Top German eSports talent gathered on the weekend of June 2/3 in Cologne to fight for the title of German StarCraft II champion and four slots in the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) Europe Finals.

While Germany’s 16 best players battled it out, the live action was expertly shoutcasted by James “Kaelaris” Carrol and Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen in English, and Dennis “TaKe” Gehlen and Philipp “monchi” Simon in German.

The crowd in Cologne and the logo of the event.

Day 1

The first day featured a couple of notable newcomers, as well as two dramatic defeats.

A thrilling protoss vs. zerg battle between Dario “TheLittleOne” Wünsch (TLO) and Dennis “HasuObs” Schneider ended with TLO heading off to the Consolation Bracket. But TLO’s misfortune didn’t end there, as protoss underdog Alexander “Jaxx” Quaiser surprised the crowd by assaulting him with a 2:0 victory.

TLO and HasuObs - The faces of defeat and victory.

TLO wasn’t the only veteran who took a fall – Sascha “GoOdy” Lupp (dubbed the “Panzer General”) met a similar fate when he lost 0:2 against terran dark horse Thorsten “DBS” Seifert.

But alongside the shocking defeats, the first day also saw some unexpected displays from two promising newcomers: terran player Andreas “KrasS” Ullrich had a hopeful run before seasoned master HasuObs finally put him in his place; and 14-year-old terran prodigy Gabriel “HeRoMaRinE” Segat elicited many cheers from the audience as he bravely made his way through four match-ups before hitting his limit and losing 0:2 to Jonathan “DarKFoRcE” Belke. The young newcomer had been only one match away from qualifying for a slot in the WCS Europe Finals! He certainly has a great eSports career ahead of him.

KrasS, young HeRoMaRinE, DarKFoRcE - all doing well in the tournament.

By the end of the first day, three out of the four Europe Finals slots for Germany had already been won by DarKFoRcE and, unsurprisingly, favorites HasuObs and Giacomo “Socke” Thüs.

Day 2

The second day kicked off with a Consolation Bracket match between KrasS and DBS, which ended with a 2:0 score and KrasS securing the fourth and final slot for Germany at the Europe Finals.

The Grand Final. Fighting for the cup live on stage.

And so, with all the German slots taken, the question remained – who would be the German champion? It came down to veteran players Socke and HasuObs in the Grand Final. What made this match even more exciting was the fact that whoever won the German championship would be guaranteed a slot representing Europe in the Global Finals!

Coming from the Consolation Bracket, Socke would have needed to win not one, but two best-of threes against HasuObs. The battle was hard fought and the tension in the room was palpable, but eventually Socke took the championship, earning himself a spot in the WCS Global Finals in Asia later this year. What a victory!

Congratulations to Socke and the three other players moving on to the Europe Finals, and thanks to each and every participant!

Socke presenting the tournament cup.