BIG upset FaZe to win Roobet Cup

BIG bested the odds to defeat FaZe 2-1 and win the inaugural Roobet Cup, taking their own pick of Dust2 16-13, losing Nuke 14-16, before bringing it home 19-17 on Mirage.

FaZe fell at the final hurdle of what was a resurgent event for the squad, whilst BIG reached the highest point of their general upward trend since adding Karim “⁠Krimbo⁠” Moussa and bringing Fatih “⁠gob b⁠” Dayik back into the fold as coach.

FaZe, despite the loss, will be pleased to have rediscovered some level of form after struggling since the Major. As for BIG, they may be facing something of a dilemma themselves as they won this event with the recently demoted Nils “⁠k1to⁠” Gruhne performing admirably in place of Josef “⁠faveN⁠” Baumann, particularly in the final.

The series began with the BIG home map of Dust2, and the Germans showed everyone just why they are so well respected on it.

It was FaZe who, starting on the CT side, got themselves out to an early lead, taking the pistol and converting the second round before they then responded to a streak of three rounds from BIG by taking five of the next six, bringing the score to 7-4. It was at this point that the German’s well-constructed offence and the awakening of k1to combined to give BIG a convincing end to the half, taking an 8-7 lead into the second period, despite the impressive efforts of Russel “⁠Twistzz⁠” Van Dulken.

A pistol victory and conversion put BIG in the driving seat and they duly delivered, comfortably repelling the FaZe offence in large part due to Florian “⁠syrsoN⁠” Rische’s AWPing to stretch their lead to 14-7 before their opponents could reply. Reply FaZe did, putting together rounds based on big multi-kills from their star players, a particularly crisp 1v2 from Twistzz included, getting to 13-15. Ultimately the comeback was squandered by a messy round that was almost lost to time, and BIG took the opening map 16-13.

Moving onto FaZe’s pick of Nuke it was once again the European squad who had a quick start, taking the pistol and running themselves convincingly up to a 6-2 lead, with BIG’s two rounds coming in an odd scenario where after winning a round they half-bought with five-sevens, and still managed to win the half-buy.

BIG adjusted their defence, focusing more on getting syrsoN into the game AWPing yard and their sniper began to take over the map, the highlight of his play being a savvy 1v2 where he dropped his AWP to give a sound cue before mowing FaZe down with his sidearm. The Germans rode their AWPer’s success all the way to a half win, recovering their poor start to go into their T side with an 8-7 lead.

FaZe had a successful but costly start to their CT side, winning four rounds on the bounce but often with only one or two members alive, and so when BIG won their first it forced Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen and co. into an awkward economic situation.

BIG took full advantage to haul themselves back into contention, and suddenly they were finding far more success even when FaZe did get guns up; it looked like the German squad might complete the comeback, but eventually FaZe found the answer to their repeated upper hits and squeaked a 16-14 victory to take the series to Mirage.

As Mirage began it seemed that FaZe’s individuals had come alive, as after losing the pistol and follow-up the EU squad went on a run of winning 9 of 11 rounds, with Robin “⁠ropz⁠” Kool in particular looking much improved compared to prior maps. BIG managed to string together two at the end of the half to go into the second period 6-9 down, a decent score considering they appeared outclassed for much of their T side.

After a back-and-forth start to the final half of the match BIG settled into an imperious defence, with syrsoN’s AWP once again a key part of it, taking seven rounds in a row to put them on match point at 15-12. FaZe came alive with their backs against the wall, Twistzz and Helvijs “⁠broky⁠” Saukants in particular, and they managed to grab the final three rounds to force overtime.

The game ended in somewhat bizarre fashion, with the overtime punctuated by tech issues, but ultimately it was BIG who only needed a single OT to bring the game and trophy home, 19-17.

The final standings for the Roobet Cup are as follows:

1. BIG ($150,000)
2. FaZe ($50,000)
3-4. Astralis ($15,000)
3-4. Cloud9 ($15,000)
5-8. forZe ($5,000)
5-8. ENCE ($5,000)
5-8. 9z ($5,000)
5-8. Eternal Fire ($5,000)
9-12. FURIA
9-12. MOUZ
9-12. OG
9-12. Complexity
13-16. Imperial
13-16. Outsiders
13-16. Entropiq
13-16. Movistar Riders