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This is Sal, EIC of The Technovore, reporting LIVE from Shanghai from the ZOWIE Asia Extremesland Counterstrike Asia Open 2024! Ok, I admit, I’ve always wanted to try out that line. Pretty cool huh?
Yep, The Technovore (or rather I am) is on-site at the ZOWIE Asia Extremesland Counterstrike Asia Open 2024 in Shanghai! Yes, it’s repetition and I know it full well, but I don’t care.
I’m pumped to be here! What’s not to like? Shanghai’s a cool new place that I’ve never visited, and I get to watch Asia’s very best Counterstrike players going at it LIVE for a whole week!
How is any of that a bad thing?
I’m on location courtesy of ZOWIE Asia, Emerge Group and DIFY Singapore. Flights, transportation, meals and accommodation covered!
I’m also holed up at the luxurious Shanghai Marriott Hotel Yangpu River, which is just a stone’s throw away from where the ZOWIE Asia Extremesland Counterstrike Asia Open 2024 is being held. The generosity being shown to us is simply incredible and we’d like to take this moment to give thanks!
So how did I end up here?
My journey to Shanghai (I’m super tempted to extend my holiday and just pop over to Japan for a few days) began yesterday, when I boarded a China Eastern Airlines flight to Shanghai’s Pudong Airport. It’s about a five hour flight from Singapore, so it’s not too bad on the back.
I’ve never flown on China Eastern Airlines before but I’ve heard things (both negative and positive) about the airlines. I was a bit apprehensive to be honest.
Thankfully, my experience (at least for the flight to Shanghai) was rather positive. The plane was quite clean and the seat (I was in Premium Economy) I was in was pretty comfy. I wished there was more legroom though.
The food was decent though the service quality of the attendants could certainly be better.
I’ve never been on an airline where I had to take out my meal table by myself. I’ve been on Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Scoot, ANA and a few more…and none of them (not in Economy, Premium Economy or Business class) had me fixing the meal table by myself while the attendant just stood by and watched, without even an offer to help.
It might be a small thing, but it’s one of the things that separates the best and the rest.
That hitch aside, the flight over to Pudong was rather uneventful and I landed without much hassle.
I have to say, China’s customs officers are some of the fiercest looking I’ve ever seen. Much fierce, very garang. The immigrations officer I dealt with wasn’t too bad though. He asked me a few questions and sent me on my merry way after I answered them. Even gave me a smile!
Cool guy, still scared me shitless though.
Outside, I was met with a representative from the ZOWIE Asia Extremesland Counterstrike Asia Open 2024 crew and shuttled off to the hotel for some rest!
On the way to the hotel, I managed to catch my first glimpse of Shanghai. My knowledge of China is pretty much limited to what I know from playing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games so visiting Shanghai is strange and exciting!
It’s much cleaner and more modern than you’d expect! Tons of old buildings but also tons of new buildings. There are also tons of upcoming buildings! The ride from the airport wasn’t that long, and before I knew it, I had checked in and was heading to my room.
Good lord…the room. The room assigned to me is NUTS!
It is huge! HUGE! It’s like a damn suite!
I’m separated from the door to my room by TWO different corridors. One that ends at a small seating area and another that leads past the bathroom (completely with separate shower, toilet and tub) in the spacious bedroom that has a stunning view of the Shanghai cityscape.
The bedroom is 3/4 windows, which gives me a nearly 90 degree view of the city. It’s really cool and really impressive. I really love watching the cars drive past on the freeway in front of my window…on the 12th floor.
Yup, the freeway outside my room is that high! If anything, Shanghai’s on its way to creating a multileveled city like those you see in Star Wars (Coruscant comes to mind) or Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City.
Impressive or not, that didn’t stop me from oversleeping the next day and almost missing my ride to the Jixi Film Set, a massive unused film studio that doubles as the ZOWIE Asia Extremesland Counterstrike Asia Open 2024 arena for this year.
That of course brings us to the main point of this article (and the ones following it for the next few days); the tournament!
The film studio the tournament is taking place in is gigantic! I’ve never been in a movie studio before but it’s just like the Makuhari Messe it seems.
High ceilings, huge open area. Since the tournament is invited only, it’s nowhere as crowded as TGS. That’s a very welcome thing!
On Day 1, 16 teams clashed in a double elimination tournament to progress to the next round. 24 matches to fight, 12 rounds as each side. First team to win 13 rounds, wins the match.
Of the 16, one of them is Singapore’s very own dream[S]cape. While I don’t have any stakes in the matches, being a Singaporean myself, it was hard not to root for the SG boys.
They started off real well, but unfortunately…Chinggis Warriors proved to be superior in the second half of the match. Not to take anything away from dream[S]scape, but Chinggis Warriors simply outclassed them in the latter bit.
It does warm the heart to see the boys go down fighting to the very end, but ultimately Chinggis Warriors were the better team in that match. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them and some of the other teams in the tournament. Some of the players are straight up killer.
It’s something to see on a stream, but to experience an event like this live is another matter. You can almost feel the electricity in the air as the two teams vie for dominance. The crowd roars whenever there’s an incredible play or a cool moment and it’s so easy to just get into the groove of things and get swept away!
Hell, I don’t really care much for Counterstrike myself yet I found myself totally engrossed in the matches!
Anyways, here’s the draw for this part of the tournament.
Winners are the first name in, with their scores below their logo.
Rare Atom vs Gods Reign
13 – 7
Chinggis Warriors vs dream[S]cape
13 – 9
Real Original Gaming vs Blaze Warriors
13 – 5
XO Esports vs FATED RISE
13 – 3
IHC Esports vs Oni Clan
13 – 5
TYLOO vs Semper Fi
13 – 6
ATOX Esports vs Miracle Play
13 -2
JiJieHao vs Nalakuvara
13 – 6
Some of the matches are really incredible and I really recommend you watch the livestream.
Where you ask?
Why just below this!
Hyped yet?
If you’d like to watch it live, make sure to hit up ZOWIE Asia’s Youtube page. The tournament runs all of this week, with the Grand Finals set for this Sunday.
I’ll be posting daily updates too, so check back often if you don’t want to watch the stream!
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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