SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

I recently got back from 5 days at the "TA Retreat" hosted by TAVoices (Spud) and it stands at one of the highlights of my time involved in StarCraft. While there were some moments to top these involving "baking" I will try not to go into detail here both to keep this read suitable for everyone and to keep from embarassing some people. Basically what it was, was a week of about 20 friends from TA/StarCraft drinking, socialising, eating junk food and playing games at all hours of the night and day. There was a special atmosphere in which you could go to sleep at any time, and wake up at any time and still find people active doing things whether it was jägerbombs at 8 in the morning, laddering at 3am or playing CSI games on the xbox at midnight.

While it's not possible to share the full experience with those who couldn't attend, I hope this blog, the VODs and possible later releases of select photos will express how we as a clan all feel about the past week! So, the top 5 memorable events from TA Retreat #1 were, in no particular order...

1. Buying the liquor store out of Jägermeister

When deth and myself first arrived at the TA Resort™, the contents of Spud's fridge wouldn't even have lasted a hobo a whole day. He had some expired baby spinach and some expired alfalfa sprouts which had never been opened. However, that soon changed as each new injection of people brought more booze and food - none more numerous than Jägermeister filling the freezer. No less than 8 (possible more) bottles of Jäger filled the freezer during the time I was there. This had completely cleaned out the local bottle shop of the herbal liqueur!

2. TAcawkballs (TAeightDee)

As always, Tyson "TAeightDee" Soutter (perhaps better known as TAcawkballs) was a standout even amongst an abundance of top blokes. Not only did he bring his life of the party attitude - calling for Jägerbombs every 15 minutes or so - but he wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to paying the bills. Tyson purchased a lot of the alcohol and junk food that made the retreat such a success out of his own pocket and for this we salute him!


3. SEAPL "Live"

Perhaps even more so than other close-knit clans in SEA, TA is one to really get behind the team when they are playing - no matter whether it's a relaxed friendly match with SPR or the finals of SEACL against aLt we never miss a chance to get vocal in our support of teammates. Whether it's the Australian sporting culture influence or just the close friendship of the members, having everyone get behind the team helps to ease nerves and bonds the team, lifting them as a whole in any event. In this case we had some games scheduled in Tier 1 of SEAPL against our season 1 finalist opponents aLt and the experience was that much richer in person than cheering over teamspeak. The player in the other room could hear the roar go up a few seconds after they won their game as the live stream - shown on the TV - caught up. Even when players lost a game there were shouts of encouragement and pats on the back as people visited the player in the isolated room between sets. The most memorable victory was Rossi overcoming PiG 2-0 while quite severely intoxicated and storming out of the playing area to embrace the clan in hugs, high-fives and cheers!

4. The Stream

While the stream was on for most of the time we were there, it missed a lot of the most memorable moments of the event that might be appreciated by people who weren't there. What it does provide, however, are a few entertaining moments that would otherwise be unnoticed and forgotten among the other amusing gambols. There are hours of footage ranging from Spud getting undressed, to us rearranging the furniture, through chill sessions and intense xbox competition! Even though you often forgot it was on, it also gave an excuse for people to show off with dances (Noodle!), wrestling, shoutouts or other tomfoolery.

5. Finishing CSI: Deadly Intent

If you were asked to find a game to stump some of the keenest minds in Australian SC2, I imagine CSI games would fall somewhere at the bottom list between perhaps Barbie Island Adventure and Lear To Type with Mario. However, 14 hours of the most mind-numbing frustration and insomnia inducing bugs says otherwise. That's right - this game was played to completion from late one afternoon to early the next morning and even produced some louder cheers than GSL and SEAPL. Guessing a wrong section in the chemical analysis lab was punishable by a bottle to the face and trying to dust an item for fingerprints was like solving a rubik's cube with your feet. While, much to the disappointment of the crowd, not every mystery was solvable by spraying for semen stains, there was much more entertainment here than the $5 budget pricetag suggested. We were pretty glad when it was over, though... watch from about 25mins.


Aside from these above mentions, special thanks to Spud for hosting the event and sticking his neck out to accommodate all of us! Also shoutouts to all the people I met here who I hadn't met before, all great guys and gals!

See the VODs here, varying quality and content Mostly webcam of the people in the room drinking and socialising, sometimes with a view of the TV where xbox and wii were played.