The first two teams from Group B of ESL Pro League are ready for the playoffs. Both ENCE and BIG won their upper-semifinals in Group B to secure the qualification.

BIG won 2-0 against Heroic after a dramatic match, where the Germans deflected a Heroic comeback on Ancient through a triple overtime win. On Inferno, it was once again a close affair, but Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa stepped up for BIG and played a key part in their 16-13 win.

ENCE and MIBR also played a very competitive match, where the two first maps went into overtime. MIBR has been uplifting at the tournament with their opening win against MOUZ. Against ENCE they forced the IEM Dallas winner to a third map, where Guy 'NertZ' Iluz turned up the heat with 37 kills in 27 rounds. ENCE won 2-1.

Unsurprisingly both Rooster and Evil Geniuses dropped down to the Last Chance Stage after defeats against Monte and MOUZ.

Krimbo

Nertz

Krimbo's AWP skills were on full display as he dominated the opposition in a recent match against 500. The 20-year-old showed off his precision and quick reflexes as he took down four players with ease. 500 was unable to stop Krimbo's rampage, and BIG went on to win the match 16-8. With this victory, Big secured themselves a 2-1 record in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR B

Watch Krimbo go nuts with the big green on Anubis:

20-year-old Karim "Krimbo" Moussa has been playing well during the past three months. Most recently, the young German has proven his worth after producing an impressive stat line in the past 30 days. 1.16 Rating / 0.58 DPR / 1.08 Impact / 76.2 ADR / 0.71 KPR. 

Back in early February, BIG´s star AWPer sidelined himself due to personal reasons. Since then, the Young Academy AWPer Marcel 'hyped' Köhn has been the main AWPer for the German first team. But how well has the young gun actually played during his first month as a BIG player, and did BIG play better with or without him?

[slugORMA:{"slug":"big-promote-young-awper","isNewTab":true}]

Hayped played his first top-tier tournament as a BIG player when the Germans participated in the ESL Pro League S17. Starting the event of great was hyped as BIG managed to take down Complexity in a 2-1 thriller. The young AWPer was the man who led his team to victory producing an impressive stat line 65-53 K/D / +12 +/- / 83.9 ADR / 1.25 Rating. 

Despite BIG falling short in their following game against Heroic, cadiaN is convinced that BIG should not be worried about losing their highest-rated player Florian “syrsoN” Rische. In a post-match interview, Casper "cadiaN" Møller and Rasmus "sjuush" Beck sat down and talked with the ESL panel about the recent roster change on BIG.

- Let me say something controversial here. BIG will be better with hyped than with syrsoN. I don’t want to judge anyone, I’m just giving my perception. When you have a player syrsoN that gets three kills or his teammate gets three kills and he’s still just sitting with no emotions giving no energy and no hype. I don’t see him talking ever - like in these BLAST videos where they are recording, I never see him talk.

A great motivational speech from candiaN towards the BIG players and all of their fans weren't enough for them to make it through the ESL Pro League S17. In yesterday's elimination match against Movistar Riders, BIG couldn't keep up with the Spanish team who secured themselves a spot in the playoffs over the Germans. Despite Hyped didn't manage to produce the same stunning numbers as syrsoN normally does, there is still hope for BIG with their new academy player on the roster. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"movistar-riders-secure-playoff-spot","isNewTab":true}]

After the disappointing loss over Movistar Riders, Krimbo took his time to talk with the ESL panel about hyped stepping in as the new main AWPer. 

- I think our team chemistry is on point, and no one is having any trouble with each other. 

Watch the entire segment with Krimbo here:

[twitchClip:PlumpSmokyTardigradeItsBoshyTime-FcixrnC-R3JON7as]

The next time we get to see BIG in action is in the ELISA Invitational Winter 2023 when the Germans take upon the winner of 9INE/Monte. 

hyped

cadiaN

A feel good win at BLAST World Final capped off the year in style under difficult circumstances and finally there is a modicum of belief in Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen’s vision. Propelled by the rookie of the year in Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov, G2 enjoyed sporadic success throughout the year but failure to qualify for the IEM Rio Major left them in dire straits, lacking direction and doubting leadership. Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač, famed for his angst toward his IGL’s seems to have turned a corner, putting trust in his Danish friend and long may it continue because G2 are finally exciting to watch again.

