So unfortunately I slacked off on my duties as esports blogger but I'm back at it! It's been a while so this post will also include some small recaps of NASL season 1 finals, MLG Anahiem, and the recent MLG Raliegh.
There will only be a few pictures here but you can check the entire album(s) out on my facebook (facebook.com/thundertoss).
So let's start with the most recent! This past weekend I headed over to Raliegh, North Carolina to battle a hurricane and watch some of the best Starcraft 2 players the world has to see duke it out. While Irene didn't show up with her A game (which was fine with me), MLG did not disappoint. Although not quite as intense an experience as Anahiem, the game play was phenomenal. Considering the location and the conditions I was again impressed by the amazing number of fans who showed up, and as a result, the enormous lack of chairs. If you didn't happen to trek out to NC (or even if you did) make sure you check out the full set of VOD's from the event over at MLG's website: http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/news/watch-all-vod-from-mlg-raleigh/
There are so many great games that don't get enough recognition simply because it would be impossible to fit them all into the time period with only the 2 streams. Ascend and I might try to go and cast some of the better games from the open bracket and pool play if we get the chance but since they are in VOD format we'll have to find a good way to do that first.
I know Sundance was responding to some r/starcraft posts about maybe adding a 3rd stream or something to fix the down time (crowd watching) and to give some airtime to open bracket players so maybe we'll get lucky and he'll ask Ascend and I to help out with that (one can only hope ^_^).
In any case, we saw once again the Korean dominance at Raliegh with the top 6 spots all going to Koreans, similar to the results we saw in Anahiem. The recent addition to Slayers, Coca (formerly of zenex) managed to make it all the way to the finals, playing a great series vs StarTale Bomber. The only non korean to make it from the open bracket was Complexity's Trimaster who beat a myriad of notable players although his performance may have slightly been overshadowed by his ability to make Idra rage hard enough to lose his F4 key as I'm sure most of you saw on reddit.
Here's the list of the top 32 from Raliegh (thanks to TL wiki)
Bomber-
CoCa - DongRaeGu
- NaDa
- PuMa
-
HerO 
HuK
SjoW- Noblesse
- KiWiKaKi
- SeleCT
- NaNiwa
- Rain
DeMusliM- SLush
TriMaster- TricKsteR
- Machine
- Sheth
- IdrA
- HayprO
- iNcontroL
Ret- mOoNan
TLO
Orly- Drewbie
- Tyler
- HwangSin
- KawaiiRice
- ostojiy
- PainUser
Mirroring Greatness (Slayers boxer and Slayers MMA)
From MLG Anahiem
The start of MLG Raliegh 2011
Another packed house for the SC2 area
Fans enjoying the games on main stage
A shot from NASL in SoCal
As I mentioned earlier, I missed posting after both NASL and MLG Anahiem but to put it simply, both events blew me away. Anahiem was probably my favorite event to date. The interactions with players, fans, and esports personalities was great. The after parties were awesome (especially since I picked the venue ; p ) and everyone had a great time. The most memorable experience was getting to meet Slayers Boxer and the rest of the Slayers team and getting my jersey signed. It was a surreal moment.
I'm going to end this post here but I'll be sure to be on top of my reporting for the next event so that I can do a proper in-depth write up. Hopefully I'll see some of you readers at the next few MLG's this year!
