the reason theres no one else is because esl killed the competition with their monopoly tactics

stupid take

ESL has a track record of quality issues.

ESL making the bar low in other events to look good in the major

Oh definitely, they need to stick the landing. If any sort of technical issues pop up they will need to do a good job in responding to them. But I also think they deserve credit when it's due and I'm very impressed with Day 1 so far.

If stream doesn't die or sound doesn't get desynced during major grand finals id be very disappointed with ESL

i hope that ESL doesnt fuck up their quality before the end of the major. knowing them they just might fuck up playoffs or something like that

I truly hope this sets a new standard for Major productions. This is the first day of the group stage! I know that a fair amount of the credit for the incredible atmosphere goes to the Brazilian crowd, but I think it's possible to recreate this elsewhere by opening the groups to an audience. I hope Blast is taking notes, and judging by their already fantastic production values I think they are.

Opening BO1 in the challenger stage and the crowd is already going crazy. This is gonna be one hype major for sure.

Major already feels like a major on day 1 of challengers. Thank god we don’t have to wait until the semis for that to happen.

Sorry honey, the air horn stays on during sex

I think they moved the air horn further from the crowd mic, because it was the only thing you could hear from the crowd earlier, but now its a lot quieter. Seems like they turned down the crowd mic overall.

hearing the crowd is one thing, but please throw out the guy that's constantly using the air horn.

EDIT: They turned it WAY down, at the start of the match it was the only thing you could hear.

As an Argentinian watching almost every major, the crowd is as crazy as I though it would be, but I think is the first time having a really LOUD crowd in just challengers stage xd

Don’t want to jinx it, but it’s the best start to a major in a while. No delays or major tech issues, just right into the action.

Aaaand there is an hour long tech timeout

After watching TI and the shit tier production by PGL, this is on a whole different level honestly.

I wouldn’t mind the crowd being turned down just a tad so I can hear the casters. Whenever the olay chant or that horn comes out I can’t hear casters at all

It sounds good because the English casters aren't being played in the arena, it's the Portugese ones. So there's no feedback. If the English speaking casters were in the arena, it would be the same issue.

Intel has been the main sponsor of every ESL event for as long as I can remember. It’s not something new for Rio 

The recent one renewal a big deal (around $100 million over 3 years in total) and included naming rights but ESL still was losing money even with that

That Saudi blood money comment was about their ownership (the Saudi government)

In reply to the Saudi blood money comment.

Isn't the primary sponsor Intel though? You know, Intel Extreme Masters?

Finally a Major where groups (technically play-ins) is played in front of a live audience. Thanks ESL

Currently watching furia now on stream. Damn right it's a football match.

Only thing a bit discomforting for me is flashing lights to tribune when the round ends. May not be epilepsy safe for now. Maybe change into gradual lighting instead of flickers if possible

Minus the JDC interview with Heccu it's been spot on 😅

Yup I was expecting something ass like always but they actually surprised me.

But fr the production except for the BR casting bleeding from the arena over the English casting is perfect.  

They even updated the HUD a little bit (I would do more but that's already nice)

Pgl hires a deaf audio engineer and ESL hires a blind elephant audio engineer. I could hear surround sound crowd noise. Anybody remember PGL crowd would be 1 ear or the other depending on what team was making a big play?

Nah, been watching since Kato 15'. Eleague was the best by a mile but I'm talking the scale of this event. It's not easy to get live events perfect. Especially in a new country where you have to set everything up, unlike most franchise sports teams which have set locations with everything they need on location, every time. This is the biggest event probably ever. Was also a commentary on how ESL usually fucking sucks.

Back to sucking ESL dick after crying about PGL major I see. 2 hour plus delays on the first day already and motherfuckers be like "yes daddy ESL so good"

I realize it's literally 15 minutes, but the sound of the arena behind the English stream is absolutely perfect already. Everything looks much more professional than ESL typically puts out there. Looks like the blood money they got from Saudi is at least being used finally.

IEM Rio Major: First 15 Minutes