BIG are headed to the semifinals at ESL One Cologne with home-field advantage on their side.
The German-majority squad found their way into the semifinals of the $300,000 event by taking down the Frenchmen of G2 Esports. BIG selected Cache as their map pick, while G2 chose Dust II as their pick. Inferno was the leftover map from the veto process.
Related: Na’Vi advance to the ESL One Cologne semifinals over Fnatic
Map one Cache saw G2 display their best playoff form with their new roster, especially considering they traded strings of rounds with BIG throughout the map. The score went back and forth to BIG’s favor (4-0), then to G2 (7-4), back to BIG (8-7), again to G2 (13-8), and then finally back to BIG (14-13). The last three rounds of regulation were a battle for economic stability, but nonetheless the game went into overtime. Even with AWPer Kenny “kennyS” Schrub carrying G2 at 42 monstrous kills, BIG still won Cache 19-17.
Dust II, the French pick, featured an absolute slaughter of G2. BIG won 13 rounds in a row until G2 actually did something. The entire French side couldn’t reach nine kills before halftime, and BIG eventually closed out the second quarterfinals of the day with a 16-1 scoreline. Every single member of BIG was firing on all cylinders in their final map win over G2.
BIG’s biggest challenge in Cologne will be tomorrow, when they’ll be competing against European juggernaut FaZe Clan in the semifinals. That game will be played at 11:30am CT after the Astralis vs. Na’Vi semifinal.
