The first night of sleep in Singapore on this trip was rather good. Being exhausted and full was probably the secret recipe for a deep slumber, and the comfortable bed helped quite a bit as well. The waking up part was quite different though, as my roommate Eric (many of you may know him as ReiNNNN), had the sudden epiphany that he wanted to do a video blog. I bet you guys would say that it is no big deal, and perhaps a good number would even say that its a good idea. Well, he decided to start the blog by waking me up a good twenty minutes before the alarm sets off.
I mean, the alarm is already early as it is. It was set on a time wherein we could wake up, prepare, go to the venue and arrive thirty minutes early at least. But anyway, I don't really mind waking up early. I got up, took a bath, did the usual newsfeed-news sites-reddit cycle and then snuggled my ever so endearing bed. We took off as soon Eric finished preparing, and we arrived a good hour early even after walking all the way from Pasi Ris MRT Station (we took the taxi the previous day). Oh yeah, we also had a quick bite on what apparently is called a curry puff (reminds me of a Filipino food called empanada).
Not surprisingly, there weren't many people yet. We tried going to McDonalds to catch some teams having breakfast, but we unfortunately chanced no one (we did mistake a group of kids for Startale though). We were able to get a picture of the early birds, which include Oblique, Spirit Gaming, RRQ and MiTH.Trust. We had some problems on one of our camera though, which is why a good number of our pictures are still unpublished at the moment..
Spirit Gaming is one of the first Dota 2 teams to arrive on the venue
We were able to get our Media pass from the ever-helpful Lynette (turned out that it was her birthday as well, we were so clueless). Our table wasn't set-up yet though, so we have to camp on the empty table near the Hearthstone launching area. Local correspondents Fred (winterequinox007) and Ralph (Phase) arrived on-time I would say, or at least before the opening ceremonies took place. In all respect to the organizers, it actually started quite promptly and the games were underway not too long after. By that time, we were also able to migrate on the table provided by Dylan to us, which was near eClub's.
However, the games halted just as soon as they started. Disconnection problems were haunting all the games, bar none. I had a scare when the team I was cheering for in Mineski was on the verge of losing against Startale, so I was really relieved to see the Filipino team recover and snatch the win from the hands of the Koreans. I have to give it to Startale - they have improved so much. I don't think there was any upset on the first round, and probably the biggest news was the easy disposal of First Departure against RRQ.
RRQ enjoying the opening ceremony
After a few more disconnects and reconnects after, I'd say that the tournament format had already shown its fang, as Brunei team because the first casualty. They were very game, but losing twice on this day would mean that a team is eliminated. India's Elunes and Vietnam's Spirit Gaming were the next casualties, as both of them also took the fall. Despite the long pauses, the fans were treated with a wonderful back-and-forth match between MiTH.Trust and First Departure on the stage. The former eventually won the game. That last match also gave me my first 'ACG feeling' if only the matches were to be taken into consideration, as this was a truly entertaining and amazing game.
While Titan's win against Elunes were kind of foreseen by many, a lot were actually considering the possibility that Titan would lose to their sort-of rival in Mineski. Those who thought so were actually correct, as the Filipino team punished the early game passivity of Titan and pressed a big lead. They patiently and slowly siged the base via split pushes and ironically by avoiding team fights. Tobi and GoDz also casted this match togeher, which happens to be the first one since SMM last year.
TobiWan and GoDz casting together
On the other hand, First Departure suffered their second heartbreaker in a row and they were eliminated by Startale on a very close match. Titan was also able to saveage their chances as they won against RRQ. Both Startale and Titan will be advancing tomorrow, wherein they will go against each other on a head-to-head format.
Mineski sealed the upper bracked advantage after a well-deserved win against MiTH.Trust. It was a very, very pleasant surprise, more so because Mineski wasn't doing really well lately. With that, Mineski is now guaranteed at least a second place finish, all just from winning three best-of-ones. The schedule was way behind the timetable, but I really didn't care much because it is very early by eSports tournament's standards. We packed up not long after, and we made our way into the dinner.
Mineski and Titan indulding on some friendly chat
The search for dinner was not hard, becuase the choices that we have is severely limited to the number of open stores. We were able to find a decent one, and we enjoyed a nice dinner on Eric's tab. We wasted no time in going home, as it was already very late and we were very tired. It has been an hour or so since then now, and I guess I will call it a day.
The next two days are rather light. We will have two best-of-threes tomorrow, both of which are to be played on the stage. First up will be between Titan and Startale, with the winner moving on to face MiTH.Trust.
P.S. If you find any ACG video montage or collage or whatever you call it posted on GGnet anytime soon, blame (or praise) Eric.
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