I see to few alchool in the pic xD

Next time drop by and change sth about that ;)

The adventures of MoD to the far far away place called Berlin

Since the berlin open ended a few days ago, i'm going to tell you a story.

When i arrived at the airport in Basel (Switzerland) i realized that 1.5hours reserve was more than plenty. INsAnE and I agreed to meet there and he did better and arrived 10 min before the boarding started. When he called me and i saw him, i was secretly shocked cause i expected a rather small gamer like typ. Instead that tower of a man appeared in front of man.

We got along quickly and arrived in Berlin. My goal was to eat a currywurst first as every time i visit germany. That was easier said than done, since both of us felt like the other knew exactly where he was going so we ended up walking in the wrong direction multiple times.

I was kinda exhausted so i decided to break my tradition and eat a döner instead. INsAnE was so kind and showed me, that the place we randomly chose not only sold döner, but also currywurst. That startled me to the extreme and i felt, that i have really arrived in the glorious country of meat kitchen.

After that lucky encounter we went to the hotel to meet up with buns, but surprisingly he wasn't there. Maybe he was checking out the drug dealers he didn't encounter on friday yet or got kidnapped, we had no idea.

After some searching, some viral goat met us (how did he even know who we were? It was almost as if we didn't look like the usual drug dealers which were as high on numbers as injuns working for microsoft) and lead us to the basement where we would pass our weekend playing some online game.

Alex, timi and ravera were already there so we decided to play a random RoR  6 player FFA. Viral goat had africa while alex and timi were sitting on 1 territory for a while (2starting spots) and i thought my chances to win were decent, but after everyone decided to bully me i realized that viral had this game bagged and surrendered. I cried a few tears about losing a % winrate on 6 player ffa and forgot about the game.

Half an hour later i realized viral was still pretty focused and a few minutes lazer it turned out, that Riskpy defeated the Berlin open elite singlehandly! Enjoy!

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=17938867&From=PastGames

Meanwhile, linberson and Buns, who was still alive, also arrived. We played a LOTR 2vs2 tournament. Don't know the template? Maybe the reason for that is that it has been forbidden by the old elite for being too awful. Fixed warlords distribution! WR and the castles were rather hidden! Just beautiful for a little starter on saturday.

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer/Tournament?ID=28688

Following that, everyone but iNsAnE, timi and myself went out to eat while us three lived the good gamer life and ordered pizza while timi explained the territory and bonus names of his new map.

After everyone came back, it was time for the scheduled 3vs3 tournament on ursa luna. This template also was long forgotten cause it can be described as 100% textbook for picks and play as i explained on farahs stream (no idea if recorded or not). After following our secret knowledge of ancient times, team mod, timi and ravera managed to win this tournament.

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer/Tournament?ID=28689

The next even managed to excite me even more! With the reinforcements of INsAnE and myself team Berlin had to make up for the 1-2 failure vs rufus in the 'rufus vs Berlin' event and turn this around to a 3-2 victory. Especially the Phobia game was beautiful cause we thought on several occasions, that Rufus already had his +3 bonus completed and we were done for after a blind counter!

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=17942528

After losing the first pick on a randomized bonuses the only way for rufus to win would have been another rude and reckless counter, which didn't happen.

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=17943080

After that, alex left us and we played some berlin open vs some noobs on europe. The game left no suspense.

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=17943521&From=PastGames

In the meantime, timi and viral already got pretty drunk. They handled that state differently. Timi went home to sleep while viral set his goal on trying out every single obtainable drug in Berlin. To achieve that, he had obviously to go to the disco.

The remaining 5s plan was to go to a bar. Since my plan to sleep in someone elses bed and gift as payback some limited edition Berlin open MASTER panties to the offering person failed, i had to look for a hostel room.



New 29€, Worn (on picture) 129€, buy now!

Since the hostel where buns and iNsAnE stayed at didn't like my face, they told me that there was no free space anymore (even if there was). So i went to the other side of the road and rent a bed in a 6 person room. By entering my room, a confused and sleepy girl explained to me, that her friends would be there soon and that the room was supposed to be a girls room. I felt like my legendary luck didn't leave me once more. In the end, I gave up and went to ask the receptionist wheter there was a mistake or not (please no please no). Since there was no mistake but the receptionist didn't want to be blamed for bad christian behaviour from my side, he put me in a room with another guy. Like that, we finally went to the bar

Since i have no memory from that point onwards i'll skip that part.

In the morning, iNsAnE stayed to what he knew and ordered another currywurst while i went for a döner and buns decided to eat a chickenburger.

