only just realise now that I'm nowhere near 200 supply, and regret moving out. I'm too far out on the map to turn back now, and get destroyed by Roaches, Queens and Infestors. I decide that now is a good time to take my 3rd base. It's not. I get destroyed by the counter-attack and gg soon after.

Game 2 - Daybreak. I random Protoss. After safely securing my FFE, I scout tgun's 3rd. He chooses not to chase my Probe. I approach the natural... and he moves his Queen away. Convenient. I glide right on up into the main base and he lets me see everything. I see a Roach Warren go down. Far too convenient. I let the Probe die, and I start preparing my favourite counter to Ling/Infestor. Surely he was only showing me that Roach Warren to trick me into making Immortals, right? Well, I'm not gonna fall for that. I warp in a bunch of Templar, score myself some +2 Chargelots and get ready to move out. My Observer flies over his Lings attacking the rocks in the middle. I smile to myself. I'm going to destroy this army. But then my Observer flies a little bit further. And I see Roaches. ****. He wasn't faking. I just metagamed myself. I panic and Chrono boost out a Warp Prism, and fly it over my 3rd base. I know for a fact he's gonna have a Zergling there, so I hope he see's my Warp Prism as it "clumsily" flies over his Zergling, and sends his army home to defend against a drop that isn't coming. I need to buy time for more Immortals. Unfortunately it wasn't enough time. His huge Zergling/Roach army arrives and crushes my measly Chargelot/Templar army. My Psi Storms barely scratch the surface of his Roaches and I'm forced to gg out in a very quick and shallow series. I shake his hand and wish him luck in the next round against MinChul.

tgun vs SK.MC

I follow the successes of all my fellow Australians as they make it through the next 3-4 rounds uncontested. Some of them begin to lose their matches and fall to the lower bracket, which continues the following day. I spent quite a bit of time socialising with iNcontroL & Kennigit. Both of them were super friendly and happy to chat with the Australians. Yoon is feeling really sick, and goes back to the hotel after his matches. The rest of us go out for dinner... I can't remember where. It's all a blur now, hehe.

Day 2. It's time to play my next round. I'm up against Flo, from Quantic. In the 20 or so practice games I played the night before, I was acutely aware that my Protoss was really underwhelming on this day. I'm not sure why, but things just weren't working out. My builds were all out of sync. Timings were way off. Was forgetting upgrades. Microing poorly. My Zerg and Terran were the strong races on day 2, and I said to everyone, "If I random Protoss, I'm gonna lose without a doubt."

Game starts. I random Protoss on Entombed Valley. Within 10 minutes I've already lost a Nexus and I'm making mistakes all over the place. By the 15 minute mark, she's managed to deny my 3rd for so long that I've got no chance of catching up. I stay in the game and play the Feedback vs EMP game for a while before she crushes me out of the game.

Now it's time for Daybreak. I random Terran. Okay, this is better. There's no real way I can describe this game, besides saying it was a 35 minute match of Tank+Marine vs Tank+Marine where the two of us were constantly engaging eachother with 3+ armies in all different locations of the map throughout the entire game. Eventually my multitasking slipped and a failed drop allowed her to pull miles ahead. Suddenly the game was 2 bases vs 4 and my tank count couldn't compare. It was a really intense and enjoyable game which resulted in me being eliminated from MLG 0-2. I shook her hand and thanked her for a really fun TvT. Probably one of the most entertaining and taxing ones I've ever played.

QxG.Flo

Now that I'm out of the event, I head over to watch Andy play his first series of the tournament. Against none other than SK.MC.

mOOnGLaDe vs SK.MC with EG.IdrA playing QxG.Apocolypse beside him

Game 1. Cloud Kingdom. MC goes for the Sentry/Immortal all-in. Andy spends a good 5 minutes baiting Forcefields, picking off proxy Pylons and bolstering his army. Eventually MC gets fed up with the dance and goes for the push, with a Warp Prism floating above. Andy executes a beautiful flank and handily crushes MC's army. Two minutes later, MC's base is overrun and types gg.