Who knows what form BIG are going to show up in and it feels like they haven’t fielded the same five players at consecutive tournaments as long as I can remember. Seemingly they are back to the full roster here but it’s all a bit up in the air and the Germans will be praying for the inevitable carry performance from Florian 'syrsoN' Rische. IEM Rio went about as well as could be expected, but not even a single map win during the best-of-three phase showed their true colours. BIG’s talismanic IGL, Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz can never be truly put away, and BIG certainly have a chance of making it past the knockout stage if it all clicks into place.

2022 didn’t actually end all too well for Na’Vi with failure in the quarter-finals of the last four big events, including the Major, prompting the move culling Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev for rookie Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi. The CIS squad are never far from greatness thanks to Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev but as we’ve seen over the years, he cannot go it alone and I'm not sure this change is quite the answer to their problems. You cannot ever count out the GOAT though, and the expectation remains that he will continue to be the catalyst to their success.

A new superstar young CIS AWPer. Where have we heard that before? The latest chapter in the seemingly never ending machine cycle of NiP roster moves has finally secured a true AWPer, but will the language barrier prove too much to handle? Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen is once again tasked with collating raw talent, and sculpting it into title contention, but I don’t have much hope that they will hit the ground running here at BLAST. A great match to kick it off though, and the Ninjas are more than capable of taking down a rebuilding Na’Vi.

The closest group by far and any combination to progress can be argued for, but G2 and Na’Vi are expected to duel it out for the coveted top spot.

Group C kicks off on the 20th January with G2 taking on BIG.

huNter

nipl

headtr1ck

G2 Esports

Natus Vincere

Ninjas in Pyjamas

The first match in Group A at Roocet Cup saw BIG face Entropiq. A hard-fought series went the way of BIG even though Entropiq's newest signing 'mir' played amazingly.

The series kicked off on Entropiq's pick of Overpass. The Russian squad started nicely on the T side, but BIG recovered excellently and had a comfortable three-round lead at halftime. 

The CT side was where Entropiq did their damage. A dominating team effort had BIG begging for mercy, but there was none to find as Entropiq closed it at 16-11.

Just like on Overpass the halftime score was 9-6 on the second map of Dust2. This time it was the CT side of Entropiq, led by 'mir', who held the lead, even despite a masterful performance from 'Krimbo'.

'Krimbo' kept on playing like a star after the break, and with extreme lethality, he led the Germans to a CT side with only one loss.

'mir' kept on fragging as the teams moved on to the final map of Mirage but unfortunately for the Russians, that did not amount to a lot of rounds, as BIG also had some hard-hitters in 'tabseN' and 'faveN', and the two of them led the Germans to an 11-4 T-side half.

As they arrived on the offense, 'NickelBack' stepped up massively, and together with 'mir', he led the CIS squad back into contention. Slowly but surely they made their way back into the game, but in the end it was the veterans of BIG that took the victory.

11-16 (Overpass) | {cflag:RU} Forester - 1.27 Rating / 18-14 K-D / 81.5 ADR

16-10 (Dust2) | {cflag:DE} Krimbo - 1.82 Rating / 34-14 K-D / 113.6 ADR

16-13 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} mir - 1.44 Rating / 28-20 K-D / 102.7 ADR

MVP: {cflag:DE} Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa - 1.27 Rating / 74-56 K-D / 91.0 ADR

Entropiq

Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa will once again be available for the Germans at BIG after having tested positive for Covid-19 five days ago. The news comes less than nine hours before their first match at BLAST Premier Spring Final Lisbon, where they will take on ENCE.

Krimbo missed the last two matches at last week's Pinnacle Cup Championships due to the positive Covid result, with Nils "k1to" Gruhne rejoining the team after being demoted earlier this year. BIG ended up losing both matches 2-0 against the Danes from Heroic and Astralis. 

