So, having written to Skorp that we were leaving and for him to wait for me :smile14: :D, we hit the road! =)
We get in the car, drive leisurely to Malaya Vishera (about 100 km from Novgorod). Objectives:
1) Get there on time!
2) Find a normal parking lot or a place where we can safely leave the car for a few days without worrying about it!
We arrived, asked the first taxi driver we met where everything was and how it worked. He kindly agreed to guide us. We pulled up to a parking lot where there was one rusty old Lada. It didn't inspire confidence; we asked—the lot wasn't working! The guy was right there again, went to show us another one, got there, a decent lot, wanted to thank him, but the taxi driver drove off!
We park the car, head to the station. We wait for it peacefully, board around 21:10 and depart. Both objectives achieved, we're satisfied.
We arrive in Michurinsk around 10:15 AM. No greeters in sight, we decided to wait about 10 minutes. We see Eric and MatrosOFF (in a mildly tipsy state with a belyash bought for !!30!! rubles at the station :D). I get the news that he will be my first opponent in the qualifiers. We get on a minibus, listen to his story about how he searched for us all over the train :D. Then we arrive at "Legion." The battle is already in full swing there! Mizrael with Preds, Skorp is about to play with Flash, I kind of missed the others and didn't remember them right away ^_^:o Slightly bewildered, I take the computer assigned to me (by the way, the same one I sat at during our last visit to Michurinsk). Eric went to check TaKo and Sasha into the hotel. Flash and MatrosOFF are nowhere to be seen—turns out one went to show the other where the nearest store is! (well, it's no secret what for, of course) Waiting got boring, and the term "referee's arbitrariness" entered the conversation :D (in a joking form of course ;))—I'm paired up with Skorp :smile51: :D :cool: He laments—why does he need a free "+" ))
We had a draw, I drove myself into a full (_I_) already at this stage. I got Tower vs Barbarian. We started, 1st layout—I get about 100 Gremlins, and a miner on 100 Troglodytes!!! :smile09: But the respawn seemed absolutely useless, I take a restart!! (kill me for this :D) It gives a 2nd layout—I reject that too, I'm left with no restarts, on the 3rd layout it deals a small respawn with Gophers, in projection (XYZ) and 1.5 moves long in each direction—2 roads—GO and Evil Eyes on secondary—nothing to hit them with=).. I go off-road, through thieves. Skorp, having opened the overview, guides my movements and "honestly" hints where the dead ends are :D There's no point in telling further...no chances there.. =) thanks for the game! Eh.. didn't fulfill the maximum objective)) :rolleyes: Then we wait for the result of the PreDs - Mizrael match and the four of us go to a pizzeria, where we eat and regain our strength ))
Since I was paired with Skorp, Flash played with MatrosOFF )) Well, that was also a notable game, as was already written earlier
Matrosov and Flash played for over 6 hours, ending up on … 111 !!!!
Then I got Flash as my opponent, we drew my Castle against his Barbarian :smile51: I restarted everything possible, including a restart on encounter when I had a chocolate layout. We started, a decent respawn, Flax's secondary, external Stable, horses in Citadel, all standard.. At the start of the game there were shouts from Skorp's computer :D "Uuu... Raper, just don't mess up, he's got a full.." ...then it turned out he had a hometown secondary=)) I arrived on the 2nd week, horses were upgraded, basically I didn't manage to unite the army, was 1 hero short... and the horses didn't save me....