An hour after the time i promised to arrive (is it buns curse?) we actually arrived at the venue where we quickly played a tournament on timis new map with reversed killrates. Alex emerged victorious from that slaughter.

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer/Tournament?ID=28710

Edited 2/27/2019 20:37:00

From now onwards, the story might become shocking for some of you, amusing for others...

Since iNsAnE and I both are living in the beautiful country called switzerland, we decided to arrive and leave together at the paradise of drugs and scum people in eastberlin, where by coincidence the venue of the berlin open was situated. To enjoy as much as possible from the berlin open but still not be stressed for the flight, we decided to leave the venue at 13:00 in order to check in at the airport Berlin Schönefeld at 14:36.

Since that plan left us with approximately 45 minutes at the gate, insane finished his strategy meeting with linberson while i thought it would be an amazing idea to play a 123go game on strat ME vs Buns till 13:00. Buns won so i had to challenge him to a quick rematch which ended in a surrender at picks since the router crashed. When we left the venue in the warzone of berlin, it was 13:05.

Shortly later, we arrived in front of the trainstation. While iNsAnE decided to smoke a cigarette first, i wanted to quickly buy some tickets in order to enter the train in an orderly way. I got promptly stopped by iNsAnE's order: ''Chill!''

I obeyed obedient and enjoey the good wheater. When we arrived at the tracks, i saw how the train S9 departed in front of our eyes. We went to check which train we wozld have to take and found out, that effectively exactly that train S9 would be our route. After waiting till 13:26 we entered the S9. During that process we were singing hymnes on the glory of buns coolness and how great the berlin open has been.

However, after 3 stations and checking on google maps, i realized, that the train was playing jokes on us and actually drove in the opposite direction of the airport! We entered the right train number, but the wrong direction... iNsAnE reacted like a pro and immediately left the train. I followed.

A nice train-information lady informed us, that we would at fastest arrive at the trainstation of the airport at 14:21. Not too cool considering the gate would close at 14:36.

While i was trusting on my (imo legendary) good luck, iNsAnE almost turned insane and called his wife about a dozen times to find out, which gate we would have to pass to enter the flight. We even cried to the ticket control lady simce we could impossibly buy train-tickets with our small time window.

Surprisingly, the train was only two minutes late so we arrived at 14:23. Should be just sufficient i thought and went for a sprint like usain bolt (when he was 5 years old). iNsAnE behind me regretted being a chainsmoker more than anything else at that moment. When we arrived at Hall C, it was 14:28. Quickly we went trough the baggage control to be ready to commence the road to the gate at 14:31.

Then the shock! The nice men from the security decided that it was too late for us and that the gate already closed. They sent us from the area.

At that moment, i didn't believe in my good luck anymore and went full of anger to the toilet to pee and cool down a little. Taking the train would cost 170€ and take 8.5 hours. Therefore, we decided to first check out when another flight would depart. Since we weren't under stress anymore, iNsAnE decided that smoking wasn't that bad as long as you wouldn't have to run and proved it to himself by smoking a cigarette on a table outside.

At 14:40 we were mentally prepared to go in and ask about the next flights. On that evening, everything was booked already, the next option was the next morning at 6. After discussing quickly, we decided to take that for 59€ instead the train. We still had to cry a little and inquired about why we couldn't enter the gate when it shouldn't have closed yet.

Upon hearing that, the receptionist got angry, sprang up and lead us immediately trough the control to take the flight neverthless. With an open bag, completely confused and too wide jeans since the belt was still in my bag i arrived at the gate where i was overjoyed since it appeared that my luck didn't leave me after all! iNsAnE and I entered at 14:55 the still waiting bus to the plane and after 30 minutes of waiting in the plane itself we finally started!

After arriving at home, experiencing the good weather, not having wasted 8.5 or 17 hours and 170 or ~100€ I got to know iNsAnEs wonderful family and returned incredibly happily and satisfied to my place.

At that place i'd like to thank linberson for organizing a place to stay, timi for the schedule, and ps and farah for streaming! I had a great time and i'm looking forward for next years Warlight Open!

That was a good read. You forgot the best game of the weekend though ;)

https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer/Tournament?ID=28695

Once again thanks Lin for organising the venue, and also timi for the schedule and planning. It was a lot of fun

I remembered it after i posted here... I think our surrender might have been slightly premature after all

LOL that was a great read, mod. I didn't know where you were. Lin had told me you two were lost, so I went to look after you.
He gave me insane's number, which I called. You were pretty close to me and I heard his phone ring.

Preface: this will not be some analysis of the games. If you want that, watch ps' stream.

