BIG Clan stuns Vitality, takes 1st place in CS Summit 6 Europe

BIG Clan continued its rampage through Europe’s best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams with its win over Team Vitality in CS Summit 6.

Despite starting the series down a map thanks to Vitality’s upper-bracket advantage, BIG won three out of four maps to take first place in CS Summit 6. CSGO’s second Regional Ranking Tournament didn’t go as planned for the French squad, who dropped one of its own map picks, Overpass, in their loss against BIG. On the BIG side, Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş went +17 with a total KDA of 83-66 over the four maps played, eventually ending with a strong 1.22 rating. XANTARES left fans with more than a few highlight plays that showed off the Turkish player’s prowess. 

While Vitality started the best-of-five series with a 1-0 led thanks to its win over BIG in the upper bracket, BIG managed to win its lower-bracket final against OG 2-1 that set up the grand finals rematch.

CS Summit 6 Europe, BIG vs. Vitality Picks and Bans

1. BIG removed Vertigo
2. Vitality removed Train
3. BIG picked Mirage
4. Vitality picked Inferno
5. BIG picked Dust 2
6. Vitality picked Overpass
7. Nuke was left over

BIG and Vitality win on home soil in CS Summit 6

The match started out on BIG’s map pick of Mirage, with the Germans taking the first five rounds and setting the pace for the rest of the series. Vitality wasn’t willing to give Mirage to BIG for free. Star player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut came alive as soon as Vitality managed to stabilize their economy, bringing his signature AWP to bear with several fantastic plays.

His best highlight came on Vitality’s CT side when ZywOo nabbed four kills on the A bombsite without the rest of his team having to move a mouse.

But ZywOo’s heroics weren’t enough to steal BIG’s map pick. Despite clawing its way back into a close 8-7 half, BIG were unstoppable on their CT side. The team stormed through the second half and won eight of nine rounds to finish Mirage 16-8.

Inferno was up next, where viewers saw a similar first-half situation play out. Vitality took the early lead on their pick and went up 7-1 on their CT side before BIG came back with a string of rounds to narrow the deficit to 8-7 by halftime. Here, Florian “syrsoN” Rische had his own highlight moment with an outstanding one-on-three clutch that showed off what the young AWPer can do with a sniper rifle.

Much like BIG did on Mirage, Vitality came back in the second half of Inferno, off the back of a 1.40 rating by ZywOo on the T side to win Vitality’s map pick 16-11.

BIG shuts down Vitality on Dust 2 and Overpass

Despite two close maps to start the series, CS Summit 6 would wrap up with two 16-10 victories by BIG on the following two maps. Dust 2 and Overpass both went BIG’s way, thanks to both Nils “k1to” Gruhne and Tizian “tiziaN” Feldbusch. The duo carried BIG on the final two maps of the series. Overall, the best-of-five was a messy affair from both teams. Both dropped easy rounds, allowing pistols to carry the day on too many occasions.

Although both ZywOo and XANTARES both had KAST percentages over 80%, BIG’s secondary stars were the difference makers. Vitality’s Cédric “RpK” Guipouy played poorly throughout the series, ending CS Summit 6’s grand final with a 50-74 KD and 0.77 rating.

With the win, BIG take 2,000 of Valve’s Regional Ranking points and the tournament’s $34,000 grand prize. With the win, BIG moves into eighth place in the rankings and attains Challenger status for CSGO’s only Major of 2020, ESL One Rio.