by in
In their first game of the BLAST Premier Spring Final, BIG conceded a defeat at the hands of ENCE. The Finnish esports organization swept their German counterpart to secure their first win of the tournament.
With the win over BIG, ENCE top Group B with OG in second place after securing a win against Natus Vincere. ENCE have proven to be a stronger opponent having won two of their last three encounters. ENCE got the better of BIG in the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Challengers Stage.
The Group B opening game started with the mirage map which was a close battle between both teams, but ENCE triumphed. The map was selected by BIG as it ranks as one of their maps with the highest success rate of over 60%. Maden was the standout player for ENCE as he recorded a total of 46 kills.
Map 2, Nuke, was ENCE’s pick and the Finnish franchise won the map as BIG found it impossible to force a game three of the best-of-three series. The player of the match was won by tabesN, who posted a 1.38 rating having made 58 kills.
Ahead of their game against ENCE, BIG’s coach, gob b, was said to have tested positive for Covid 19. The team took to their Twitter page to announce that the 34-year old German would not be heading the team as he would be secluded.
In his place was Nils “k1to” Gruhne, who used to be a member of the BIG starting lineup for the entirety of 2020 and 2021. A few months ago, he was relegated to the BIG Academy roster. The team was clearly in need of some coordination k1to could not offer and they were blown out by ENCE.
Gob b has been with the German esports organization for well over five years, occupying several positions across different esports titles. He joined BIG in 2017 after spending a year with NRG Esports. He represented the franchise for two years and seven months as a player before transitioning into a manager in 2019.
Four months in the position of a manager, he was promoted to being a coach for BIG’s Academy, where he was for a few months. He commenced his recent role on May 1, 2022, after switching to the franchise’s Valorant roster as a primary initiator as Sova. He led the team through the PGL Antwerp Major event, finishing with a 1-3 Legends Stage. But the team has seen success since then, placing third at the Pinnacle Cup, alongside a semifinal appearance at IEM Dallas. At the Pinnacle Cup, k1to also stood in for trial player Karim “Krimbo” Moussa, who had tested positive for Covid 19.
There have been cases of players within big market teams standing in as a player and a coach. An example of that is G2’s François “AMANEK” Delaunay, who has filled in for his teammate and in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, and coach Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam.
BIG will take on Natus Vincere in their second game of the Spring Finals as they look to win their first map and game of the tournament. NaVi are -212.77 favorites to win the game. In 11 head-to-head fixtures since 2020, BIG have won only four games, while losing seven to NaVi.
