Running at the same time as Dreamhack, Insomnia 50, the largest gaming event in the UK, was in full swing and we had our UK Dota2 team and our Icelanding Grand Masters Zerg StarCraft 2 player there competing in the main tournament. Read below for a summary of how this event went for us.

Good News

Insomnia 50 marked the end of an era yet the start of a great journey ahead. The biggest news from i50 is of course the move to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. I51 will be held at the stadium which will provide a flexible and relaxed environment. With many exhibition halls, conference rooms and the pitch to expand on, I am sure i51 and beyond will be an excellent event. Furthermore, the venue boasts numerous onsite licensed bars, great catering and the pièce de résistance, the casino which is one of the largest in the country.

Great staff

Main stage production crew

Surprisingly, i50 ran on time as well. There were little to no disruptions, unlike i49 with the DDOS attacks and schedule problems. Everything seemed to run smoothly and on time (except for CSGO which was half an hour late, but even so great timing for the CS guys compared to usual). Moreover, the production team did a great job of setting up and showing the great parts of iSeries for those who couldn’t attend as well as those watching in the audience.

Not so good start

Kaldi playing in the lower bracket 2nd round

Now, Reason’s i50 was full of ups and downs. Unfortunately, as stated in his interview, Kaldi was ill for the event so was unable to perform to his highest potential. Furthermore, there were claims that the seeding had been done incorrectly which placed Kaldi as 9^th seed, giving him a harder group to overcome. However, he was able to make it out in 3^rd place. For the bracket stage, he played against the 8^th seed of Revolution in the first round who he beat 2-1. This now meant that he was to face the 1^st seed of Dignitas Tefel in the upper round two. After trying his best, the Dig player couldn’t be stopped as he knocked Kaldi down to the lower bracket after going 2-0. Kaldi was to now play the UK player of Simba. Unfortunately, this is as far as Kaldi was to go into his 3^rd iSeries event. He lost the match 2-1 and finished in 9^th-12^th place.

Good End 

Our dota2 team taking 2nd place

Our DoTA team did as good as ever. They finished their group stage in 1^st place after winning 5 games and not dropping a single map. The form carried on into the bracket stage too, making their way to the grand final beating NextGen, First Pick Ogre and Infused without dropping a map. In the grand final, they were to face Infused for the 2^nd time, but this time on the main stage. The team played their best but had to settle for 2^nd place after a hard fought battle.

I would like to end this post by saying well done to everyone who made it another great LAN event. From the Multiplay staff and volunteers, to the teams, players and management who attended. It was an awesome event and we hope it only grows with the move to Coventry.