Sorry it took so long to get these up, but the last few days were super busy and Jet Lag is no joke…
The early morning hours were filled with buffet breakfast and a lot of picture taking with other teams.
In the goody bag the players received at the welcome part among other things was this super cool Happi coats!
On route to the Yokohama Pacific convention center where the matches were held and some back stage images.
When we arrived at our seats we saw this happy little sign…which no one followed unfortunately.
Here are the players seated with some of the other competing countries.
Eventually the doors were opened and players were allowed to enter slowly.
Players were quick to rush to the front of the stage to get the best play for the both the tournament and the musical performance.
Our beautiful announcers let us know the jam packed schedule for the day. The tournament was scheduled from 9am- 6pm. Wish guest performances from Sphere and Jam Project! Jam Project was also the group who wrote the theme song for RWC 2009.
And the matches begin!
Team iRO Prepping before their first match with Russia:
The First round of matches were as follows:
Germany vs. China
Brazil vs. Taiwan
Russia vs USA
Japan vs Indonesia
Vietnam vs Malaysia
France vs Thailand
Philippines and Korea had a bye and automatically moved to the next round.
The iRO Team fought valiantly for two round losing only 1 champ during the first round and not players during the second. Even thought the overly excited paladin forgot to Sac everyone, the team pulled through victoriously.
Unfortunately i was onstage with the team and was unable to record any of the matches, however Heim was able to capture a few and when he returns he might just upload them for you all.
The second round of matches consisted of the following:
Germany vs. Philippines
Brazil vs. USA
Japan vs Vietnam
Korea vs Thailand
Brazil put up a good fight but the iRO Team triumphed in the awesome 3 round match, moving them on to the next round.
The semi-final round consisted of:
USA vs. Philippines
Japan vs Thailand
These round were definitely a crowd pleas er as Team iRO fought the good fight against Philippines. However Team Philippines came out on top.
The final rounds consisted of:
Battle for 1st: Japan vs. Philippines
Battle for 3rd: USA vs Thailand
Thailand last years champs gave USA a run for their money in this 2 round match. USA may have come in 4th but the value of the experience of playing the highest caliber of players from around the world is priceless…
Team Japan may have taken the title this year but Team USA were definitely celebrities not just with the iRO community but with the Filipino community of the pRO forums as well.
Between the first round of matchs and the second a short cos-play pageant was held. Participants were asked on stage and posed for many pictures.
and my favorite:
A few other random images from the convention:
A ROSE NPC!
and a re-creation of Lutie Dungeon!
Shortly after the end of the tournament the players and staff were invited to the Farewell party, which consisted of tons of food and rewatching of all the matches of the day.
But the night was not over then either, no trip to Japan is complete without a visit to the local Karaoke joint! Now i have videos as well but I’m sure jologs would prefer i keep them to myself..(and everyone else in the office)
We did have fun though 
Our last day was pretty uneventful, we all decided to wake up really early to grab an early breakfast and just go for a walk around Yokohama. Take in a few last minute sights before boarding our bus to the airport.
On the bus ride they were kind enough to provide us with Tea and a bento box filled with yummyness!
And we ended our adventure in the same place we began, the airport. Though we did not take home the title we take home the memories and experience that will make us a better team in years to come.
Thank you to Yokohama for being such a beautiful place to visit.
And thank you to Team Jologs for doing an amazing job of representing us all at this years RWC.
And don’t forget : PALADIN SACCCCC!
karaoke night videos are exclusive for Jologs members *wink there’s no such thing as ‘too embarassing’ in this guild im afraid *sigh we get to laugh at our leader tho!
and omg that bento box made me slur irl =( i hate u all
Looks like you guys had fun. We actually go to hear Hastur’s voice, but we never got to see him or Heim. Was that Gravity US president in one of those vids?
Brazil almost did it!
Nice pictures and nice event!