If I had known that people had been lining up to get into the Sindorim Technomart eSports Stadium four hours before showtime yesterday, I probably would've tried to leave my dorm earlier. As it was, I was waiting for the elevator to get up to the eleventh floor of the Technomart a full ten minutes after the event had started, completely unaware of the huge line of people still crowding outside the stadium doors, I saw a Caucasian guy around my age who looked approachable and seemed to be headed to the Classic as well. I introduced myself, as I often do when I see white people in crowded places (it's rare enough that it's a special occasion), and I found out he's a college student from Kansas who was indeed hoping to see the Jaedong v. Flash showdown. I told him that was what I was there for, too.

"Have you heard of Tasteless?" he asked.

Had I heard of Tasteless? Had I HEARD of Tasteless?! What self-respecting English-speaking Korean StarCraft-following fan HASN'T heard of Tasteless? But I played it cool.

"Oh yeah, I mean I've heard about him a lot but I don't actually know him. I kinda wanted to come to this event to meet him."

"We're friends. He actually invited me here to see him cast."

Jackpot. I silently thanked the heavens for this stroke of luck in the form of a genial and decently attractive physics major from the Midwest.

And this was why all was not lost when we finally reached the eleventh floor and saw the huge crowd of fans still waiting to get in at 20 minutes past the hour. We were turned away at the doors, but Charlie (he has a nick on TL but I can't remember it right now) quickly texted Tasteless and within two minutes the two of us and Charlie's Korean friend Joon were escorted inside and seated right next to the central VIP section. Tasteless was sitting in the back at a special commentator booth and was hard at work, but I took note of his sparkly green tie. The stadium was brand new and absolutely beautiful. Here are some pictures - sorry about the quality, but my camera is pretty terrible.


The big stage


The Jaedong side


Korea is all over the huge LCD TV screens, of course.


Apparently before I got there Jaedong and Flash came down this catwalk to do a little ceremony before the finals began.


Whooo Jaedong!

I noticed we were sitting behind some other foreigners our age as well as a pretty, talkative Asian girl who spoke English and Korea with perfect ease and wore a Staff badge. I introduced myself and she said her name was Susie. A bell went off in my head.

"Are you a translator?"

"Yeah, I do translation and I'm with Team Liquid."

Bingo. This was LilSusie, TL translator extraordinare for Tasteless and - from what I'd heard - many other hapless English speakers in the pro gaming scene. She's kind of a big deal. There were also two pro WC3 gamers there, one from the States and one from France, as well as another fellow from France who writes for a French SC site but will be leaving soon to enter medical school. Apparently the two pro gamers had already been interviewed by GomTV, and then right before the first set began the lights right above us became very bright and we saw ourselves (well, someone's head was blocking mine) on the big screen! LilSusie said that the commentators were saying that some famous pro gamers were there tonight and the fanboys and girls all around us looked at us bug-eyed.

After much hullabuloo, the first set finally started. I'm not going to describe the carnage that followed, since hopefully you've already heard about what happened. Needless to say, the Jaedong side was much more enthusiastic about the results than the Flash side.

Here are a couple short movies if you want to get a better picture of the place:
Video 1 ingame
Video 2 postgame interview

Jaedong and Flash came out to do a little post-game interview with the MC after the dust settled. From what I could gather, Jaedong mostly thanked his parents and his fans and Flash said he would try harder next time. Typical Korean graciousness.


Poor Flash.


$15,000 is still a good consolation prize.


Koreans love big checks. $40k isn't a bad haul for a night.



Jaedong's teammates come on en masse and douse him with champagne.


Jaedong gets scolded for being too much of a Zerg badass.


There was still champagne left, so the rest of Lecaf poured it into the trophy cup and ... dumped it on Jaedong's head.


He knows the drill.


Just in case that side of his face is prettier or something.

Afterwards I met Tasteless and tagged along to the GomTV celebration dinner. LilSusie's three-inch heels were killing her, so we traded shoes for a bit (I was wearing sandals) and she said her feet were singing a symphony of praise. The food at the restaurant was excellent (lots of Korean barbeque) and of course the alcohol flowed freely. I met some GomTV people and collected a few more business cards to add to my growing stack. Jaedong was around but had to leave early since he had another WCG game today. Tasteless is a fun, goofy dude, and LilSusie and I have plans to do a joint commentary sometime. Stay tuned ...

-Peanut

sweet.. You met Tasteless, wow, thats so cool. Keep it up:D

Thanks.

sounds awesome..looks like youve got all the hookups now

and their little entrance ceremony was pretty funny. they stood face to face on that platform for a while but wouldnt look eachother in the eyes..and it was all very dramatic

Awesome pictures
Jaedong seems so wet when he's kissing the trophy.

The duel commentary with you and lilsusie sounds like it'll be awesome!

"genial and decently attractive"

lol don't know id this is a suitable description for our Midwestern Gentleman saviour.
Great shots! gj on meeting Tasteless and lilsusie, lucky girl.

duel commentary ladies draw your pillows?

Great stuff, Peanut. So glad to have an insider hookup like you!

Making all the connections I see, haha. Sounds like a lot of fun over there

His team drenched him in Champagne after he won

Way to network. Looking forward to the many commentaries you will allegedly do. And of course another fantastic battle report with pictures of my hero 이재동:wub: