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General10 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

From a small apartment to the big world of eSports

When Dennis ‘Take’ Gehlen opens his front door to professional players, the media and the virtual door to several thousand viewers this weekend, he is writing another chapter of one of the most successful stories in eSports – the SeatStory Cup. The "brother tournament" HomeStory Cup, had eight editions so far, starting out as a passion project by the founder himself. Now a new era starts with this, as Take invites the world back to his flat. This time not only the citizens of StarCraft 2 universe, but also the once fighting on the virtual board of Hearthstone.

The story starts at home

Dennis ‘Take’ Gehlen

To reach that monumental goal a lot of work, dedication, passion and craziness went into the project. From a small apartment in Krefeld, Germany, to a bigger and better place more geared towards a living and breathing TV studio. More players, more media, more fans, the dimension of the HomeStory Cup or now SeatStory Cup grew bigger and bigger. Not only did this become a spectacle for the players in a more “family” environment or for the stream audience from across the world, with the cooperation of a local pub this also quickly expanded into a “street fest” where the players and their fans can interact over one or sometimes more than one beer. With that the cup has almost merged into one of the biggest and most beloved festivals on the yearly eSports calendar, a place for high entertainment, great games and terrific production.

In the start only two of these things were actually met by the HomeStory Cup. The first edition was initiated by Take, who invited some of the local German heroes into his flat alongside Brood War legend Ret – at that time in the beginning of his StarCraft 2 career. The cup featured eight players with only four of them being on site, being streamed from the apartment and the typical charm of the event already came through. Plenty of laughs, changing co-casters and the occasional pro player walking through the camera shot. A legacy was born, that quickly outgrew the dimensions of the flat and forced the brain behind the operation to think of an alternative.

Before the third edition Take rented a bigger flat, build it more into a TV studio and also put an emphasis on having a great atmosphere. Regardless of what media outlet or which participant of the tournament got asked later, the common denominator is always the atmosphere and the "family feel" that the tournament has. Away from the brutal schedules of big LANs, far off the unwelcoming areas and play spots at bigger tournaments, straight into a project completely geared to fit the needs and desires of the players and fans. That was the biggest goal for the former Warcraft 3 professional player from Germany and he achieved a lot more than he could have dreamed off when he started it.

Homestory Cup VII, picture from escene.de

Very much unlike other events

The natural hype surrounding the event was always, as the late great WCG might have put it, beyond the game. The event had stars competing as well as a big prize purse to lure in casual fans, the actual selling point was not the actual competitive aspect but the enviroment and things happening between the games. Priceless shots of White-Ra barbecuing for the entire crew, Dimaga realizing peak through a window located behind the casters and hijack the shot behind their backs, semi-sober people playing poker or just relaxing and watching the games on TV monitors in the chill-out lounge – HomeStory Cup always felt different and special compared to all the other tournaments.

The production value could not rival with big cooperations like NASL, MLG or IEM, but the creator of the cup found the niche and exploited it. Who would not love MC with his English casting the games? Who would not want to watch a tournament in which people are just letting lose and enjoying the moment, while casting or just hanging out? HomeStory Cup became a staple like nothing else on the eSports calendar, having an impact on more than just eSports. The pub just outside of the apartment would definitely agree with that. What started as a get-together of Take and some of his friends like Socke, HasuObs or the, at that time in Germany living DeMusliM, turned into a massive tournament with tons of fans occupying the pub and the place before it. For those days Krefeld is turning into the eSports Mecca and everyone is following along.

The eight players for the first edition turned into 16 and later 32, the primarily European field first received support from across the pond with stars like HuK, IdrA or Machine coming over, until finally the doors also opened for the strong Koreans outside of the “European Korean” MC with YongHwa being the first to win the Korean qualifier to be a part of HomeStory Cup V. That is also a change in the format after a while. Usually the whole cup was handpicked by Take, then it turned into a partial invite tournament with big regional qualifiers for additional spots.

Krefeld is calling

Socke signing autographs, photo from Facebook

Now the ninth edition is only a couple of days away and the StarCraft 2 fans can already look forward to seeing 16 of the best players compete for the first ever SeatStory Cup trophy. The number might look smaller in comparison to the 32 players that were there for the last five versions, but with the expansion into Hearthstone some room in the apartment had to be freed up. For the first time more than one game will be represented, Hearthstone will bring its best players to Krefeld for an epic showdown in Blizzard’s new card games. For cross-references a lot is already done, since the HS field features known names to the avid StarCraft or RTS fan. With Lucifer an idol of the Warcraft 3 Undead race runs into the house of the former Warcraft 3 Human, determined to make his debut a good one. In addition to that old school name, StrifeCro from StarCraft 2 fame will also be in the house, in addition to the one and only Brood War and StarCraft 2 legend Artosis. These names will carry over to the StarCraft fans and will achieve, what the HomeStory Cup is all about – uniting everyone offline and online. Krefeld is calling.

 

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