FFenix Profile Joined July 2010 Canada 23 Posts Last Edited: 2011-08-31 02:08:22 #1



(This post will describe my friend’s experience and my experience from start to finish of MLG Raleigh which may contain spoilers!)

This all started from MLG Columbus sitting at home, after seeing the huge crowd from the HD Stream. It was so awesome, that I decided to go to the next MLG event. Unfortunately, Anaheim was too close, so my friend I and decided to go to MLG Raleigh! Bought Tickets, booked flights from Toronto to Raleigh, booked hotels, and took days off my engineering job =D



(Major Significance: MLG discount on Hotels sold out fast. I called in, and managed to get club floor room for the same price $125 per night)



Day1

Alright, so woke up at 4a.m. and managed to arrive at the hotel around 11am. We try to sign in the hotel, but our rooms weren’t ready, so we were told to come back 1 hr later (super important). So instead of going up to our rooms, we went to get our MLG entry wrist bands. The place was packed to the max since the event wasn’t opening until 1:30p.m. (1:00p.m. for MLG gold members). Soon after we signed in, we noticed Day9 ninja his way into the event with literally ALMOST no one noticing, or even bothering him! We missed our chance to say Hi to Day9, but we were hungry from the long flight so we go to Jimmy John’s for some lunch.







As we approach the store I notice someone familiar

Me “Is that Artosis?”

Friend “Maybe?”

*rushes into the store*

Me “It’s Dan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

*Nick Tasteless Plott enters the store behind us”

Me”It’s Tastlesss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”



You could say, this was my first nerd fanboy reaction going off! Knowing better after yelling their names, my friend and I leave them alone to eat respectfully. We go back to the convention centre chomping on our food and as we approach the building, the whole EG team arrives in front of us. Can I say, can we get any luckier?!!?! While we waited for them to get their competitor wrist bands, QXC appears beside us. I forget what he said, but he was awfully nice and gave us his autograph =D. I just know I said something SUPER stupid like “You know we’re not from EG?” (Both of us were wearing EG T-shirts)



Once all EG was ready, we were literally the first two people to get all their autographs. I brought my SC2 Collector’s edition Art book and my friend brought his SC2 Jim Raynor poster. First 2 hrs in Raleigh and we were hitting the jackpot. Due to me being very nervous and tired from the flight, we were unable to get the pictures for most of Day 1.



The 1:00p.m. exclusive access to gold members started, and we were able to line up to get autographs from Day9, JP, Artosis, Tasteless, and Husky. Everyone of them were super nice, especially Day9! We held up the line talking about the 3hr. BGH Daily XD.





The next thing in line was trying new games, but before we got a chance, the Koreans arrived for signatures right next to the casters! BONUS ROUND =D Coca, Nada, Trickster, and Bomber autographs straight up after the casters. It couldn’t get any better than that! My friend and I even got interviewed by the MLG staff to advertise for MLG Gold O_O. I made a bigger fool of myself there, but I won’t go into that hehehe.





QXC With Hotbid





Huk With Hotbid





Idra Practicing





Nada Practicing





Jinro Loitering

We spent the next 2 hours watching games and pros warming up and decided that I needed to sign in the hotel now. Got checked in, dropped our load in our club room(16th floor, 2nd highest floor) and then proceeded down the elevator.



I don’t remember exactly what we were talking about, but it went something like this...

Friend “Ballz” *doors open F10*

Me “HOLY SHITTTTTTT”

Friend “OHH MYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDD”

We see the whole teamliquid team right infront of us. That’s right. EVERY SINGLE one of them.

TL Pro(too dazed too remember) “Ohhh EG fans, we’ll take the next one”

*doors close*



I have to tell you, I was shelled shocked from that moment all the way from that floor, to the bottom. TLO told us to get his autograph at the Sony Ericson booth when they got down, which was a good signal not to bother them. Dario is such a nice guy =D Pictures below.



We were known as the “Elevator Fans” from that day on.





Well that’s the big stuff from Day 1, the rest is just watching games, and I don’t have to tell you guys about that.



Day 2

Since my friend was competing still, nothing really happened until we both went spectator mode! There was the main stage where the audience gets chairs to watch and were most streamers would be watching. We however opted for the stages where the action is at, booths 1 and 2. There are no chairs for the spectators, just a elevated mini stage for 4 players to duke it out. This was a unique MLG experience for only those people there to see.





