Photo Credit: theScore Esports
With a quarterfinals win over G2, German team BIG have secured themselves a ticket to the ESL Cologne One semifinals — even better, they’re playing with a home court advantage, as ESL One Cologne is held in Germany.
Getting to the semifinals of the $300,000 tournament was not easy. French team G2 Esports were playing some of the best CS they’ve had in a while, and with KennyS playing well, G2 was a formidable barrier in BIG’s path. Maps were picked: BIG choose Cache, while G2 chose Dust II.
Map one was a tight one. G2 was playing in incredible form with their new roster, continually fighting back and making it difficult for G2 to gain momentum. Things started off strong for BIG (4-0), but shifted back towards G2 (7-4), again to BIG (8-7), but then to BIG (14-13). Eventually though, the game went to overtime, and despite an enormous effort from KennyS (42 kills), BIG still managed to pull out the victory, coming out on top 19-17.
The second map was quite different from the first. BIG dominated the first 13 rounds, winning all of them in a row. G2 was playing so poorly they didn’t even reach 9 kills before halftime, and the second half wasn’t any better, with BIG finishing off the game with a score of 16-1. As a team, BIG played absolutely out of their mind, and their Dust II win showed just how good they can really be.
With heavyweight FaZe Clan up as their next opponent, BIG will need all the momentum and home crowd support they can get. Tune in at 11:30 CT after the Astralis vs Na’Vi semifinal to see who will reach the grand finals.