SK.MC types "gg" against mOOnGLaDe in Game 1

Game 2. Daybreak. Let's fast forward to 35 minutes. Andy has an unbeatable army of Infestors, Brood Lords and Corruptors. He has 5 bases. MC has 2. MC cannot possibly beat Andy in a fight. So he circumvents Andy's army and goes for the base race. Due to the time it takes Andy to get home, he loses 3 bases before he can force MC out. MC recalls to safety, whilst Andy is left defending one Hatchery. MC Vortexes Andy's army and dives the Hatch. Andy's eyes widen with terror as he realises his last building on the map is about to fall, whilst his army supply is still well over 150. With less than half a second to spare, he quickly morphs an Extractor, buying him time to build a replacement Hatchery nearby. All of the spectators gasp with surprise and I hear Liquid.Ret laughing with excitement next to me. The game continues for another 20 minutes as Andy deflects MC's attempts to take out his last Hatchery, but he has no way to safely move out and kill MC. Eventually MC sits back and passively accumulates enough Archons to engage Andy's army. He lands two perfect Vortexes, forcing Andy to GG before they've even worn off.

Game 3. Ohana. I had to dash away to use the bathroom at the start of this game. There was quite a queue, during which I was standing in line with EG.IdrA. I spoke to him a little bit about his win against Apocolypse, then we finally made it through the queue. The whole time I was trying not to smile whilst thinking to myself, "I'm peeing next to IdrA." Hehehe. I go back outside and I see Andy sitting comfortably with 3 bases, whilst moving across the map with a huge counter-force of Roaches, Lings & Infestors. He stomps MC's 3rd and forces him back into his natural. He overwhelms MC and floods his way to a 2-1 victory. Even though this game wasn't streamed, the spectators standing nearby lost their shit. They were cheering and clapping like crazy. And mannnnnnnnn was I proud. What an awesome accomplishment! Next up was HuK.

mOOnGLaDe vs EG.HuK on the main stage

You guys probably saw this one streamed live, so I don't need to describe the games. Let's just say this. Warp Prism + Zealots are a pain in the ass. Fortunately Andy handled it well. The crowd was absolutely insane after Andy won. Clutch scored us front-row seats for this one and we were sure to get the crowd on our side with plenty of cheering. Andy's victory was followed up by a cool interview on the stream, where Clutch went through our entire team with a series of questions. Feeling the energy of the crowd behind me as I complimented them on their passion was so wonderful. Nothing can describe how it feels to be amongst it.

Whilst all this was going on, YoonYJ had won the most intense series against coL.qxc. By now, you've all probably seen the deciding game 3 on Daybreak. You can't imagine the tension floating around those two as we all stood around biting our nails. It was electric.

YoonYJ vs coL.qxc

Unfortunately Rossi & Mafia had gone head to head in the 4th round as well, with Mafia emerging with a VERY strong 2-1 comeback after looking completely dead on Ohana!

Countryman vs countryman =[

After making it through to the group stages and dropping 0-2 to viOlet...

...it was now time for Andy to take on the best Terran in Sidney, Australia... ROOT.majOr!

mOOnGLaDe vs ROOT.majOr

Game 1. Ohana. Andy was betting on Mech. But majOr went Tank/Marine. Let me tell you this. And I don't want you to think I'm exaggerating. I've stood behind Flash. I've watched over the shoulder of Bomber, Rain and Life. I've sat next to MinChul. But NOTHING compares to the speed of majOr. It was like I had teleported back 12 years and I was seeing professional RTS for the first time, all over again. Seeing this guy operating at 400 APM at the 35 minute mark, multi tasking 3 armies and macroing like a monster was just terrifying. And there's something really special about watching this guy play. You can feel this aura of determination surrounding him. He's so deliberate with every action, and so intense with every decision. It's like his body is performing commands before his mind has even finished formulating them. I dare say, most Terrans would have lost this game. But due to his sheer speed and excellent skills of anticipation (predicting every move Andy would make before Andy had even thought about it), he was able to take the win.

Game 2. Daybreak. He went mech this time. Andy went pure Burrowed Roaches. Nothing else. After 30 minutes of crazy exchanges, Andy managed to take him out. I can't do this game any justice with my description. It just needs to be seen to be believed. Andy pulled him apart with beautiful decision making and positioning through and through.