I arrived Thursday night at Schonefeld airport and after some trouble navigating the metro system, I made it to my hostel. I'm glad I'm not the only one who had trouble with Berlin's metro system. Every time i use the metro, I have to ask someone what platform to use. I've only used the metro in Bucharest, Chicago, and London, but all of them tell you what platform to get on. It also doesn't help that I dont speak german. I only booked one night at the hostel because it was absolutely the cheapest, about 14euro, so if it was a shit hole, I'd leave and find another place to sleep. Also, timinator graciously offered to split the cost of his hotel for 2 nights. Since i got there late, i didn't have time to do anything, and the weather was drizzling rain, so i went to sleep.

My hostel was ok, except there was one guy snoring and I didn't sleep well. That's the curse of a light sleeper. Even with earplugs, I just can't take any noise.

The schedule next day was to leave from linberson's place pretty early, 8:30 am, on a bike ride, to visit his grandma. Since I didn't have anything to do and i had carry on luggage with me that i could leave at his place, I agreed. I had previously walked through London for 5 hours with my luggage and it wasn't much fun(especially since it was raining), so i was glad to get rid of it and have some exercise.

The bike ride was cool, but the seat of the bike i had was uncomfortable and after a while my butt was hurting and i had to ride standing up for the most part. We went to his brother's place;he joined us, and off we went.

Berlin is shockingly full of murals and grafitti. It feels out of this world. I associate grafitti with gang activity, at least that's how it is in Chicago. I was joking that if you don't paint your own walls, they'll paint them for you. Unfortunately, they spray paint even on top of murals, and i gave up long ago trying to decipher what the heck the grafitti says.

I didn't know we were going to bike up to 4 hours, but it was ok because I need the exercise. When i looked at how much ground we covered, i was surprised. We ent almost half way through Berlin, which is extremely bike friendly. Designated bike lanes on almost every road. It really encourages you to bike, and it's such a great way of transportation because it keeps you in shape, it's fairly fast, free, doesn't pollute, and it keeps one less car off the road.

We met up with timi, dropped off the bikes, and headed to the venue. I dropped off my stuff at the hotel, which was very close to the venue

Someone said "nice place to get murdered" which is how i felt too. But after a couple of days, you get used to it. Sure, there are a ton of grafitti, drug dealers, homeless and punks everywhere in the area of the venue, but after a while it grows on you. I was also shocked by how many punks there are about(tattoos on the face and piercings on the eyebrow,lip,nose etc, mohawks and brightly colored hair). I thought punk culture was a thing of the 80s and 90s, but no, they're alive and thriving in Berlin.

The beer is cheap and you can drink in the street, so many people had a beer bottle in their hand. I love that! You bet I took advntage of that all weekend long. The unintended consequence is there is broken glass EVERYWHERE!! I wonder how many car and bike tyres get a flat compared to other cities.

Returning most beer bottles to the store is worth 8 cents, so i also had fun with that. The others were joking that I'm taking homeless jobs away. But people just leave their bottles everywhere, even the ones that are not returnable,so of course there is broken glass everywhere. A lot more people smoke here compared to the U.S.
Add most just throw the cigarette butts on the ground. So add that to the grafitti, punks and refugees drinking in the streets, drug dealers(who are mostly black), broken glass and homeless, and you get a picture of how eerie this area looks like. It can be downright intimidating for a tourist, especially if you're female.

The venue was just a room in my basement (i mean in that building), but we didn't need more. People said the venue could've been better, but it would've ended up very costly per person). The worst part was the router would crash every couple of hours. My basement would've been better (ha, suck it, Bane!)

Friday was pretty chill, as only myself, lin, timi, alexclusive, ravera were there. I think buns finally got there pretty late. He had gotten lost like 4 times and got asked by 3 different drug dealers if he wanted any drugs. Hilarious.

Timi only snored a little bit, and only woke me up about 4 times, and I got way better sleep than the night before.

Saturday maikmcjuggle, mod, and insane also arrived. We were one american, one brit, 2 swiss and 5 Germans. They were speaking usually German with each other but that's ok because i didn't have much to contribute for the games and when buns wasn't there i sent him a message saying "i need more English speakers here pleeaaaase". Little did i know, joke is on me, as it was harder to understand buns' Bristol accent than it waw to understand the Germans and the Swiss. The silver lining was that buns was also harder to understand for the germans than i was. Win-win?