In the evening, we decided not to go anywhere, we'd rest, and besides, not everyone had arrived yet. So in the evening we checked into the hotel and headed there with Preds. We watched "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" and crashed! :smile02: Stinger arrived at night. I fell asleep with the thought - "What does this megabison look like?". I really wanted to see him in person =):smile43: Waking up and having breakfast, we headed to "Legion", where the others joined us later! Seeing Stinger in person - I didn't quite believe it, but first impressions are deceiving ;) =) The Oskol guys arrived - Dmitry and Mystic. Eric held the draw, and it turned out I got no opponent and I have a bye round. This gave me the opportunity to closely observe the others' games and learn from the pros. Approaching different computers, I noted for myself that everyone has a different play style (which is natural) and different approaches to set tasks. =) :smile13:
I pester Skorp, who finished his game, to go grab a bite before the next round. In the end, we go to lunch with Skorp and Preds. First we popped into a tavern, where there was supposedly supposed to be vodka—well, for appetite naturally—but tourists had cleaned it all out. Disappointed, we trudge on and look for a place with vodka and food=) We popped into a so-called "coffee shop", sat and thought, decided we wouldn't eat here after all (although the 100g that Preds wanted so badly were there). We trudged to our now-familiar pizzeria. Ordered a full set of food, so to speak! First course—mushroom soup, second course—I had "rice with chicken", Preds had "fish pot", Skorp only took salad and soup, and there was also Cognac, beer, and juice for me! ;) :smile26: And Pizza, which they later warmed up and packed for us to take away, for the especially hungry players =). During lunch, Dmitry and Mystic popped into the pizzeria =) In short, lunch was filled with lively discussions of hero problems and life problems too ("pay taxes and live in peace :smile19::smile04: "). Vic arrived. I imagined him as some older guy, in his prime...turned out differently xDD:smile41:
After lunch, another draw was held. I got to play with Mystic. I set myself up seriously for the game, and in a prolonged match I took the victory; I had a hometown secondary—2 portals and an external dwelling of cats, but there was no money for the respawn at all—2 Dwarf Cottages for 15 and 20, taken at the very start of the game. Also there were !!3!! external Dragon dwellings and an external Angel dwelling (but behind a column with a tent). I took them at the end of the game when I scraped together some money, there was no point in taking them—there was nothing to buy them with anyway, and I had more than enough cats to break through everything. In the end, after clearing several hives and taking a Dragon Utopia, which gave me "control", I came visiting and attacked the castle. =) Thanks for the game. =)
So everyone gathered—we all met at 11 at the bowling alley. I wasn't particularly interested in that—I was more interested in such an entertaining thing—Air Hockey (a table, with two things like "mini plungers" :D - serving as a stick and a puck: play is up to 6 points), which we battled at during our last visit to Michurinsk! :smile02: Back then I crushed Skorp, and I hoped for it again this time. We stocked up on tokens with him, and after playing some bowling, where Dmitry was undeniably leading, Misha and I headed to our "competition" xD
In the end, everyone decided they were heading to Eric's, and since our game wasn't ending anytime soon, we stayed and decided to take a taxi to his place later. In the end, having crushed Skorp with a score of 5-2 (in games), satisfied, we went outside and fell into an "ambush". Skorp doesn't remember Eric's address :D His phone was completely dead and wouldn't even turn on, mine was almost dead, but I don't know either Eric's number or anyone from the group (besides Skorp of course :p). In the end, barely called Tanya and asked for Eric's number via SMS, tried to call! after great difficulty (the phone died 2 times), we found out the address))) and went. Then there was a fun evening with all that entails...);) :smile20:
Huge thanks to Eric for such hospitality!!!!!!!!! He accommodated everyone, pleased everyone!!! :smile20: :smile12: :smile01: Vic and I went to bed around 6 AM, never finishing watching Matrosov's "Iron Man" on the laptop. As far as I understand, the others went to bed around morning =))
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So, waking up in the morning, I noticed everyone was asleep except Eric!! I decided to go to the hotel, wash up, eat, and pack my things, since checkout was scheduled for noon. After the question "Where's the bus stop? and How do I get to the hotel?" Eric kindly agreed to take me to the stop. I got on the minibus, handed over a 20-ruble note, and half-asleep didn't understand that the lady said the fare was 9 rubles, took my change, and rode to the hotel. Yama-Dharma was already getting ready to go to the club. I decided not to delay either, since I still had an unfinished game with Mystic. In short, I washed up, ate, packed my stuff, and also headed there. I sat down at yesterday's computer, which started kicking me out of the game right in the middle of a turn, eventually I moved to the one next to Mystic)) had to play that way...The others weren't visible yet, so by 12, I ran to the hotel and packed Preds' things, and checked out of there! The game was dragging on, and we decided to finish it, since at 3 PM the Oskol guys were planning to leave, and starting a new round was pointless. In the end
the game was won, and then I was paired with Mizrael)) well, a deathmatch game, same as in the 1st round)) At first we drew, but then, arguing that for me it was a "-" anyway, we decided to play all-random. In every game, Misha just got lucky with the layouts..))) One time he almost fell off his chair from luck)))) Around 5 PM Vic was leaving, we had a train at 7 PM. Matrosov hadn't decided where to go next... As far as I understand, he had a tour of cities planned)) In short, he wasn't in a hurry anywhere)
In the end, everyone watched the final between Preds and Lekha, then there was the awards ceremony, congratulations. Hasty goodbyes to everyone, we got in a taxi and went to the station. Then there was the train and sleep. Arriving in Malaya Vishera—we picked up the car from the parking lot and made it home safely. Sasha—off to work, I went to university, Tatyana stayed home.
Once again I want to thank Eric for the warm welcome and the highest level of organization of the qualifier!! Everything was super! Thanks to all the guys for the pleasantly spent weekend! It was great to see everyone in person! Thanks to Skorp for losing to me at air hockey for the 2nd time =DD Tons of impressions, very satisfied!
Stinger, that song you kept humming while playing with Matrosov—it's been stuck in my head for at least a couple of weeks, I think))))
I want to wish the other qualifiers the same success! ;) (less alcohol - more games;))
This concludes my text report—photos will be below in the next post! =)
Best regards =)
