Outsiders kick off ESL Pro League run with victory over BIG

Outsiders made a statement with their opening victory at ESL Pro League over BIG. The CIS squad had not played an official match since going 0-2 at IEM Cologne in July. It is, however, the second time they beat BIG since bringing on Petr “⁠fame⁠” Bolyshev and David “⁠n0rb3r7⁠” Danielyan, as the Germans were one of the teams they beat at the IEM Cologne Play-In.

One of the newcomers, n0rb3r7, stepped up early on the CT side of Dust2 with 11 kills in the first 10 rounds. Outsiders established a 6-4 lead by then, but a triple by Nils “⁠k1to⁠” Gruhne in a forcebuy threatened to swing the tides. BIG didn’t follow up on the opportunity and slipped to a three round deficit at the switch.

Outsiders then won a crucial second pistol round with fame showing up big and downing four rivals. It wasn’t until the 28th round that BIG got their first defense on the board, trailing 6-12 by then. The map started slip out of the German squad’s grasp as they couldn’t win a second round and their economy started to suffer and Outsiders went for the kill reaching match point, 15-7, before closing out proceedings three rounds later.

Outsiders flew out of the gate on Inferno, poised to make this a two-map series after taking the German squad’s pick. Dzhami “⁠Jame⁠” Ali and company went up 5-0, tallying the fifth as k1to nearly clutched a 1vs2 but ran out of time to defuse. BIG struggled to establish themselves in the half despite winning three of the five following rounds and were ultimately unable keep up with Outsiders’s attack, the CIS squad once again going into the half with a three round lead.

fame took care of three rivals in the second pistol round for Outsiders to hit double digits. They then started to run away on the scoreboard, 12-6, although Fatih “⁠gob b⁠” Dayik’s men didn’t let up and hit won four in a row to hit double digits and keep the map alive. A 1vs4 from Evgenii “⁠FL1T⁠” Lebedev completely shattered the German squad, however, bringing their comeback attempt to a halt. Outsiders got ahead 14-10 and BIG hit back, winning a pistol buy to stay alive, but it turned out to be too little too late.

Outsiders went on to take it the map 16-11, locking down a crucial victory against a direct rival for a spot in the playoffs. Alexey “⁠Qikert⁠” Golubev and company will now face the group’s underdogs, FTW, working to build on their strong start in ESL Pro League’s Group B. BIG on the other hand will be tasked with taking on G2 in their second match.