Eighteen months ago, MOUZ began a process that, at the time, was unheard of for tier one teams. Starting with torzsi, the six-month long process would see the German organisation put faith in their successful academy team as both JDC and xertion would also eventually find themselves promoted to the main team.
It was a move that would pay off, as MOUZ would soon after reach their highest placing at a Major as they finished in the semi-finals at IEM Rio.
Showing very clearly that the academy system could bear fruits, MOUZ had displayed that players who had shone while part of an academy system could also flourish in tier one. A move that will be set to inspire many teams in the coming years, the first of those, BIG is about to make its debut with a core of players that had started life with the organisation with the academy team.
The key difference? BIG aren’t making the same fatal mistake that MOUZ did before them.
While MOUZ put faith in three members of their formerly dominant academy team, they didn’t do the same with the leader of that team, siuhy. Instead, siuhy found himself loaned to GamerLegion. There he would make both the IEM Rio Major, and the BLAST.tv Paris Major, but it’s the latter of those two Majors where he truly began to build his legacy.
The leader of a tier two team in an era where teams outside of tier one have never been so disadvantaged, in Paris, despite being 0-2 down in the Challengers Stage, siuhy led his team to the grand final of the Major. Although he wouldn’t go on to spoil the Vitality party, it was still a momentous achievement, one that forced MOUZ to listen and bring him home in the recent off-season.
The right move, questions will always be raised as to whether it’s a move that could have happened far earlier. GamerLegion may have been necessary for siuhy’s development, but it will forever be unavoidable to ask what MOUZ could have achieved in the past eighteen months had they promoted siuhy long ago.
While those questions will never have answers, BIG aren’t willing to even let them be asked of their new roster rebuild. Having promoted s1n, prosus, and signed mantuu, the first of those names will now take the reigns of IGL from tabseN, allowing the former star player to return to his responsibility as the team’s main man.
It’s a gamble, but recent results show that s1n has the chops for it. For German teams, ESL Meisterschaft Spring is of utmost importance, a tournament whose winner is granted qualification to IEM Cologne, it was s1n’s BIG Academy side that defeated ALTERNATE aTTaX in order to win the event in 2023.
IGLing in tier one is a very different thing to anything s1n has experienced before. There’s less time to react, better defaults to go up against. The teams in tier one are far better prepared than any opponent s1n would have yet gone up against as a leader.
Still, there are already a couple of factors working in his favour. Part of BIG’s squad that nearly made playoffs at the IEM Rio Major, he has already gotten a taste of what playing in tier one is like. Not just that, but given that tabseN and BIG coach gob b have both successfully IGLed at tier one level, he will have exceptional tutors to help guide him in transition.
As for prosus, the young German has developed into a star for BIG Academy in recent months. An impactful player, in the wake of faveN’s benching, he should be able to step up and become a solid fourth member of the team after Krimbo, tabseN, and mantuu.
So what about mantuu? The biggest name joining the team, he has been missing from tier one action since his benching by OG during IEM Cologne 2022.
Formerly one of the best AWPers in tier one, he was the shining light of the original OG squadron. Eventually, as time progressed and the team continued to change around him, his impact would begin to be felt less, and as degster stood in for him at BLAST Spring Finals 2022, it became clear it was time for a change.
Considering how effective he had been early on in his time with OG, it’s a surprise it has taken him so long to get back on the server. Now he has, he will do so with huge shoes to fill.
Underrated during the end of his stint with BIG, syrsoN has long been statistically one of the best AWPers in the world, a fact that only became more evident after he benched himself and hyped failed to live up to him.
Still, mantuu does have plenty of experience, and while there may be an element of rust for him to shake off in the early months, there are no doubts that he will return to being a top AWPer once more.
Just like many of the teams formed over the off-season, this isn’t a team built for instant success. Sure, a honeymoon period is possible, but as stated by Krimbo in our interview with him, this team has been built as a long term project.
It’s been a while since Germany has truly had a team to be proud of, and for a while, it felt like they weren’t producing the talent capable of changing that. However, recent times suggest that’s been changing, and that’s something BIG are willing to take a punt on.
Success might not be guaranteed, but in sticking by their national roots and promoting young talent in an era where most other teams are recruiting international rosters, BIG are taking a leap of faith that not many organisations are willing to do, and that could be their greatest success.
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