Yesterday we published an article stating that[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/k1to-stand-in-krimbo-blast-premier-spring-finals-lisbon","isNewTab":true,"text":" k1to will continue to stand in"}] here in Lisbon, however, that has now been changed with today's news from BIG. 

{cflag:DE} Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz 

{cflag:DE} Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische 

{cflag:DE} Tizian "⁠tiziaN⁠" Feldbusch 

{cflag:DE} Nils "k1to" Gruhne (Substitute)

[slugORMA:{"slug":"live-blast-premier-spring-finals-lisbon-day-1","isNewTab":true}]

k1to

Nils "k1to" Gruhne will once again be standing-in for Karim "Krimbo" Moussa at the beginning of BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon. The information was confirmed by in-game leader Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz in an interview with Pley.gg today.

As the latest addition to the roster, Karim "Krimbo" Moussa has had a promising start to his career at the German Organization, but last weekend the 19-year-old rifler had to withdraw from playing the Pinnacle Championship in Lund, Sweden due to a positive Covid-19 test. BIG went on to lose two consecutive matches with Nils "k1to" Gruhne playing as the last-minute stand-in. 

Karim "Krimbo" Moussa was brought in as a replacement for Nils "k1to" Gruhne in March 2022, where he was promoted from the BIG Academy team.

BIG will face ENCE in their first match of BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon tomorrow night.

The information is also backed up by the recent tweet, that BIG posted with the players including Nils "k1to" Gruhne taking a walk in Lisbon upon arrival.

It was a fight for the Grand Finals spot against ENCE at IEM Dallas when BIG faced Cloud9 in a thrilling Bo3. The core of the BIG squad had not taken a single map against the core of this Cloud roster before today, but in the end, they still fell short of the mark.

The Bo3 started out on Cloud9's pick of Overpass, a map that BIG has only played two times in the last three months, one of which was a 16-4 loss against MOUZ.

Cloud9 were in control from the start of the T side. BIG had a lead at 3-2, but other than that Cloud9 was ahead and looking comfortable for the first fifteen rounds, which resulted in a 9-6 lead.

As the teams switched sides something unexpected happened. "Krimbo" delivered an excellent T side with both opening kills and clutch plays. With his IGL "tabseN" in tow, the two led the German squad on a massive 9-1 streak which gave them map point. Cloud9 suddenly had a resurgence and pushed the map to its thirtieth round, but BIG finally managed to close it out and secure the map at their fifth map point.

The skirmish continued on BIG's favorite map of Dust2. Of the last eight times that the Germans have played it, they have won it seven times, but still, it was the CT side of Cloud9 that got ahead early. "HObbit" was taking heads left and right, and as a result, the Russians led from start to finish and were once again ahead by three rounds at halftime.

As BIG won the first three rounds of the second half, it looked as though they might go on another big run, but Cloud9 had other plans. They shut the Germans down and secured a third map by taking seven rounds in a row to win Dust2.

The entirety of Cloud9 were clicking as they arrived on the final map of Ancient. They started on the preferred CT side, and as a result, BIG suffered immensely. The Germans had a massive task ahead of them as they were down 12-3 at halftime.

BIG were sadly not able to put up any resistance after the break as Cloud9 took all four available rounds. The CIS squad are as a result headed to the Grand Finals tomorrow where they will face ENCE in a fight for the $100.000 first price.