Haypro Playing





Nada Left, Ret Right



LiquidRet vs. Kiwikaki were duking it out in booth 2, and beside them was the infamous oGsNada vs. LiquidSheth. Awesome part was Liquid Tyler and Liquid TLO decided to sit next to us (picture below, TLO is hiding behind Tyler). G1 ended, Ret took the first game off of Kiwikaki and then R1ch and Hotbid took a seat beside us on the hard concreate floor. Day 2 just got sweeeeeeeeeet.





Sitting Beside FAMOUS People



After G2, a very shy asian girl comes right next to Tyler and says

Girl “I know you don’t like people asking for your autograph when you are not signing, but my girl friend really likes you, and wants your autograph please =D”

Tyler “Ummmm I could get in real trouble If I did” <- lying

Girl “SORRRY” *quickly scurries away

Everyone around him laughs

Me “You’re so mean!!!(laughing)”

Tyler “I would have signed if she tried a bit harder(chuckling)”



Nada wins his match 2-1 and I wanted to get a photo with him. As I got there, TLO was on floor sleeping, but he looked more like a armadillo in defensive position! Wish I got a picture of that, but it was either that or Nada. Obviously I chose Nada, though now I kinda regret not taking it =(.





Nada and my friend



Nada and me



1hr later a random male fan comes and ask TLO to sign his T-shirt in his belly region. It was superrrr funnyyyy, the fat belly surface to sign made it look so difficult for TLO. What was so great afterwards though, that he brought a chick just moments later to get her cleavage signed. A bit blurry, but here it is.







Bonus Pic:



Hero Stacking 3 chairs to get comfortable!





TLO Cheering on Haypro



TLO and me



TLO and my friend



EG support for the new Mantoss 2.0 (HUK)



The end of the day ended with Tyler doing a 2 base, +1 air weapons, x2 stargate, phoenix, and void ray push on MLG testbug. Wha?



Day 3

Started early and bright, editing photos for this post, and then proceeded to the event afterwards. EG was putting up a huge fight this MLG. Machine unfortunately had to take out his teammate InControl before encountering Rain. It was an epic game G1, go check it out at MLG VODs. Next was looking EG Demuslim knocking out Trickster on the main stage. Boy was he happy, and so was I!





Demuslim and me after he won!



Check out G3 for his awesome modified IMBA push.

Today’s highlight was just Bomber. He was damn baller all day long. Main stage fight with DRG prefight dialogue: “Ready for some bombing?” IN ENGLISH. Then he continues to NUKE THE crap out of Bomber along with other BM stuff like dropping mules all game long and multiple scans in one place. Check that G1 out!



When the game is over, and he comes out, the crowd CHEERS like no tomorrow, but like any robot, he is emotionless. The LoL games were over, so I decided to go over and get some free skins =D. Only managed to get a Riot Singed =(.





Where’s Haypro!??!





Sheth! Where’d you go!





Not enough mineral.Need more chairs!



Not much happened in Day 3, just match after match, until the finals with Bomber vs. Coca. I’ll let you guys watch that match. Being there was actually much different than watching it from your home. The energy, the intensity, the moment, everything!





Double Headed Bomber, and Triple headed Day9 O_O



MLG is over, going back to work on Tuesday. My life is back to normal =(





EXTRA

On my connecting flight back to Toronto, something AWESOME HAPPENED.

I not only shared the same flight with MVP Noblesse, but also SAT BESIDE HIM. YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!





It was an honour Noblesse! Have a safe trip back to Korea!



Guess whose Autograph is who:

Page 1:



Page 2:





Page 3:





Page 4:





Autographs Achieved

Protoss

Kiwikaki

Huk

InControl

Trickster

Hero

Tyler



Terran

Select

TLO

Bomber

Nada

Jinro

Gretorp

QXC

Puma

Demuslim

Zerg

Idra

Slush

Ret

Haypro

Sheth

DRG

Machine

Coca



Missing Signatures that I Wanted

Naniwa

Grubby

lefNaij

Noblesse

Painuser (stop hiding!)





