CS2: BIG sign former HEROIC AWPer Gr1ks

BIG have announced the signing of former HEROIC AWPer Gleb “gr1ks” Gazin, who joins the German Counter-Strike 2 team as a replacement for Marcel “hyped” Köhn.

BIG announced the change on Friday, October 10, as the first roster move since the departure of trial coach Robin “ScrunK” Röpke, who was let go at the start of the month.

The new sniper joins BIG from HEROIC, where he has been an inactive player since August, when gr1ks was sidelined to make room for Spirit Academy prodigy, Älımjan “Alkaren” Bıtımbai.

Since his benching, the Belarus player enjoyed a short, three-week loan stint with GUN5 Esports. With them, he appeared in four events, including CCT Season 3 European Series #6, where GUN5 made the semifinals.

His last two tournament runs, at Exort The Proving Grounds Season 4 and Galaxy Battle 2025 // Phase 4, did not result in notable results as GUN5 placed ninth-16^th and fifth-eighth, respectively.

Despite the lacklustre results, gr1ks has performed well individually, averaging a 1.14 performance rating with the Russian team – a noticeable improvement from his numbers (0.97) on HEROIC.

Gr1ks’s arrival means hyped moves to BIG’s bench, marking the end of his nine-month stint as the team’s main AWPer.

Hyped, who previously played for BIG in 2023, returned to the German esports team in January. Over the nine months, he averaged a 0.98 performance rating, but only 0.94 over the last three.

With gr1ks joining the team, BIG are back to fielding an international roster, hoping the change will help them find more success in their competitive endeavours.

BIG have won just one trophy this year, at DACH CS Masters Season 3. While they have managed a few deep tournament runs, more recently with a semifinal appearance at CCT Season 3 European Series #6, most of their attendances in bigger events ended in early eliminations.

Gr1ks will debut later this week at NODWIN Clutch Series #1, where BIG, along with ENCE, 9INE, and Nemiga Gaming, received direct playoff invites.