16-14 (Overpass) | {cflag:DE} Krimbo - 1.39 Rating / 28-18 K-D / 82.4 ADR

9-16 (Dust2) | {cflag:RU} sh1ro - 1.45 Rating / 22-11 K-D / 88.8 ADR

3-16 (Ancient) | {cflag:KZ} HObbit - 1.74 Rating / 17-8 K-D / 116.3 ADR

MVP: {cflag:KZ} Abay "HObbit" Khasenov - 1.35 Rating / 68-45 K-D / 93.8 ADR

tabseN

Hobbit

Cloud9

It’s time to initiate the second day of play at IEM Dallas. In the article below you’ll find all the results from yesterday’s hectic opening day.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"faze-ence-off-flying-start-iem-dallas","isNewTab":true}]

18.00: Liquid – Imperial (2-0) [checkmark:]

18.00: Complexity – NIP (0-2) [checkmark:]

For a while, it actually looked like BIG had something to say in their round two matchup with Natus Vincere. A close first half ended with an 8-7 lead in favor of NAVI, but that was the last time, that the match was competitive. 

As CT's NAVI only lost one single round to completely deny any BIG attempts at breaking through the defense. BIG's new player Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa got the lesson of his life against fellow youngster Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy, who won their duels 5-0. The Ukrainian has started excellently at the event with two stellar performances.

NAVI won the match 16-8 and is now ready for tomorrow's qualifications matches, where they go head to head with another 2-0 team at the event for the first spot in the Champions Stage. BIG will have to fight their way out of the 1-1 bracket to keep their hope alive for a playoff run.

NAVI – BIG 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage

16-8 (Ancient) | {cflag:UA} Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy - 1.49 Rating / 19-11 K-D / 95.8 ADR

B1tGOD

The second round of Bo3-series today saw FaZe and BIG lock horns in a brawl that would determine the second qualifying spot of the RMR event. With Heroic earning a spot earlier, after defeating the scary-looking Natus Vincere roster, the winner of BIG and FaZe would earn their own spot at the upcoming PGL Major after going 3-0 up at the RMR event. As expected, it was a close affair between the two sides despite reaching its conclusion in just two maps. After a strong performance from BIG on Dust 2, an intense battle on Mirage ensued. Ultimately it was the well-oiled German machine of BIG to come out on top. The cohesive roster of BIG claimed victory on Mirage and secured their own ticket to the upcoming PGL Major in Antwerp with an impressive 2-0 victory against FaZe.

The first map of the Bo3-series took place on Dust 2 and was picked by the German roster of BIG. Whilst it is by no means a bad map for the explosive FaZe roster, defeating BIG on Dust 2 is never an easy task. And easy it never was for FaZe. A strong T-sided half with calculated and close to perfect executions saw the German boys of BIG ahead. At the scoreline of 9-6, FaZe needed to outperform BIG on their T-sided half of Dust 2. That never came to happen, as the CT-side of BIG proved even more dangerous than their T-side. Great performances from "Krimbo" and "tiziaN" carried BIG through a confident CT-sided half where FaZe were only allowed a single round. At the scoreline of 16-7, it was the Germans of BIG who claimed victory on Dust 2 and took one step closer to the PGL Major 2022.

The second map of the series was picked by FaZe and saw the Bo3-series continue on Mirage. Carrying over momentum from their strong performance on Dust 2, it was BIG to come flying out of the gate on Mirage. Silencing the offense of FaZe, the Germans of BIG managed to create a 6-0 lead before being answered back by their opponents. Despite their early success of BIG, it wasn’t long until FaZe woke up and things got intense. At the scoreline of 8-7, things were as close as possible going into the second half of Mirage. The brawl between the two rosters was just as close in the second half as in the first. Despite a valiant effort from FaZe and “ropz” it was ultimately BIG to claim victory on Mirage at the scoreline of 16-14.

The 2-0 victory means instant qualification to the upcoming PGL Major in Antwerp for the German BIG roster.

BIG – FaZe 2-0 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR A

16-7 (Dust 2) | {cflag:DE} Krimbo - 1.41 Rating / 17-10 K-D / 70.8 ADR

16-14 (Mirage) | {cflag:DE} tabseN - 1.57 Rating / 30-19 K-D / 97.3 ADR

MVP: {cflag:DE} Karim "Krimbo" Moussa – 1.25 Rating / 40-30 K-D / 79.4 ADR

PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR A - Overview (GamerLegion vs Dignitas: 2-1)

Whilst the thrilling battle between BIG and FaZe, took place on the A-stream, another crucial Bo3-series was played between the two Swedish sides GamerLegion and Dignitas. Both teams were, before the match, sitting on a 0-2 record, meaning the losing team would be eliminated from the RMR event and miss out on the upcoming major.

