Krimbo Will Return For BLAST Spring Final

BIG have announced on Wednesday, June 15, that its star rifler Karim “Krimbo” Mossa will re-join the team at BLAST Spring Final. The 19-year-old has reportedly tested negative for COVID, which prevented him from traveling with the team in the first place.

BIG wrere initially supposed to travel to Lisbon, Portugal, for the BLAST Spring Final without its star rifler Krimbo, who tested positive for COVID ahead of the tournament. In his place, the German Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team appointed Nils “k1to” Gruhne, who returned to the main lineup from the academy roster.

However, it seems like k1to’s services won’t be needed anymore, as the 19-year-old tested negative for COVID and is cleared to re-join his team. During his absence, BIG has already played two matches in the Pinnacle Cup Championship but did not achieve much.

BIG kicked off the tournament with its full roster and have achieved solid results, topping Group A with relative ease. First, BIG demolished MiBR (16-7) and picked up a crucial win against Fnatic (2-1) to qualify for the playoffs.

Unfortunately, disaster struck shortly after when it was announced that Krimbo had tested positive for COVID and would be unable to play with the team in the playoffs. But even though BIG acquired k1to as a replacement, the team did not look the same.

First, BIG lost against Astralis in the upper-bracket finals 0-2 with 7-16 on Ancient and 13-16 on Dust II. And they were just as unimpressive in the lower bracket finals, where BIG lost against Heroic (0-2).

Even though BIG came close to edging out the Danish squad, they fell short in the end, going down 15-19 on Mirage and 10-16 on Overpass. With that, BIG went from holding a perfect group stage record to dropping two games in straight maps.

With Krimbo back in the team, BIG can now focus on continuing their climb to the top of the CS:GO global ladder. Even though the German esports organization wasn’t near the top for years, BIG have improved significantly over the last couple of months, rising from no.20 to just outside the top 10.

BIG kicked off the 2022 season with a bronze medal from Funspark ULTI 2021 and a top-six finish at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022. The team followed early success with a dry streak, failing to achieve anything noteworthy besides qualifying for the European RMR.

However, BIG found some traction in April when they placed second in PGL Major Antwerp 2022: European RMR A and qualified for the Major. Unfortunately, in the lead-up to the Antwerp Major, BIG slipped in IEM Dallas qualifiers, and they couldn’t get back on their feet in time.

At the Major, BIG won only one match against Imperial, yet were inefficient against NaVi, FURIA, and Vitality, thus ending the tournament in 12th-14th place. Still, things took a sudden turn for the better in April.

Despite failing to qualify for IEM Dallas, BIG received an invite after NaVi, Entropiq, and Heroic all decided against attending the event. The German squad grabbed the chance with both hands and made it all the way to the semi-finals, where they lost (1-2) against the eventual champions Cloud9.

Most recently, BIG also had a solid run through the Pinnacle Cup Championship, yet the absence of Krimbo had prevented them from competing with the world’s best team in the playoffs.

BIG’s up-and-down season now continues with their next challenge – BLAST Premier Spring Final, where BIG will compete against eight CS:GO teams for the lion’s share of the $425,000 prize pool and an invite to the World Final.