My Review of MLG Raleigh By: FFenix(This post will describe my friend’s experience and my experience from start to finish of MLG Raleigh!)This all started from MLG Columbus sitting at home, after seeing the huge crowd from the HD Stream. It was so awesome, that I decided to go to the next MLG event. Unfortunately, Anaheim was too close, so my friend I and decided to go to MLG Raleigh! Bought Tickets, booked flights from Toronto to Raleigh, booked hotels, and took days off my engineering job =D(Major Significance: MLG discount on Hotels sold out fast. I called in, and managed to get club floor room for the same price $125 per night)Day1Alright, so woke up at 4a.m. and managed to arrive at the hotel around 11am. We try to sign in the hotel, but our rooms weren’t ready, so we were told to come back 1 hr later (super important). So instead of going up to our rooms, we went to get our MLG entry wrist bands. The place was packed to the max since the event wasn’t opening until 1:30p.m. (1:00p.m. for MLG gold members). Soon after we signed in, we noticed Day9 ninja his way into the event with literally ALMOST no one noticing, or even bothering him! We missed our chance to say Hi to Day9, but we were hungry from the long flight so we go to Jimmy John’s for some lunch.As we approach the store I notice someone familiarMe “Is that Artosis?”Friend “Maybe?”*rushes into the store*Me “It’s Dan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”*Nick Tasteless Plott enters the store behind us”Me”It’s Tastlesss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”You could say, this was my first nerd fanboy reaction going off! Knowing better after yelling their names, my friend and I leave them alone to eat respectfully. We go back to the convention centre chomping on our food and as we approach the building, the whole EG team arrives in front of us. Can I say, can we get any luckier?!!?! While we waited for them to get their competitor wrist bands, QXC appears beside us. I forget what he said, but he was awfully nice and gave us his autograph =D. I just know I said something SUPER stupid like “You know we’re not from EG?” (Both of us were wearing EG T-shirts)Once all EG was ready, we were literally the first two people to get all their autographs. I brought my SC2 Collector’s edition Art book and my friend brought his SC2 Jim Raynor poster. First 2 hrs in Raleigh and we were hitting the jackpot. Due to me being very nervous and tired from the flight, we were unable to get the pictures for most of Day 1.The 1:00p.m. exclusive access to gold members started, and we were able to line up to get autographs from Day9, JP, Artosis, Tasteless, and Husky. Everyone of them were super nice, especially Day9! We held up the line talking about the 3hr. BGH Daily XD.The next thing in line was trying new games, but before we got a chance, the Koreans arrived for signatures right next to the casters! BONUS ROUND =D Coca, Nada, Trickster, and Bomber autographs straight up after the casters. It couldn’t get any better than that! My friend and I even got interviewed by the MLG staff to advertise for MLG Gold O_O. I made a bigger fool of myself there, but I won’t go into that hehehe.We spent the next 2 hours watching games and pros warming up and decided that I needed to sign in the hotel now. Got checked in, dropped our load in our club room(16th floor, 2nd highest floor) and then proceeded down the elevator.I don’t remember exactly what we were talking about, but it went something like this...Friend “Ballz” *doors open F10*Me “HOLY SHITTTTTTT”Friend “OHH MYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDD”We see the whole teamliquid team right infront of us. That’s right. EVERY SINGLE one of them.TL Pro(too dazed too remember) “Ohhh EG fans, we’ll take the next one”*doors close*I have to tell you, I was shelled shocked from that moment all the way from that floor, to the bottom. TLO told us to get his autograph at the Sony Ericson booth when they got down, which was a good signal not to bother them. Dario is such a nice guy =D Pictures below.We were known as the “Elevator Fans” from that day on.Well that’s the big stuff from Day 1, the rest is just watching games, and I don’t have to tell you guys about that.Day 2Since my friend was competing still, nothing really happened until we both went spectator mode! There was the main stage where the audience gets chairs to watch and were most streamers would be watching. We however opted for the stages where the action is at, booths 1 and 2. There are no chairs for the spectators, just a elevated mini stage for 4 players to duke it out. This was a unique MLG experience for only those people there to see.LiquidRet vs. Kiwikaki were duking it out in booth 2, and beside them was the infamous oGsNada vs. LiquidSheth. Awesome part was Liquid Tyler and Liquid TLO decided to sit next to us (picture below, TLO is hiding behind Tyler). G1 ended, Ret took the first game off of Kiwikaki and then R1ch and Hotbid took a seat beside us on the hard concreate floor. Day 2 just got sweeeeeeeeeet.After G2, a very shy asian girl comes right next to Tyler and saysGirl “I know you don’t like people asking for your autograph when you are not signing, but my girl friend really likes you, and wants your autograph please =D”Tyler “Ummmm I could get in real trouble If I did”