Dignitas proved the stronger Swedish roster when they took down GamerLegion with a confident 2-0 victory. The 2-0 victory means that Dignitas keep themselves alive at the RMR event and still have a chance at qualifying for the upcoming major.

FaZe

Berlin International Gaming has still not found its footing after the departure of Can "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş in the middle of 2021. Nicklas "gade" Gade has been both in and out of the team since, with Josef "faveN" Baumann coming in to replace the Dane. 

The results have not been great for the former number one team in the world. The lack of firepower has been an issue for the German roster.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"tabsen-other-teams-have-much-better-players-individual-wise","isNewTab":true}]

Now the team is trying to adjust one more time. BIG Academy player Karim "Krimbo" Moussa will replace Nils "k1to" Gruhne on a permanent basis. The Academy player has already been playing with the main roster in the RMR qualifiers as a stand-in.

Nils "k1to" Gruhne will instead switch to the academy team.

BIG is scheduled to play in Group C at ESL Pro League next week.

BIG Academy

It will be BIG Academy, which will be tasked with the mission to dethrone MOUZ NXT at WePlay Academy League Season 3.

After two closely fought maps on Nuke and Inferno, it was BIG Academy who proved to be the best team against Astralis Talent. Marcel 'hyped' Köhn from BIG Academy had a feast on Inferno with multiple opening kills and a solid 30 bomb to seal the deal for BIG in the match.

BIG will play the Grand Final later tonight against MOUZ NXT, where the two teams fight for the $45,000 in first prize.

Astralis Talent is out on third place, which is their best finish in the three seasons of WePlay Academy League.

BIG Academy – Astralis Talent (2-0) | WePlay Academy League Season 3

16-13 (Nuke) | {cflag:DE} Krimbo – 1.28 Rating / 20-18 K-D / 95.2 ADR

hyped – 1.86 Rating / 34-14 K-D / 111.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:DE} Marcel 'hyped' Köhn - 1.50 Rating / 58-33 K-D / 90.3 ADR

Astralis Talent

ALTERNATE aTTaX have secured the likes of two former BIG Academy players, Karim “Krimbo” Moussa and Max “PANIX” Hangebruch, who will debut for their new organization on January 17 in the ESL Meisterschaft Autumn semi-finals.

18-year-old Krimbo was BIG Academy’s highest-rated player in 2020, averaging a 1.11 rating over 62 maps, while PANIX averaged a 1.05 rating over the same period, with the team most notably winning the 99Liga Season 15 and placing fourth in Season 16.

The signing marks the end of the first iteration of the BIG Academy project as all of their former players have signed pro contracts with teams around the world. The organization have announced that they will start scouting a new lineup heading into the 2021 circiut.

ALTERNATE aTTaX got two weeks to complete the roster with a fifth player as they are set to face off Sprout in the semi-final of ESL Meisterschaft Autumn on January 17. The squad also holds a spot in ESEA MDL Season 36 EU, set to kick off on January 18.

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

Krimbo

Player stats

Articles mentioning Krimbo

BIG and ENCE secure qualification for playoffs

Pley of the day: Krimbo goes insane with the AWP

How did BIG look without syrsoN?

BLAST Spring Group C Preview

BIG take first victory at Roobet Cup against Entropiq

Krimbo fully recovered and back in action at Lisbon

k1to to stand-in for Krimbo at BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon

Cloud9 take down BIG, are headed to Grand Final

Live: IEM Dallas Day 2

NAVI in full control against BIG - Now 2-0 up

BIG secure a ticket to the upcoming PGL Major

BIG announce roster change - Krimbo replace k1to

BIG Academy ready for Grand Final at WePlay Academy League Season 3

Former BIG Academy duo join ALTERNATE aTTaX

Follow Pley