The games were honestly a blur. I haven't played competitively for a while and not that I was ever any good, but i was really out of touch with templates and everything. So when we started playing Berlin vs Rufus, I was like "who the f is rufus and why are we all playing against him?" and i was surprised to hear timi say that he's the best player right now. And indeed. He's the first on the mdl and even with the combined power of timinator and alexclusive on Friday(maybe buns for the last game), he kicked our(their) ass. 2-1 for rufus and the games we lost weren't even close. Like, the picks on French Brawl were disastrous and the other game we got completely outplayed. The game we won, we thought we lost.

Next day mod showed up and participated actively. He helped beat rufus, and the 5th and deciding game was quite dramatic. We really thought we lost, and we cheered loudly when he surrendered.

Myself and ravera didn't contribute aything, which was expected since we don't really play this game. Linberson also surprisingly didn't contribute much. It was for the most part timinator(as he had the laptop and was projecting it so we can all see), alexclusive, mod(when he was there) and buns(when he was there). I guess when you see better players than you debate some moves, you don't feel like interrupting them. Although I was expecting buns to contribute more. I had already tried to contribute and said something stupid, and I kept my mouth shut after that. I am so far away in skill from these players that I feel like surrendering the moment I am matched against them. It's just very mentally consuming to count their income, figure out who goes first this turn, anticipate their moves, etc. Plus, even if I do all that, they have so much experience that they know instinctively what to do.

Maikmcjuggle had a pretty short stay, and insane was busy playing games constantly. Mod was also playing a lot,sometimes on 2 devices a real time and our game at the same time. I had some disastrous 3v3 with insane and maikmcjuggle that i tried to warn ps not to stream as we had lost from the picks. Then a 2v2 with timi, and another with alex, i think i lost both. Then an individual tourney that i proceeded to lose in the first round just as expected, and of course, the ffa on Saturday on ror where i almost won by being lucky enough to not encounter any one else and got big income,but didn't expand fast enough and let a random player get pretty big and he won. Just as i said, the games were a blur.

The running joke of the weekend was that buns was on drugs because he got lost (apparently his phone kept turning off, and then couldn't find the venue). Someone said they expected buns to be short and fat, but he's quite allright looking. Mod looks like John Cena's cousin, insane looks like he could beat anyone, honestly no one was fat and nerdy(ok maybe we are all nerdy since we play a nerdy game)

The rest of the time when i wasn't playing(which was most of the time) i was watching them play, drinking, and talking to other Berlin openers. I even sneaked in a nap on Friday between 8 and 9pm because i hadn't slept well the night before

Saturday we went to get lunch at a place recommended by linberson, and i hate standing in lines so I asked buns to get me a shawarma, and i receive a veggie wrap. I'm pretty sure that was someone else's order. Buns said it was probably his accent. Oh yeah, that's what i get for asking the only non german speaker to get me something.

At night, they wanted to go to a bar, but I had been drinking all day and a bar seemed boring when there was a night club with confetti right next door. Since you can drink in the streets, I don't know how bars still exist. I guess it's about the "experience", but to me, overpaying for your drinks completely ruins my experience. The night club was freaking fantastic. To mod's disappointment, I didn't get any drugs. But the music was amazing, just my kind of music. I love electronic, and Berlin is great for it. I wish they had night clubs with electronic in Chicago. Please don't tell me about River North. Even the Latino night clubs play c(rap). Anyway, the next day I was pulling confetti out of every crevasse in my clothes.

Edited 2/28/2019 09:55:41

Pic of the venue


Edited 2/28/2019 09:56:08

Sunday it was pretty short. I was hoping it would last longer, but I guess ppl had trains to catch and work to get back the next day.

Since we got tired of warzone, myself, buns, timinator, and alexclusive played a board game, Magic Maze. And it was quite a great game.

=== pic of board game ÷===
https://imgur.com/a/GnNly7f

Since buns had 1 more full day in berlin we decided to hang out the next day(Monday) so i got his phone number. Buns and mod are the top warzone players and I made a mental note to auto-surrender against them in a 1v1, and for some reason I had a brain fart and saved Buns' number as "master of disaster" and i even joked "see, I spelled your name right" and he was like "correct spelling but wrong person".

Monday we visited the Victory Column, the Reichstag, and various other places.

I dont know why we didn't take more pics, but i knew ppl were going to ask for them, so I'm the only one who took pics.

Buns and I exploring Berlin
https://m.imgur.com/a/halXcE5.jpg

My inlining doesnt always work, so deal with clicking the links

Edited 2/28/2019 10:57:59

Haha, glad you guys enjoyed yourselves ;D

Edit: Incidentally, the bottom link leads to an error page, so you need to remove the .jpg at the end.

https://imgur.com/a/halXcE5

Edited 3/1/2019 15:19:25

thanks for the reports, interesting read ups :)