Amine "Islero" Touzi · @amine_islero
24th Sep 2021 from TwitLonger
the whole story of strike arabia, fox gaming perspective
Good morning guys just want you to know all the details of this tournament so you judge by yourself.
we qualified in the 1st tournament with geekay and nasr, super hyped, we worked our ass off for this tournament, kelevra was training from france with study, living lonely, away from his home, even sacrificing his study to train on his gameplay, pretty normal stuff for an esport team, you try to master you craft.
Couple months after this, the news is finally here : the tournament of strike arabia will be organised in a middle east country, we were saying within the team it's gonna be dubai or abhu dubai.
1 months before the tournament we gather for a bootcamp here in morocco, 1st bootcamp ever for the valorant team, we fixed all the issues within the team, everybody is hyped to play this tournament, everybody go back to their houses for the last 2 weeks, covid quarantine, so we make sure everybody have a negatif test, if we knew we can play from home we would've stayed and practiced even more LOL.
2 weeks prio to the tournament : the location may change but it's just a rumor within the valorant community, i hear turkey but in the first place i tought it's just a stupid rumor, couple days after that it's confirmed turkey, and the first thing i think about is egypt and the pseudo cold war between her and turkey, and i think i guess they gonna go to another country get a special visa or something it's riot game they don't joke about this, it's the best tournament organizer in the entire world,the pinnacle of esports, they will find a solution.
1 week prior to the tournament, the document you need to go to turkey is not delivered to the players, no informations the organizer is absent, but we supposed that if you don't have your papers, you are disqualified, we worked our ass off to get those documents, all day on phone, fighting for your players, we get almost all the papers on time, when you talk to them they told you we can send an official to your location to play from there but nothing is sure, i tought in my mind if something like this happen it's great we turn this into online event and the official can bring a camera so it's more fair and coordinate directly with ggtech, but we want to have this lan experience anyway we tryhard, no infos about the other teams.
3 days prior to the tournament, psyco is the only guy without the document, we tried our best it's the week end, you can't do much about it, we tried all the week to get it, in morocco you have to be vaccinated to go travel outside of the country if you have more then 25 years old.
he was not and can't be vaccinated and get the document the next day you need to wait at least 28 days, he had one last try saturday morning but then he lost hope, the guy just had to tryhard for 5 days straight for this, not playing the game, for a LAN you can play from your gaming house, fucking up his physical condition, before a 3500 km flight.
1 day prior, it's finally here, the paper is here! we are super hyped we're not gonna kicked from the event and we gonna play with full roster, just for info you are full tilt and super stressed if 1
of your teammates don't get their papers play 4 v 5 is not fun business i guess, so basically for the last 2 weeks only stress, no pracc, full tryhard mode for the paper, everyday 5-6 hours standing to get the paper for a location they didn't communicate till the last 2-3 weeks, and most importantly, psyco had, in my opinion the worst week of his life, all his mates got their documents you don't, he stand in front of an office who say no everyday, and you try the next day, and so on for an entire week, sleeping 3 4 hours a night, he came till casablanca from kenitra to get the plane they refused the access, the flight was at midnight, he get back at 7 am to kenitra to try a last time for his paper, he did his pcr at 9 am, he go to get his document at 11, get back to get his pcr and have to go all the way to casablanca again.
meanwhile we discuss with ggtech if we can have another flight for him the answer is no, ok we gonna get him a last minute ticket with 500 euros but at least you can keep the return flight right ? again no.
24h prior to the tournament : finally all the players are there my job is done, i thought it's gonna be a huge event and i'm proud that my team is attending.
i can finally relax and enjoy the show.
News that team didn't get their visas my team is their no way they cancel the event i guess they gonna get disqualified, make no mistakes, i think it's unfair too but everybody thought about this eventuality when they announce a lan event, you think i have to get all the documents ready so i don't get disqualified, and this is the rule all around the world, unfair, but this is the rule.
hours before the tournament, the guys tell me that the pcs are awfull, drop off fps to 150,they usually play on 300 400 fps at least, the monitors are SHIT, they fight to get benq monitors, they asked the officials if they can at least try to OC, the answer is no, by the way this is the only answer we gonna get, and i'm not even kidding i litteraly proposed to buy the players the same headphone used on the LAN, the only one who accepted was rheat, and even him was not convinced but had no choice, the other just laughed and prefered to wait longer for better headphones, senheiser for psyco and antibiotique, hyperx for the rest, can we use our headphones, no, even against online teams, no.
the news that other teams gonna play from a gaming house ... we are shocked the guys tell me why we tryhard for a whole week not playing the game if this was a possibility, me and greenox don't have an answer for this, we didn't have the info i remember someone from riot told me you can play from your gaming house but i tought this was if we shift the event to online.
the only positif points is the ping,the sheraton hotel, and the casters.
1st game against, for us the best team or the tournament, geekay.
super close game, the pcs are shit but enjoyed the show tbh, the guys tried to stay positif, but antibiotique mouse is fucked for an entire map, icebox, super weird a superlight used for at most a month and a half, always worked perfectly.
meanwhile i watch people play from a super cozy gaming house, i watch my players getting annoyed live on stream with cameras shoved onto their faces, and i know my players, their expression, never saw them this annoyed and stressed, the caster shouting behind them, and the lights everywhere, meanwhile before the game in the gaming house they just shut the main light and go chill blue led light, 1 official in their room, behind them sitting on a chair that's the only nuisance they have to deal with btw.
2nd game the clownfiesta begin, we tought the 7 ping was a huge diff at least it's gonna cover the rest and try to stay positif, better pcs, less stress, better headphones, more chill against a better ping i mean you hold on something at least, and boom you gonna play on paris server, basically same ping 5 or 10 diff at most. the guys think it's a joke but no it's not, can we use our headphones at least this time, no.
the game start again pcs are shit, kelevra legit stand on his feet, he is so mad his monitor go half brown, 3 times in middle round, and 1 time he can't plant, the pc freeze, the answer : WE CAN'T DO NOTHING, 30% packetloss, this is a joke right, the game is close anyway enjoyed the game but i'm so mad i try to stay positif.
i call my players they are so hungry no food, nothing is provided, 1 of the players almost faint and i'm not even joking or overdramatic, in a lan event a player almost fainted, they have no choice they have to play another bo3, the game is reported but then is not. they go to play a second bo3 in a row, without eating, wearing jeans and waiting in a lobby or a small room for the whole day some of them were ready by 8 am, going for a 17 hours without sleep, and only a breakfast. they refuse to report the game we play the 1st map with the last glimps of energy left.
the 2nd map 5 tilted zombies are playing, the 3rd map even worst, 3 pcs crash they just shutdown them and go sleep at this point it's they reptilian brain who is speaking, need sleep, need to eat. this is how the undefeated team in official riot tournaments team with the highest viewership team and 14 winstreak is dealt with by the organizer guys, and i hope for my players a better region, i hope they get away from here, kelevra will, he got a student visa in france and i encourage him to tryout for teams, the other hope you can find a team in europe and if i can help them i will with all my heart.
sorry guys we didn't win it all but you have a better picture now, sorry for my poor english.