Last weekend, the German ESL Pro Series concluded with the Spring Finals. With FIFA 14, StarCraft II and League of Legends all having been played, there were a lot of opportunities for upsets and less well-known players to step up and take the the stage. While SnEijDeR, last season’s FIFA champion, once again showed everyone that there’s no way around him right now, both StarCraft II and League of Legends saw underdogs rising and shining very, very brightly.

StarCraft II: Patience misses the big hit

With Dennis “HasuObs” Schneider already having been eliminated during the group stage, the biggest favorite for kicking Gabriel “Marine” Segat off his throne was already out of the race. However, with Jo “Patience” Ji Hyun coming in very strong, having won one of five cups to qualify as well as picking up two victories in the group stage, the Duisburg-based Korean proved to be Marine’s match.

Marine did his best to keep hold of the title in their semifinal match, but the champion of EPS Winter 2013 failed to take more than two maps and had to let it go.

In the grand final, ShoWTime, who kicked out former EPS champ Fabian "Hanfy" Kattner 3-1 in their semifinal, faced Patience over a full set of five maps in a constant back and forth. However, in the end ShoWTimE managed to keep the upper hand in the final match, taking home the title with the audience chanting his name.

League of Legends: TTD fall from grace

Two worlds clashed in the ESL Pro Series with big names Tick, Trick and Duck (TTD) and n!faculty going head to head after their semifinals. n!faculty had been the big team in EPS throughout the season, while TTD were the only team to represent Germany in the Season 4 Challenger Series. However, first the semifinals had to be played and other opponents face. After both TTD (2-0 over PENTA) and n!faculty (2-0 over Playing Ducks) achieved their first task, the grand final brought the fireworks the audience was waiting for. 

The first match saw a lot of back and forth, with there being no clear favorite until n!faculty seized the upper hand in two team fights in a row and turning the game to their advantage. The second game was even only for the first minutes, with n!faculty catching TTD off guard once and setting a trap for a second, bigger fight which brought their lead to 13-0 and above before TTD managed to take one consolation kill. In the end, n!faculty brought their very impressive season to a close with a well-earned title. It will be interesting to see what the club from Cologne will have up their sleeves in the coming months.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: More action to come at the end of the week

Last but not least, the CS:GO finals will take place this Saturday, with mousesports taking on EnRo GRIFFINS and Team Wild Fire before facing Team ALTERNATE in the semifinals.

More details on this event will be available by the end of the week.