Day 2 (Game Day)

day 2(G)

Went by train to cologne, Germany took 2 1/2 hours (about)

Today was a fun day for me and Carl as we both went our seperate ways to pursue our hobbies. Carl went to a MTG tournament while I took a 2 and a half hour train to Cologne Germany to visit the EU League Championship Series studio. 

To give some background on the matter League of Legends is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, or Moba, computer game. It is a very popular game around the world for all ages. On my visit to the studios I got to meet the players from my favourite EU teams Gambit Gaming (a Russian team) and Roccat. I also got to meet the shout casters (people who spectate and provide info to the audience about what’s going on in the game). Afterwards playing with them was very fun. I got to jungle against one of the top tier players. Much trolling was had.

The ride to and from Germany was quite efficient. The environment is quite relaxing, I recommend it over having to drive or take a cab, but then again I might be biased since I like sleeping when I’m travelling.



Day (2) (C)

Today was all about the play. After having scheduled business appointments yesterday, tomorrow, thursday, I decided that today was the day. It was actually the whole point of making this trip at this time. It was actually perfect timing, because we had billing issues back in Vancouver and were unable to leave until now. Of course, what I am talking about is Magic: The Gathering and Grand Prix Utrecht. 

Magic: The Gathering or MTG is a competitive card game that has been around for 20 years. I’ve just recently started playing a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed my experiences. Gio isn’t as interested in MTG and honestly I don’t really know what he did. I basically got on the 40 minute train from Amsterdam to Utrecht and didn’t hear from him until night. We did pick up a roaming plan with Rogers that included 100 minutes and 150 text messages for $100.00. We each had to get a plan, and we desperately tried not to waste those precious minutes, so we didn’t actually see each other until 20:00. 

Anyways, the event was amazing; there were over 600 participants including the Hall of Famer Kamiel Cornelissen himself. I was unfortunately not able to play the legend himself, but I was able to get a few words with him. Anyways, I played G/U devotion, and I went 5-5 missing the cut for Top 8. Overall it was a fun time with some very interesting matchups and characters. I wouldn’t have changed it for a second, and this will definitely be one of the premier highlights of this trip.

Below are some of the pictures I took of the beautiful city.

Carl Turner