Game 3. For some reason I'm drawing a blank on this one. I think it was on Entombed or something? Either way, Andy won it. I know majOr was a dick to me in the past, but I don't hold grudges. And man do I have respect for this guy. He has this spark of determination that I've never seen in anyone before. It's really fascinating.

By now, all of the other Australians had been eliminated. Most of them only one game short from the Group Stages. It was time for Andy to take on TSL's RevivaL. He wasn't feeling great about playing another ZvZ. He admitted it was his weakest matchup right now, and he wasn't feeling particularly good considering his 0-2 defeat at the hands of viOlet. I fetched a handful of salads and drinks for the team to eat, and with only 5 minutes to stuff his face with as much food as possible, Andy kicked off the match.

mOOnGLaDe vs TSL.RevivaL in the group stages

This was a really crazy ZvZ series. Andy played really well, really solid, and really smart to take a 2-1 victory over RevivaL.

Now it was time for him to face viOlet again to determine who would emerge from the group as the highest seed. And this time, it was on stage. Extended series, with a 0-2 deficit. Ouch.

The view from mOOnGLaDe's booth up on the stage


Clutch cheering on mOOnGLaDe as he takes on viOlet on the main stage. tgun photo bombing.

Again, you guys probably saw the broadcast, so I won't talk about the game. In the end, I believe Andy fell 1-2 (1-4), which meant he would go on to play ESC.Daisy in the 3rd round of the Championship bracket.

By now, all of us were tired and extremely weary. Unlike the day before where we started at 5:00PM, this day had begun at 10:00AM. And now it was 8:00PM. We all departed for the hotel where the iM guys were staying, and stopped to get some food.

As we started walking back to our hotel to get a nice big sleep, tgun received a message from Thundertoss. "GLaDe has to play his Championship Bracket tonight. At 11:00PM."
Well shit. The guy literally fell asleep at the dinner table, and now he was expected to play another match in 90 minutes.

We made our way back to the venue, with stinging, bloodshot eyes. Andy had 45 minutes to wait until his next game. He and I found a comfortable couch in the lobby and set our alarms to wake us up at 11:00PM. With roughly 25 minutes of sleep, we walked back into the venue where Andy was being ushered to the feature station. Unfortunately this is where his journey ended, losing 0-2 to a pair of Sentry/Immortal all-ins. It seems that fatigue got the best of him, as he forgot Zergling Speed, Roach Speed and Overlords on numerous occasions, allowing Daisy to secure the victory.

We all made our way back to the hotel for a long night of well-earned rest. Although none of the Australians made it through to Sunday, we were happy with the performance everyone put up, and we were looking forward to sleeping in & relaxing for another day of great games on the main stage.

We were ambushed by Gwin on our way out the door, and he asked us to come up to the presidential suite where he had set up a studio for Quantic. He asked us to sit down for some quick interviews with him, and although we were falling asleep standing up, we didn't want to pass up any opportunities to promote the SEA scene. Gwin had a pretty awesome setup going on, this guy knows his shit.

Once the interviews were over, we made our way back out towards our hotel. As we emerged from the elevator, Day9, MrBitter, JP McDaniels, Apollo & TotalBiscuit walked past. The only one who stopped to talk to us was TB, and Day9 gave Andy a quick fist-bump on his way past. I had a really good chat with TB and shared my genuine appreciation for him taking the time to speak with us. Unfortunately I wasn't able to meet Apollo or Day9 all weekend. That's the only time I saw them.

We made our way home and everyone slept for a good 7 or 8 hours. Except Yoon. He went out and had the most insane night of his life. That's another story for another time though.

My next blog: Sunday morning breakfast with Grubby, Interviews with ESFI, Team Liquid, Gamespot & CSN, the Grand Finals between Leenock & Life, the Afterparty and the journey home.

Quick Comments

	cRSenSei:	vintage rossi pick with the girls
	x5_dot:	that chick's hand....

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by Dox

"I thought Aussies were cool... until I met him (Rossi)." - Naniwa

This needs some explanation!

[DUCKVILLELOL]

Rossi vs Mafia:

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

[Thrasher]

You should post these to reddit promoting SEA.

[NvRossi]

haha, that was just some friendly banter over dinner at the afterparty on the last night :P We got on really well with Naniwa at the event and i also hung out with him quite a bit at PPSL. hes a really cool fella