Last Sunday, Germany's ESL Pro Series Finals ended with the rise of a new generation when the 16 year-old Marine beat HasuObs and Socke in his very first season. The 25th season culminated over the last two weekends and determined the four champions of the ESL Pro Series Germany Winter 2013.
ESL Studio One was once again scene of the German ESL Pro Series Finals. The League of Legends Champion had already been determined the week before and so was it on the CS:GO teams to open last weekend's final event of Germany's most prestigious eSports league.
(More photos of EPS and ESL Events at flickr.com)
Following five qualification cups and a group stage, the top four contenders of each discipline met at the final event. For Counter-Strike: Global Offensive this would be EnRo Griffins, 3DMAX, Playing Ducks and Germany's most successful team: mousesports, who acquired an uprising team mid-season after separating their CS:GO team during summer.
Just a few days before the event mousesports even re-activated their former CS 1.6 captain Fatih 'gob b' Dayik. Subsequently, nobody stood a chance against the mighty mice and mousesports could claim their first CS:GO title in the ESL Pro Series, even though it's already their 16th in Counter-Strike.
(More photos of EPS and ESL Events at flickr.com)
Day two started with FIFA, which was last played two years before in the ESL Pro Series. Despite being on crutches following a real football accident, SnEijDeR from MeetYourMakers came out victorious keeping the trophy with MeetYourMakers, who already possessed the last cup dating from times when FIFA was still a 2-on-2 discipline in the EPS.
Last but not least there was StarCraft II, the most anticipated event. Two youngster, Showtime and Marine, met with two of the most experienced RTS-players in Germany. When HasuObs won his first EPS trophy in WarCraft 3, Marine still was in Elementary school and when Socke represented his nation at the World Cyber Games in 2002 the young lad from mousesports wasn't even in school yet.
(More photos of EPS and ESL Events at flickr.com)
Nonetheless, courage, impudence and of course a great amount of skill lead Marine to victory defeating both hasuObs and Socke, showing his enormous potential. Not only did he win the championship in his ESL Pro Series debut, but he is also the first Terran winning the Protoss dominated tournament series. This title gives him the chance to participate in IEM Cologne in February 2014 and to face some of the best players in the world. Will this newcomer be able to show them a trick or two?
