The battle for the Grand Final knockout phase began with the online group stage. The first of Marc and Sean Landwehr's four opponents were drawn by lot; in the following three matches, both Leverkusen gamers faced players with the same win/loss record. The five eSports players in each group with a positive number qualified directly for the knockout phase of the Grand Final (18 and 19 April in Hamburg). A further six per group with a balanced record played a deciding match in an intermediate round to determine the remaining six places for the final event in the Hanseatic city.
Marc 'marc_ldw23' Landwehr was the first to pick up the controller for Bayer 04. The 24-year-old began by beating his friend and training partner Jannis ‘jistennsq’ Pütz from Borussia Mönchengladbach 9-6, but because the Leverkusen player lost the two subsequent duels against Dortmund's Francesco ‘BVB_Virgil’ Allocca (3-4), who recently teamed up with partner Dennis 'Denninho' Malcherczyk and FC St. Pauli's Ben ‘FCSP_Blaxe’ Ludwig (3-5), a win was absolutely essential in the final fourth game to advance to the intermediate round. And the Leverkusen player succeeded! Marc Landwehr won 7-5 against Hanover's Riad ‘itsRiaad’ Fazlija after extra time.
Cousin Sean 'Sean_ldw07' Landwehr made an excellent start to his four games the following day, winning 5-4 against Stuttgart's Denis ‘Denis’ Müller and beating St. Pauli's Berkay ‘BerkayLion’ Demirci by the same score. However, this was followed by two defeats against Leipzig's Alihan ‘RBLZ_Alihanlion’ Hadzhi (4-10) and Freiburg's Gianluca ‘SCF_Gianluca’ Mautone (1-3). Just behind fifth place in the group, the Leverkusen player missed out on a direct place in the Grand Final knockout phase and, like his cousin Marc Landwehr, had to finish sixth in the intermediate round.
There, Sean Landwehr faced St. Pauli's Ben ‘FCSP_Blaxe’ Ludwig, who Marc Landwehr had already met in the group stage. Sean beat the Kiezkicker's eSports player 8-5 to secure his place in the knockout phase. Marc Landwehr, meanwhile, had to put his title dreams to bed by the skin of his teeth. After a 3-3 draw against Hanover's Mustafa ‘xMusti19’ Cankal after 120 minutes, the match went to a penalty shoot-out that ended in a 4-2 defeat for the Leverkusen.
Results at a glance:
Marc Landwehr
Group stage:
Game 1 (W): ‘jistennsq’ 6-9 ‘marc_ldw23’
Game 2 (L): ‘BVB_Virgil’ 4-3 ‘marc_ldw23’
Game 3 (L): ‘FCSP_Blaxe’ 5-3 ‘marc_ldw23’
Game 4 (W): ‘itsRiaad’ 5-7 ‘marc_ldw23’
Intermediate round:
‘marc_ldw23’ 2-4 on penalties (3-3) ‘xMusti19’
Sean Landwehr
Group stage:
Game 1 (W): ‘Sean_ldw07’ 5-4 ‘Denis’
Game 2 (W): ‘BerkayLion’ 4-3 ‘Sean_ldw07’
Game 3 (L): ‘Sean_ldw07’ 4-10 ‘RBLZ_Alihanlion’
Game 4 (L): ‘Sean_ldw07’ 5-7 ‘SCF_Gianluca’
Intermediate round:
‘Sean_ldw07’ 8-5 ‘FCSP_Blaxe’
Sean Landwehr now moves on to the knockout phase of the Grand Final. Following cousin Marc's participation in the 2023/24 season, when he reached the semi-finals and was one of the four best German eSports players that year, Sean Landwehr will now fight for the title for the first time. The grand final event for the German Individual Championship will take place on 18 and 19 April in Hamburg and will be broadcast live on the VBL Twitch channel. Despite his elimination, Marc Landwehr will of course also be there to support his cousin. In the first game, Sean Landwehr will face Brandon ‘HSV_Perkkix’ Wüschem. A preview of the final highlight of this eSports season will follow.
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