BIG collect their first victory in ESL Pro League

The second Bo3-series on the second day of Group C, in the ESL Pro League Season 15, saw BIG lock horns with the Party Astronauts. The North American roster of Party Astronauts are, without any doubt, the underdogs of Group C and had already suffered a massive 2-0 defeat against Players in yesterday's matches. BIG, however, were also coming into today from a 2-0 loss against a Liquid but were undoubtedly the favorites going into today's Bo3-series. And for good reason it proved. From start to finish it was clear that BIG was the better team today. A stunning performance, led by IGL "tabseN", saw the German machine collect their first victory of ESL Pro League Season 15 in an impressive 2-0 fashion.

The first map of the series was picked by Party Astronauts and was decided to take place on Overpass. With a win-rate of 75% in the past three months (8 maps), all be it against teams of a lower caliber than BIG, it seemed the perfect pick for the North American roster. It wasn't long, however, until BIG took complete control of Overpass. An impressive showing of skill from IGL "tabseN" led BIG to an 11-4 lead going into the second half of Overpass. Whilst the second half was way less one-sided than the previous, it was too difficult of a task for the Party Astronauts to turn it around. At the scoreline of 16-9, the North American Party Astronauts had to see themselves bested against a better BIG on Overpass.

The second map of the series was to be played on the soil of Dust 2 and was, of course, picked by BIG. Winning the pistol-round, it was Party Astronauts to collect the first three rounds of Dust 2. The lead didn't last for long, however, as BIG strung together 7 consecutive rounds afterward and kept their momentum flowing. It seemed as if BIG was about to walk all over the Party Astronauts, at least until they woke up once again. An, ultimately, decent CT-sided performance from the North American roster saw them go to halftime only three rounds behind BIG at 9-6. The second half started with both teams winning rounds back and forth. At one point it seemed as if the Party Astronauts might take us to a third and final map. A third map, however, was never needed. Once BIG found their groove on the CT-side it was a dominant close to an otherwise exciting Dust 2 game. At the scoreline of 16-10 it was the German machine of BIG to take home their first victory of ESL Pro League Season 15.

Highlight of the Bo3-series

BIG – Party Astronauts 2-0 | ESL Pro League Season 15 (Group C)

16-9 (Overpass) | tabseN – 1.85 Rating / 31-13 K-D / 117.1 ADR

16-10 (Dust 2) | Krimbo – 1.45 Rating / 24-14 K-D / 98.2 ADR

MVP: Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz - 1.55 rating / 53-31 K-D / 105.0 ADR