The Berlin based org BIG are still waiting for their first LAN trophy since January 2020, and sadly they again came up short on the deciding map of the most-recent grand final.
The Australian org FlyQuest have been crowned champions of the 2024 ESL Challenger Atlanta, beating BIG Clan 2-1. The German squad, once again, were there own worst enemy.
Atlanta, besides the result it was a pleasure living the #ESLChallenger with you! Our quest is not over, this was just the beginning Thanks for all the support during these days pic.twitter.com/DB3OqlUigU
— BIG (@BIGCLANgg) October 7, 2024
BIG had made a near perfect run towards the grand final, going 2-0 in all of their group stage games. Then they beat Oddik and M80 comfortably, dropping just 9 total rounds across 2 maps.
In the semi-final they then met Portuguese super team SAW and dropped their first map of the tournament on Nuke. However, they came back and reverse-swept the series on Ancient and Vertigo.
The grand final seemed to be following the very same script. BIG lost their own map pick of Ancient, but won FlyQuest's pick of Vertigo in return.
The deciding map was going to be Dust 2, a longtime staple map of the Germans. The map they won their last LAN trophy on, at Dreamhack Leipzig in 2020. But it was not to be.
They played on the back foot throughout the entire map, winning only 3 T-Rounds in the first half of play.
tabseN was understandably disappointed:
F... close game nonetheless.. proud of the showing here in atlanta. We will take the positive with us for the upcoming tournaments. Thank you all for the amazing support here in atlanta and especially the germans at home. #GOBIG
— tabseN (@tabseNcs) October 7, 2024
BIG's star player Karim "Krimbo" Moussa tried his very best. He carried BIG through against SAW and delivered 32 kills on map 1 of the final. He also posted 25 frags on the deciding map.
1 vs world pic.twitter.com/61JGFDwIaC
— BIG (@BIGCLANgg) October 6, 2024
But it simply was not enough, the rest of his team underperformed.
Krimbo dominated the tournament but BIG failed to win it pic.twitter.com/llorVJiVY7
— CS2 NEWS (@CS2News_EN) October 7, 2024
BIG Clan's AWPer Florian "syrsoN" Rische was especially poor on the 3rd map, getting only 8 kills. He is usually known for his strong performances on Dust 2.
His sniper-counterpart of Alistair "aliStair" Johnston dropped 22 frags and helped the Aussies big time in order to claim their first ever trophy.
Ultimately, FlyQuest took Dust 2 by 13-9, collecting the 2–1 series win and lifting the trophy.
The wait for BIG Clan's first LAN trophy in nearly 5 years continues. Do you think they will win one again eventually?
