After a short, but exciting day of matches, the second day of matches here in Allentown, PA kicks off. Last night, we saw all of Group 5 complete their matches with x3o Gaming (2-0) and sinister (1-1) advancing. Additionally, half of the Group 8 matches were played as we saw MoBdeep (2-0) defeat warchild (0-1) and Dynamic (1-1) as well as Dynamic make quick work of Player-x.


Storylines

Practice makes perfect - You would not believe how many teams arrived at NERV early to get in computer time. Overall, there were roughly five teams or so arriving before Friday and about another five who arrived early Friday afternoon. Although the total number of teams may have been disappointing, at least they are serious about playing.

DJ during competition? - For a while, a DJ had come and set up house in some open floor area. Players trying to practice had a tough time hearing over his music, so hopefully, the music will stay on the down-low during matches. Otherwise, we're going to see a WSVG Dallas sound level repeat throughout the event.

Hotel complications - MoB Gaming, Control and a handful of other teams had booked various hotels only to discover less than desirable conditions after checking in. Fortunately, most teams were able to cancel their reservations and check-in to another hotel.

New faces - Although registration for NERV wasn't the greatest, a number of new faces showed up to compete, and at the very least, have some fun. This was a big welcome and change for the more regular veteran LAN players.

Finding computers - Because so many teams had arrived earlier to get a chance to practice, it was difficult to find a set of computers to practice on. The NERV LAN staff was forced to rent out scheduled hourly blocks of time to accommodate everyone.

MoBdeep - I am not kidding when I say this, all I heard yesterday during the plethora of teams practicing was talk about MoBdeep. I caught a glimpse of them wrecking x3o (and I believe it was sinister) in practice scrims. They must be doing something right as they were easily able to defeat both dynamic and warchild without too much trouble.


Hot or Not

E-REV Setup
Free breakfast
Expectations for day 2
LAN Center

Terrible hotels
Loud DJ in the corner
Availability of good food (besides breakfast)
Still holding LANs in the middle of nowhere PA (deserves a second mention)


Group Results

Group 5
x3o Gaming
sinister

Group 8
MoBdeep
TBA