We (me and my roommate Kecik) received our wake-up call at 6.30 in the morning because we were suppose to leave for the ESL studio at 8. That is really quite early, especially for gamers, and I very reluctantly got out of my comfy albeit small bed for breakfast. Maybe that's why I only saw managers, personalities, Zai and iG players in the 30 minutes I spent eating croissants. However, the schedule is understandably tight and we have to also leave for Frankfurt via a shuttle after the seeding tournament.

After breakfast, I immediately went back into the room for a quick shower and pack up my luggage to check out. It was a cold, rainy morning in Cologne but that's okay, I prefer it that way. We were immediately hoisted into the shuttle after the check out to go to the ESL studio and it did not take long for us to reach. Some teams arrived later than the appointed schedule but they still have ample time to set up for the matches since the studio is only a short 10 minutes ride from the hotel.


Teams arriving at Turtle Entertainment office.

The ESL studio is rather impressive and very well equipped with efficient personnels. Upon arrival, the players alongside their luggage were handed a Solid State Drive (SSD) and were given a place for them to warm up. The players wasted no time in setting up their gears at their appointed PCs to analyse replays and play pub games. The only person I caught not playing Dota was DkPhobos who was playing a music game (I think it is Uso). Whatever floats his boat I guess since VP did end up taking first seed.


Vici Gaming arriving at the studio.


Alliance getting ready for their game.


The perspective from the spectator side.

Nothing much can be said once the game were underway as most players just discussed among themselves as they watch their potential opponents play. Some of the funny tidbit I saw in between the games include Iceiceice and Ohaiyo playing a bo3 rock-paper-scissors instead of a cointoss. Ohaiyo won it 2-0 and took first pick. The trend continued for Fnatic as Ohaiyo played a famous Asian bar game with ChuaN to decide who is picking first. Ohaiyo won that as well.


Iceiceice losing rock-paper-scissors to Ohaiyo.


Ohaiyo winning in yet another game.

I have to give mad props to Kelly (Alliance's manager) for going beyond her job scope as a translator to order Chinese food for the VG, IG and Fnatic. She went on to clean the tables and prepared the lounge for the western players to eat because the tables were in an absolute mess with sauces all over the table. The cater food for the western players came shortly after the Chinese teams finished eating.


Kelly setting up Chinese food for Asian teams.


VG chilling after lunch.

Unfortunately for her, Alliance was the first team to be knocked out of the seeding tournament following their loss to Team Secret in the winner bracket and Evil Geniuses in the loser bracket. The loss was followed by the knockout of Cloud 9 who was playing with paS as a stand-in for bOne7. According to the talents, bOne7 had an important dentist appointment which he can't afford to miss. Hopefully Cloud 9 will bounce back in the main event with their full roster instead. Hey, at least the Cloud 9 players were smiling shortly after they called the "gg".

I guess the biggest surprise of the tournament is Virtus.Pro. I mean I know they are good and expected to finish well in ESL One but I don't think most would expect them to finish first. I guess their first place finish in DreamLeague is no joke. It seems like we have a new contender for the upcoming The International 5 tournament. Also, I had an awkward conversation with G in the toilet to congratulate him on the win.


VP after winning the seeding bracket.


IG support squad when they faced EG.

At the end of the seeding bracket, Soe invited FNG, s4 and ChuaN to the casting desk to ask them who they will pick to go up against first at the main event. VP picked Alliance, Team Secret picked Fnatic and IG understandably picked Cloud 9. I don't think anybody is crazy enough to pick VG, leaving fourth seed EG to play them in the first round. That would probably be the most exciting match to watch on the first day of the tournament. My money is on EG though because I personally think that VG's performance recently has been rather underwhelming.

In any case, that basically concludes the closed door seeding tournament of ESL One. While it probably is good practice for a lot of the teams, I still don't understand why ESL One goes from a double elimination seeding bracket to a single elimination bracket in the main event. I guess it is quite normal for ESL to run single elimination bracket in their events but I think that a 2x4 groupstage would make more sense.

Tomorrow is a free day for the players and I wouldn't be surprised if some teams would show up at the Commerzbank Arena to get ready for the big event. That is if ESL One, manage to set up the PCs in time I suppose.

I am currently writing this from the our bus to Frankfurt and I am honestly getting a little car sick. So, I'm gonna sign off now and enjoy the silence of the bus. Well, maybe not so quiet because JoHnNy snores periodically. This two and half hours bus ride to Frankfurt though....

Here are some of the interesting stuff from today:

1. Pajkatt lost his passport at the airport but the airport staff found it. His girlfriend went and collect it today.
2. IG and VG had very little sleep because they got to Cologne shortly before midnight yesterday.
3. Apparently some Chinese teams are considering to bootcamp in Europe prior to TI5.
4. ESL randomly has a Fnatic 9H headset in their store room when Kecik's headset stopped working.
5. The hotel in Cologne was less than ideal. Rooms were small and wifi was slow. I was told the hotel in Frankfurt will be much better.
6. Talked to Arteezy for the very first time and told him he did not credit me for his picture on Twitter. All good though.
7. I think I lost my GosuGamers hoodie :(
8. Apparently it might rain during the main event. Hopefully, ESL is able to find solutions to the broken roof.
9. Iceiceice recently bought a DSLR and is very interested to know more about it. 
10. ChuaN is really loud when he plays. I can hear him from a room away.