Monday 11 December 2017

Esports Pro Circuit Dallas Open

I made the 17-hour-trip from Stockholm to Dallas, Texas, to attend the Pro Circuit Dallas Open on December 1-3. Flight from Stockholm Arlanda to Heathrow, then straight to Dallas airport.
I booked a room at a fancy hotel close to the venue, the Lorenzo Hotel, it was great (and all the pros were staying there too, omg omg omg!).
The event took place at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. A huge building I managed to get lost going to, and inside, several times.
Having only been to a few local Swedish LANS, one in Nottingham and a regional one in London
before, the international Dallas one was CRAZY! So cool to be there in person, at the main stage,
when I've only seen it on streams before.
They looked through your bags every time you went in, and body searched you, I guess for weapons and bombs. For the open bracket, there were no less than 16 stations and then 3 side stations, that was also shown on big screens. It was a lot to do for spectators, yay!
I ran back and forth to look at all the EU games (and Optic) ^^
The European teams did great on the first day of the tournament. eRa Eternity beat Texas Outlaws
2-0, then Aura Gaming 2-0 and then FYCesports 2-0 and advanced to pool C!
CryptiK made it to pool D as well after beating RNS Gaming 2-0, Avail Nation 2-0 and Mindfreak 2-1, nice going boys!!
Poor Fable versused Allegience (the team that just beat Optic) on Main stage and lost 0-2. They
also lost 0-2 to Optic, but beat 88Chambers 2-0! They came third in their incredibly difficult pool B.

The commentators were fantastic and did a great job. Especially Fallout was everywhere with his energy and interviews and he really got the crowd going in the finals! There was also a raffle in the end, which he took care of and did a fantastic job (didn't win anything, damn)
Supremacy played amazing against FirenIce and beat them 2-0, incroyable! They lost 0-2 to Echo
Fox but managed to beat their UK friends eRa on main stage on the Saturday, 2-1 (7-5 last map).
They went 2-1 in their pool, same as FirenIce.
Fable may have beaten 88Chambers 2-0, but that team turned out to be the EU slayers. First they
took out CryptiK from the tournament in round 2 in the Championship losers bracket, 2-1.
Next round they eliminated Supremacy, beating them 2-0. Only Allegience could eventually shut
them down.
eRa had some bad luck in that bracket, being late to their match got them a map loss, then Gates got to pick the two remaining maps and they had to play on their instaban map. Still won one map though, even after that, impressive indeed. Fable was taken out by Blackout in round 2 of the championship losers bracket 0-2.
Supremacy placed as best European team. I think all the teams were doing really well, but considering the immediate roster changes after the tournament, I'm guessing they don't think so themselves.
Finals Sunday was so much fun, I sat and watched the big matches by main stage all day. Ghost
gaming taking out FirenIce, Optic gaming taking out Echo Fox, Echo fox beating Ghost, and
eventually Optic gaming bringing a 0-5 down to a 7-5 win on Echo fox in the grand finals in the
last map Reclaimed in a major Pro Circuit tournament. It was fucking crazy, so much fun to be
there on the spot. So happy I went.
Even made some friends, and the Americans are soo friendly, over 50 people must have talked
to me during one weekend. I've gotten more compliments during this trip than I had in my entire life time xD
A lot of people thought it was weird traveling so far to spectate, but I loved it! Wish I was going to Mexico as well, but have to save up money to go to Birmingham later ^^