- C9 defeated their German opponents 2-1 to secure the final European spot
- The team’s recent acquisition of Timur “buster” Tulepov proved crucial for victory
- Meanwhile, BIG have been showing mixed performance in the last weeks
Following a shaky start, Cloud9 regained the initiative to defeat BIG and secure a spot for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Washington D.C.
C9 Defeat BIG
It was a very successful week for Cloud9, the team winning seven encounters in just five days, culminating with a victory over German CS:GO team BIG to secure the final European spot on offer for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals. C9 were undoubtedly helped a lot by the addition of Timur “buster” Tulepov, allowing them to win 16 of the last 17 matches they have played recently. Cloud9’s latest success against BIG guarantees them a berth for the coveted BLAST event, which will be held in Washington on June 7-11.
Buster shined brightly on Mirage, but the whole C9 squad made an impact across the two maps the Russian-majority team won. Should the squad continue at their current tilt, they will be candidates for the trophy at any tournament they attend.
Meanwhile, BIG doesn’t seem to have been in great shape recently. The team has had mixed results in the past weeks, suffering losses to Apeks and HEET. The German team has been inconsistent after replacing Florian “syrsoN” Rische with Academy graduate Marcel “hyped” Köhn a month ago. Although the 21-year-old player has been showing great potential in the past weeks, it looks like BIG will have to find more consistency as a whole moving forward.
How Did the Match Go?
Despite losing, BIG put up a strong resistance against C9 initially. The Germans initially picked Inferno, which was going to become the most hotly contested map of the match. Both teams traded rounds throughout the encounter, but thanks to the efforts of newcomer hyped and teammate Karim “Krimbo” Moussa, BIG scored a narrow 16-14 victory.
But the tides were slowly turning as the match progressed to C9’s pick – Vertigo. Although the Russian-majority team had a somewhat lackluster start, they quickly made up for it thanks to a good defense, owed in large part to Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov. Eventually, C9 gained just enough momentum to get out of the slugfest with BIG and quickly closed out the map with a comfortable 16-11 lead.
Mirage was going to be the match’s decider, but ironically. There is not too much to talk about as it was a totally one-sided affair, with Cloud9 absolutely dominating their German opponents. C9 blew BIG off the server with a 13-2 offense, with the second half being practically a formality. Cloud9 quickly closed off Mirage with a 16-3, securing the coveted spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals.
