On the Super Evil website, there is a link to meet the team. Each member of the team has a picture of themselves sitting in a regal, tall back chair, furnished with rich and royal crimson velvet. Writing from that set of chairs, the next few paragraphs will cover my days (and nights) at TwitchCon, The Lair, and more.

Chapter One – Arrival

After two near misses with other airborne aircraft, I was finally able to land in San Fransisco. Bustling out of the airport, I joined the ranks of Uber users and got a ride to The Lair. When I stepped out of the car and realized I had given the driver the wrong address my heart began to sink. I had messed up a digit, and arrived at a small place directly across the street. Whoops!

I ran across the street where a kind gentleman helped me find the secret passageway that lets mortals into The Lair. As you climb the stairs, the sound of joyful voices grows from a general din to an overbearing real-life Twitch chat, complete with hyped streamers and Nivmett moderating as always.

At the top of the stairs I looked down the long hallway towards the noise and saw glimpses of the beginning. As I took long strides down the great hall I knew this was gonna be good.

Chapter Two – Big Dogs

Crossing the threshold, the first person to identify me was PlayoffBeard. He approached me and hugged me like the man in black trying to strangle Andre the Giant. Almost at the same time we voiced our surprise at the size of the other person. His smile helped me feel welcome, and just seeing the faces in that room would get anyone excited.

I found my way over to ShinKaigan and Yuma, who were quietly enjoying one another’s company. Shin couldn’t believe how tall I was. I realized this was going to be a thing for the entire weekend. CullTheMeek and gabevizzle were playing in a game with Wine from Invincible Armada, who was also there.

LadyWabeesh was running rampant, welcoming people, and giving loving hugs. Kristian gave a small presentation about things to come in the world of Vainglory. One of the coolest things he was able to show us was the active growth in the community.

There is a strong possibility that I played lane Krul against ShinKaigan and gabevizzle on stream. I don’t want to spoil how that game ended, but there was some well-timed disruptions for certain players that potentially cost them the game. Spoiler alert: five Breaking Points that game!

I spent some time laughing with doer, gawking with Chainsaw, and adoring JustInsane. Each of them had amazing content to share that would make your jaw hit the floor. I know it certainly worked on me. If you’d like to know what I saw, just ask and I’ll show you a copy of the NDA they had me sign.

A good portion of the night was spent discussing lore with SugarVenom (as I continuously and intentionally called her SweetPoison without her correcting me) to see if we could make BrokenMyth’s lore bigger and better. Stay tuned for that!

FooJee was a real classy gentleman, and a pleasure to converse with. His moments of weakness came when he was drinking a beverage that apparently moves easily through the nose, and I made a jovial comment to Wabeesh.

Chapter Three – The Long Con

Friday at TwitchCon I was a kid in a candy store (note: only minion candy was purchased). I was excited to get through the doors and over to the Vainglory booth where I knew the action would be. I was pleasantly surprised to find a large booth with about eight iPads set up for games to be played! Constant games of 3v3 action were taking place. Winners won shirts, but every visitor was a winner because SEMC came ready with swag. Stickers, buttons, screen cleaning cloths, shirts, and anything else your imagination could create with either a Vainglory or SEMC logo on it. In other words, heaven.

For the entertainment of the players, viewers, and community content creators alike, there were two microphones for casting the games at the booth. It was hilarious to hear the commentary while watching from any perspective of either team! Plenty of people attempted the caster’s seat, but none as successful (or as entertaining) as wolf hands and Phall of Phariss.

PlayoffBeard and Zekent spear-headed the live Dev stream from the Razer Broadcast zone, giving players and viewers at home a taste of the Twitch experience! In that area, the purple Twitch-themed carpet was thick and comfy, enticing me to relax and enjoy.

Meanwhile, the room was full of Twitch celebrities, and the energy level was sky high. When the first day came to an end, Twitch personnel had to come and politely ask players to leave the Vainglory area because they were still playing and loving it!

Chapter Four – Hammertown

Due to a tragic last-minute cancellation, my sleeping arrangements had changed drastically in the last 48 hours leading up to TwitchCon. The unit (OK, it was a boat) that my group and I had reserved cancelled without reason. We were left to find a place to sleep for the duration of the event. Brad acted quickly and found us a replacement that didn’t seem to have anything noticeably wrong with it, so we booked it with short notice. How bad could it be?

Bad? How about great? I would even venture to say better than great! Our personal butler, Jeffrey, wasn’t much help, aside from making sure we woke up on time. It was convenient to know he would be at the home, protecting us from burglars and mice. He was quite well behaved for a cat.

This large estate got its full value for us when the Halcyon Hammers needed a real internet connection to practice together on. We invited the whole team over, and I worked to encourage them with the grand piano in the front room as they performed beautifully as a team. Canon in D and Vainglory, try it out sometime, they were meant for one another!

HHTikune really keeps his cool, even when teams are stacked against him. BillyTheKid helps guide the team with powerful gameplay, but Xeno is the voice of wisdom and experience. That’s right, Mr XenoTek himself. Despite how often I intentionally skipped introducing him at TwitchCon, he was a lot of fun, and just as genuine as always.

No one was more intimidating than SlowDead. He has a look that says “I like you, for now. Screw up, and you’ll be sleeping with the fishes.” It’s quite charming! Mexi and his brother, Whitey, helped round out the group of guys that night. They shared their ride and their bed, and I bet they would have shared the shirts off their backs, but I got so many shirts at TwitchCon that I never had to ask.

One of the highlights from the evening was when SlowDead asked FooJee to twerk. FooJee quickly responded that he refused to twerk because that would be ridiculous. Then he said he didn’t know how. Then he said he wouldn’t. Then he said he couldn’t. Then he started twerking. For the limited eyes that saw this glorious event, you should know that FooJee can twerk with the best of them, and his milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

To be continued…

In the next episode: