Being a huge fan of CS:GO, it's no surprise that I'm equally a fan of the eSports industry of the game as well. I have been playing Counter-Strike since I was 7 years old. Back then, Counter-Strike 1.5 was the big deal but the eSports industry was not as widely grown. When CS:GO came out in 2012, the industry blew real huge. Both the game and the industry had more opportunity to grow and expand. The scene allowed more and more gaming organizations to be formed and more teams started to emerge into the industry.

Watching the pro teams play in the leagues and tournaments on Twitch and YouTube, following each and every event, it was always my dream to at least attend to one of the LAN events for CS:GO to experience the environment myself. This dream is a hard one since most of these events are hardly organized in Malaysia, even if there was an event, it would be for Dota 2 most of the time, that's just plainly because Dota 2 is more popular here.

However, the dream came true when I was scrolling through Instagram and saw the year end ROG Masters 2017 was about to be held in Plenary Hall, KLCC, Malaysia, (on the 9th and 10th of December 2017). Which is located less than 30 minutes away from where I live. It just got better when the entry for the event was free, finally the cherry on top of this cake was one of my favorite CS:GO pro team, Gambit (who were also the major winners in 2017) will be participating in the event as well. This was all just too much to miss out on. I know I'd regret it if I let this slide.

DAY 1 - Semifinals

The event lasted for 2 days in the hall, which was the semifinals on Saturday and the grand finals on Sunday. I knew I had to fully take advantage of this experience which I just may be getting once in my lifetime. Stepping into the first day, the semifinals. All I can say is I pinched myself almost every 5 minutes to make sure it wasn't a dream. The environment. The energy from all the fans. It was "electrifying"! I've never screamed that much supporting my favorite team. The first day ended with Gambit making it into the grand finals where they're going to face team Tyloo, a Chinese team. I was able to grab a picture with one of the player from Tyloo, Bondik, a Ukrainian player, playing for the Chinese team. He was also a former Hellraiser player where he's back in the team now leaving Tyloo.

DAY 2 - Grand Finals

Source
Gambit versus Tyloo! The crowd was hyped, I was hyped. Everyone's cheering at the top of their lungs! The fans for both teams were equally loud. But the majority was on the side of Gambit, hoping and praying for them to win the finals. The finals was a best of 5 match which makes the whole situation intense. Every round, every kill, every close call got my heart pumping like crazy! The finals didn't need to look at the 4th and 5th map because Gambit won the finals with a clean 3 - 0 sweep and became the ROG Masters 2017 Champions! The moment they raised the title, I lost my voice. A satisfying event as fan of both the won team and the eSports.

SIGNING SESSION

The whole day was complete when the event had a signing session with Gambit. Words will be justify how I felt standing in front one my favorite pro players, shaking their hands and getting my t-shirt signed. It also a weird feeling. Watching them play on TV all the time and finally seeing them right in front of me. The excitement was unreal.

Signing Session With Gambit

Signature by Gambit Players

---

Overall, this was an amazing experience. There's a huge difference to watching and feeling the intensity from home and to actually be in the event, among the loud fans and feeling the energy around. This was certainly a major treat for any fan of the game and sport like me. I know this has not been a big post, It was hard to compile a lot of images to add, I hope this was a worthy post to read. Thank you for spending your time to share my experience. Totally appreciate it. Talk to you on the next post #Steemians! Cheers!

---

Follow me on other social media!
Twitter
YouTube

---