My day opened up with claiming my all-access “e-sport” badge and eating dinner in my hotel room.
Because I had to release the super secret project today at 8 AM PDT, I didn’t get a chance to go together with the team to the convention center, which was a problem. I ended up going a few hours later by myself, and took somewhat of an eternity to actually find out where they were.
Apparently, even with my all-access pass, there were some security guards who had no clue what they were doing, and told me I couldn’t go where I wanted in order to figure out where my players were. To make things worse, I was carrying around a bunch of apparel for the players, as well as a mouse pad for a player who had forgotten his at home. Fortunately, I was bold enough to ignore security guards and keep searching the convention center for real help.
After about an hour or so, I finally found someone from Twitch hospitality, who walked me to the correct place. The player practice area was apparently within the actual main area, off to the corner.
Twitch hospitality also set up a place for players to relax away from the main convention area. With Twitch being Twitch, they lit up the room with nice dim purple lighting.
At first, I had quite a bit of difficulty figuring out how the Hearthstone and Smash tournaments were going, but luckily, our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team was easy to find and help. They had a game early on in the afternoon, so I went on stage with them to help them set up and settled in the playing area.
Unfortunately, the day was filled with delays, with our CS:GO team being the first of many. Our coach’s laptop had some severe audio problems, so I ended up sitting behind the players on stage for about 20 minutes trying to figure out a resolution to a problem that the DreamHack techs sort of gave up on. Eventually, I found some obscure line-in setting in Windows that fixed the problem.
Next up was Heroes of the Storm. Our team’s first match was against Astral Authority, a team that sort of came out of nowhere. They started out as King of Blades Alpha, left the organization to form Gust and Bust, and finally got a new sponsor, Astral Authority. I’m usually not too interested in other teams, and generally funnel my energy entirely into just Tempo Storm, but the manager of AA is pretty kind-hearted, so I pay at least a little attention to them.
Our delays continued when the Internet connection at the convention center started wavering, and our Heroes of the Storm players started to randomly disconnect from the game. At first we assumed that it would just be a short pause before we would be able to resume playing, but it ended up taking much longer than that. To avoid getting bored, Zixz loaded up a Taylor Swift song on YouTube so he can sing along with his favorite artist.
After over two hours of delays, we finally got everything back up and running. Unfortunately, we ended up dropping the series to Astral Authority, and dropped into the losers’ bracket, where we had to face COGnitive Gaming.
While our HotS team’s second series of the day was going on, our CS:GO team was also playing their second series of the day.
To keep things simple, our CS:GO team smashed, while our HotS team got smashed. Our CS:GO went 2-0 in series today, so they will be skipping tomorrow and advancing straight to Sunday’s matches. Our HotS went 0-2 in series … and got eliminated on day 1. -__-
Because I was keeping tabs on all our esports teams from our entire organization, I didn’t get to watch all the HotS team’s games, as I was either with the CS:GO team, or in the Hearthstone area with Reynad. However, from what I’ve heard, apparently, up until they lost the game, they were winning.
Our HotS run is now over, but we have competitors still going strong in every other game. Check back tomorrow (or the day after) for more updates.
After a copious amount of delays, I finally made it to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I was on a standby list for a different flight than for what I had originally been scheduled, so I wasn’t able to get a window seat and get any photos during the flight.
A shuttle came to pick me up and transport me to the hotel, which was supposed to be about 40-50 minutes away. Unfortunately, due to the notorious Los Angeles traffic, we ended up taking over 2.5 hours to get to our destination, because we were driving 8 MPH in a 65 MPH zone.
After finally making it to the hotel, Tempo Storm’s HotS team, an early bird from Naventic, and I went to Olive Garden. I don’t like eating on travel days because I don’t want to risk vomiting on the plane due to airsickness, so this was essentially my breakfast.
One of the players ordered a drink that came with a massive orange. If a single slice is that huge, imagine how big the full orange was. He held up a strawberry for scale.
And of course, it wouldn’t have been an Olive Garden trip without the breadsticks.
So far, it seems like the schedule is going to be tomorrow for practice and media day, Friday for off-stage group stage, Saturday for the first day of the event, and Sunday for the semifinals and grand final. 
Finished the meal, tongue is still intact.
Whew 
Out of all the crowds, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive crowd was the most excited and passionate about their respective esport. My favorite moment was when Luminosity Gaming, a Brazilian team, was defeating Cloud9 15-0 in a set yesterday. For those who aren’t familiar, competitive Counter-Strike goes to 16 points, so Luminosity was about to sweep the United States’ Cloud9.
Through some black magic, Cloud9 managed to take a game off Luminosity, bumping their score up to 15-1. Upon this win, the crowd erupted in cheers, sending vibrations through the convention center. The production team didn’t properly adjust the crowd audio well enough in the television broadcast to properly show the energy in the crowd, but it was truly ear-shattering. They proceeded to chant “U.S.A.” until Luminosity managed to get their 16th point and defeat Cloud9.
Because of their passion, I made sure to snap a photo of the CS:GO crowd. This wasn’t the same crowd that was there for Luminosity vs. C9, but I’m figuring that a lot of the people were the same, and the stands were just as full.
I also spent a decent chunk of time with Reynad, the founder and CEO of Tempo Storm. As expected, he got pretty unlucky, and dropped from the tournament on day 1 due to some ridiculous Internet problem that made him lose a won game. So, yesterday, instead of competing, he spent time enjoying the convention and talking with members of the team and with fans. He also spent some time playing Smash with fans – this is Reynad and Frodan playing 2v2 against some con-goers.
Unfortunately, due to some miscommunication with our team manager, we were sent home a day early, before the convention ended. Because there were a bunch of people headed to the airport at once, we took a limousine bus instead of having private drivers.
After being taken to the airport two hours early, and having to wait an additional hour for delays, I got on my flight at Austin-Bergstrom Airport to head back to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, IL.
I ended up taking a nap at the airport because of how long I had to wait. The ultimate troll decided to put a “Reserved seating for special needs” sign right next to where I was sleeping, while I was already seated there and asleep for a few hours … lol
I used to not really like going to conventions or traveling, but I think I’m sort of getting used to it. It’s very chaotic and busy, especially considering how involved Tempo Storm is with so many different esports, but it’s inspiring and motivational watching the level of passion and excitement coming from the fans.
I also used to hate flying on airplanes when I was younger because I would get airsick so easily. I guess I’ve grown out of it, because I usually browse social media and text people using the in-flight wifi, and take a nap, and the flight isn’t really that bad.
I’m not entirely sure when my next event will be, and like usual, I most likely won’t be revealing more details until I’m 100% sure of my attendance. But, even though I thought I would never say this … I’m actually somewhat looking forward to getting back on a plane and attending my next tournament and/or convention.