ESL Pro Series Germany heats up before the group stage

With the fifth cup in all four games now played, the ESL Pro Series Germany has just finished the first stage of its summer season. The cup stage, which saw both last season’s top eight and teams from the A-Series meet, resulted in some quite interesting results, with none of the four games’ champions emerging as dominant. Let’s take look at the games and the contenders who are on top of the scene right now.

CS:GO: mousesports with a historic success

Ever since switching over to the current system, which includes the open cup stage, no ESL Pro Series participant had been able to win all five cups in one season. However, 2014’s summer season saw mousesports, last season’s finals’ runner-up, bring some impressive play to all five cups, taking down Playing Ducks, reigning champions MTW (then Wild Fire) as well as Planetkey Dynamics twice in the cups final. This didn’t only guarantee them the first spot but also made them the first ever ESL Pro Series participant to gain the five-cup accolade.

Of last season’s core teams, EnRo GRIFFINS, EYES ON U and PENTA Sports have all been eliminated as they didn’t score enough points to make the top eight. Planetkey Dynamics, team and Key-Preisvergleich have taken their places, and are already set as the core teams of next season. Considering mousesports’ performance so far, it will be interesting to see whether they can continue this run or if an opponent will rise up to eliminate them.

League of Legends: Two former champions challenge n!faculty

While n!faculty have been in the cup finals twice, they haven’t a single win to their account, with Playing Ducks - who have won three cups - and Planetkey Dynamics pushing the reigning champion off the top spot during the cup stage. With their three wins during the cup stage, Playing Ducks are the big favorite, but with ESC Gaming joining the top four as a result of their victory in the fifth cup, four ESL Pro Series champions are looking forward to taking - or defending - the title.

For Evil Sharks and Killerfish eSports, this season wasn’t a good one. Both teams lost their core team status and have to qualify for the next season through the A-Series once more. Their core team spots have instead gone to peculiar gaming and crowd control. While peculiar is something of a newcomer this season, being the first in the A-Series to earn their spots in the cups, crowd control are bringing in some players from mates and more, who placed second in 2012’s winter season. Seeing new and old faces clashing in the group stage will definitely be entertaining!

StarCraft II: No Korean storm for the title

After ShoWTimE’s surprising victory over Patience in last season’s final, a lot of Koreans who came to Germany for WCS also joined the A-Series, and thus were able to take part in the fight for the German championship. However, only one made it, with Golden scoring enough points for the eighth position after the cup stage. Patience, on the other hand, did a lot more to earn his spot among the best players this season. After playing only one cup last season, he took part in all five in this one and won three of them. The mix of German veterans and newcomers now joined by two star Korean players will make the group stage one hell of a show.

Those who lost the race for the top eight are former champion Hanfy, kauP and Delphi. Their core player spots for the next season have been taken by Socke, who qualified for the group stage after failing to make it last year, Golden and Lamboking, who played an impressive season outscoring not only Golden but Socke and GoOdy as well. Let’s see what he can do in the group stage!

FIFA 14: Console switch shakes up the scene

For the summer season, the ESL Pro Series FIFA 14 tournament has moved over from the Playstation 3 to the Playstation 4, which was predicted by some to be quite a significant shift considering a number of platform-dependent differences in the game. This was also reflected by the results of this season’s cup stage, as we saw all the top eight players taking part in one of the cups final.

While dawnsson, coming from the A-Series, took the top spot, reigning champion SnEijDeR only managed to make it to the sixth spot. Three former core players, Savs94, Era and mafiaplaya, also placed lower than expected, coming in at 9th to 11th, and did not make it to the group stage this time. dawnsson, Dr.Erhano and AssiaKevin have taken over their spots for the upcoming season as well as in this season’s group stage. With the players already this close in the rankings, the group stage could become even more surprising than the cups already were.

Up next are the group stages, which are split over the weeks to come. Starting with StarCraft II and FIFA 14 next week, we are closing in on the final weeks of the ESL Pro Series Summer Season 2014. Who do you think will make it in each of the four games? Tell us in the comments below!

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