Hey there,

I actually wanted to go to bed early tonight. But grabing some food on my way to the hotel took longer than expected, and now I have to write the hole blog again because I somehow accidently hit the 'Back' Button. Clock shows 02:33 a.m. already, so let's get started!

Time is really flying, it was already the second day of the GameGune event and my third day in Bilbao. We have reached the Upper Bracket Semi-Finals today, and both favourites for the title, FnaticMSI and Na'Vi, have gone through witout any difficulties. There is a possibility that FnaticMSI and Na'Vi meet really soon, a matchup I have been looking forward to since I learned that Gux would be returning, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Thorin from SK even calls it war, but I think this expression is a bit over the top. Sure, both teams have shown impressive performances in the past and battled out titles for some time now. But when a team knows that the day just doesn't feel right for them, they know that they have to throw in the towel against such as strong opponent. And I'm sure there are no strong feelings towards the other team after losing a match to them. They might be rivals on the server, but outside of the game, they are friends and get along pretty well.

Everybody expected FnaticMSI and Na'Vi to be in the Semi-Finals, but did anyone of you have some money on CnB Gaming? They are the only non-European team in attendance and came all the way from Brazil. I think CnB are a pretty emotional team. They scream often and loud, celebrate every round. When they gain the momentum, they can be really painful for their opponents. This is what mousesports had to learn the hard way, when they were shocked by CnB in the Quarter-Finals. Personally, I am happy that CnB did well so far, I had two of their players in my initial HLTV Dreamteam. But now, being up against FnaticMSI, I decided it was best to sell them :D Thanks guys, got me some virtual money!

Patrik and the rest of the team already hit the road after their matches, but I decided to stay and follow the remaining matches. mousesports had to take on eLogic, and it became a pretty intense match. Usually, mouz are similar to CnB when it comes to screaming and motivating themselves, but it seemed like they had lost faith in themselves after the shocking defeat against CnB. They barely talked, and so it was no surprise that they were down 5-10 at halftime. Thanks to a strong CT-half from Blizzard, mouz got back into the game and also their voices. They started celebrating important rounds and managed to somehow win the match 16-14.

kuben and Loord from Frag eXecutors joined me during the match, not sure if they just wanted to watch or if they were trying to analyse a possible opponent in the lower bracket. FX will be up against Na'Vi in the Semi-Finals, and one can very well lose to Na'Vi. I talked to Neo during the day, and he told me that he was impressed by Na'Vi's recent performances. However, they never met before in an offline match, so anything can happen. It sounded like Neo had respect for the Ukrainians, but also believes in himself and his teammates to pull this off. Speaking of Neo, check out the interview with him! There is some CSDM footage included. He was just getting warmed up, but already hit some nice shots, very skilled player. I also got a video of f0rest deciding a 1on3 situation against aAa in his favour, so stay tuned!

When the last matches were finally over (been a long day once again) I headed to the metro station to get back to the hotel. The nearer I got to the station, the more people I saw. There must have been a concert or some big event near the GameGune venue, there were people all over the place. I still wonder how I and everyone else got into the metro. It was so full, you couldn't even fall down. Of couse I had my white snearkers on today. Damn! You can imagine how they look like now.

03:01 a.m. now, I think it's time to finish and get some sleep. Matches start at 11:00 CET tomorrow, make sure to tune in! See you guys tomorrow for my final blog.

Andreas