I believe this'll be my first write-up of an event so far! I'm not entirely sure how much detail goes into these, so I'm gonna try and stick to the more important details mostly in regards to how the event itself ran and things that could've went different or can be improved upon. I'd like to continue doing this for future tournaments I'm able to attend, so maybe Warpath is next?

Friday morning I was up early and wanted to support the people I know who're entering the LCQ. Though, attempting to actually get into the Pokken room proved daunting with staff insisting Pokken players had to wait in a 2+ hour line that wrapped around the entire building to get in. This actually ended up preventing players like shofu from being on time for their pools despite having already paid for the LCQ registration and everything.

Later I was informed by someone that an alternate entrance to the downstairs opened up, so we ended up just walking in ourselves from inside the hotel. Would've saved a lot of confusion and stress for players who had to make a deadline.

The Pokken room was slowly filling up and I sat down to play a FT5 with Milln & DeityLight, and then ran a bunch of games with BadIntent. Unfortunately, it seemed like whenever the tables were even slightly nudged it would force some consoles to disconnect. This occured multiple times in my session with BadIntent and seemed to carry on throughout the weekend on various setups, including the stream setup.

During the opening ceremony the rules for the tournament were explained to us. What jumped out at me in particular was the "no pause" rule. If a player paused during the middle of a match they were subject to forfeiting the current round. I'm not exactly sure where the idea for this rule came from, but pausing during LAN actually doesn't stop the match whatsoever, so this struck me as nonsensical. Hopefully this rule will be revisited & removed for future events.

Saturday the Masters Division was to begin around 10:30am, and I quickly found out there was going to be a problem with getting matches streamed. . .Only top 16 will be streamed? Really? Tyler (TO) tried to find a work around to get matches recorded until then, though to no avail. This was disappointing because so many high profile matches happened off stream and we'll likely never get an opportunity to see them again (or for a long time). I appreciate his effort though, he kept me informed the whole event and was working at a fast pace the entire time.

What was disappointing to me was that the only spectators for this incredibly stacked tournament were either competitors or ones behind a monitor. I think TPC disallowing spectators inside the venue really put a damper on potential viewership.

Though, all in all, my experience with how the tournament went was a positive one. The community came together and supported each other which made it special. If you look at your twitter feed, you'll see all the great stories from players about their experiences. I just wish more people got to see witness the Masters Division matches, inside the room and streamed.

Shout outs: Don't feel left out if I don't refer to you by name, there's just too many people who made this trip special!

The Pokemon Company - thank you for making all of this possible. Without this circuit none of this would have happened. You got a peak into how dedicated the community is and how many friendships were formed because of this great game. Despite language barriers and countries between us, we all understood each other when it came to one thing: we love this game. I hope you will continue to support Pokken with a second season so we will grow and have more opportunities for things like this!

Tloc - the community host for the weekend. Offered his room up everyday as a meeting point for all the US, JP, & EU players. Many money matches, the salty suite, and the USA vs EU 5on5 all were able to happen because of him. Super big thank you and looking forward to your involvement with the JP scene when you move in November. Good luck!

Team ennyMura - driving all the way from SoCal to make sure the community gets the greatest commentary experience ever for the USA vs EU 5on5. They had to lug all of their expensive streaming equipment and found a way to set it up in such a professional manner - it was a treat to witness.

DC & RudaFuda - not sleeping on other casters, but can anyone dispute that this was the most excellent Pokken commentary duo to date? Their energy and ability to feed off each other seamlessly while never having worked together once before was unreal. I can't wait to watch the crew battle over just for both the level of professionalism and hype they brought to the table.

JP Players - despite the language barrier, the japanese players were once again so much fun to hang out with. Not only that, but they were so thoughtful with even giving players gifts. I feel like everytime I'm able to play them there's takeaway, and IMO we can all improve by watching their play. I really look forward to having them here again, and vice versa!

EU Players - despite the language barri. . .just kidding! c: I hope your local scenes start to develop more after this weekend so we get to see more of you guys. It was great to meet all of you for the first time, and you really brought the hype to the 5on5. . .Thanks for following the script. >;}

US Players - What can I say that hasn't already been said? You guys showed up and killed it in the tourney, earning everyone's respect even though we didn't take first. We demonstrated how strong we are at this game and also how RESPONSIBLE we are as people. We looked out for each other, cheered for each other, voiced our concerns & opinions, and left with a positive attitude. People are watching and orgs continue to pick players up, so we're only moving forward from here!

Everyone - I'm sure this ain't a perfect writeup by any means, and that I sounded like a broken record at times, but I wanted to share what thoughts I could conjure up. This ain't the end. . .we're not even a year old and look at how much we've grown and the experiences we've shared. Really proud. . .Let's all work together to push for a season 2 & meet up again next year!