syrsoN steps down from BIG's starting lineup - Report

The 26-year-old AWPer will not play the IEM Brazil Closed Qualifier.

Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische has decided to bench himself from BIG's starting lineup, according to a report by Dexerto, and the German AWPer will no longer play with the Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz-led squad effective immediately. The decision comes after BIG tanked out of IEM Katowice in 13-16th place and failed to make the BLAST Premier Spring Finals with a 7-9th place exit in the group stage.

BIG will field academy AWPer Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn in his stead as soon as the IEM Brazil Europe Closed Qualifier, which is set to start on February 8 with the German squad kicking off their run at 15:30 against Monte in the double-elimination bracket.

syrsoN was named tenth best player of the year in 2020

syrsoN joined BIG in January 2020 alongside Sprout teammate Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne and took over the AWPing position left open after Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield's departure. Long-hailed as one of the top talents in Germany, syrsoN was thrown into elite play right at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and he thrived.

During the online era syrsoN flourished and was named the tenth best player of 2020 after being named MVP of BIG's championship run at DreamHack Masters Spring. Most recently he was named MVP of the online Roobet Cup 2022, which BIG also won, but he never found the same success on LAN as he did online and his ratings dipped noticeably against the world's best sides when playing on site.

Stepping up into syrsoN's shoes for the time being is 21-year-old hyped, a product of the BIG Academy and with whom he won ESL Meisterschaft Autumn 2022 over Sprout. He was the final's second-highest rated player behind fellow academy graduate Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa and sported a 1.12 rating throughout his time in the youth squad.

BIG's roster will be the following for the time being:

Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz
Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne
Josef "⁠faveN⁠" Baumann
Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa
Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn

Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik (coach)

Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische (benched)