BIG bring back k1to to replace tiziaN

Nils “k1to” Gruhne, a 23-year-old rifler, has rejoined BIG Esports’ main CS: GO squad as a replacement for entry-fragger Tizian “tiziaN” Feldbusch after spending five months with the academy team.

Nils ‘k1to’ Gruhne returned to the main CS:GO roster following a brief stint on the academy roster, courtesy of the German organization BIG Esports. The 23-year-old rifler k1to will take the position of Tizian “tiziaN” Feldbusch, who hasn’t been in a good form for while. After spending four years with the CS:GO team and hitting innumerable milestones together, TiziaN stepped down from the roster. He will spend some time on the sidelines as he transitions to a new role, which is currently undefined by the company.

K1to started his CS:GO professional career with EASYPLAY in 2016, and before joining BIG Academy in January 2020, he played for a bunch of German teams, including ALTERNATE aTTaX, Epsilon Esports, and Sprout. BIG’s performance significantly improved after his arrival, and during the past two years, the team have emerged as one of the greatest CS:GO teams in the world.

During his first year with the organization, BIG won the DreamHack Masters Spring Europe, DreamHack Open Leipzig, and DreamHack Open Summer Europe, securing three DreamHack titles in a single year. The German squad maintained their supremacy in 2021, winning the Funspark ULTI championship handily while bagging a 1st-3rd place finish in the Blast Premiere Groups. But after the team’s lackluster early 2022 performance, BiG replaced K1to with academy player Karim “Krimbo” Moussa in March.

K1to’s impressive cameos have paid off 

After Josef ‘faveN’ Baumann chose to take a break due to recurring health difficulties, the 23-year-old also made multiple stand-in appearances in many CS: GO events throughout the summer. K1to participated in the BLAST Premier Spring Finals and IEM Katowice as a last-minute replacement. BIG had a dismal departure from the Spring Finals after going 0-2 in the group stages, while they couldn’t go through the play-in round in Katowice and ultimately concluded the competition in 17th to 20th place. In the Roobet Cup, however, the German Rifler excelled for BIG, helping the team defeat the two-time Major Champions FaZe Clan in the Grand Finals.

BIG CS:GO roster

• Johannes ‘tabseN’ Wodarz
• Florian ‘syrsoN⁠’ Rische
• Karim ‘⁠Krimbo’ Moussa
• Josef ‘faveN⁠’ Baumann
• Nils ‘k1to’ Gruhne
• Fatih ‘⁠gob b⁠’ Dayik (coach)

In a recent roster move, BIG demonstrated its strong faith in CS:GO veterans Fatih ‘gob b’ Dayik and in-game commander Johannes ‘tabseN’ Wodarz by extending their agreements until 2027. With k1t0s back in the starting lineup, BIG will look to solidify their dominance again and build on their recent run of strong performances. On August 21 at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, the squad will face Heroic in their inaugural game of the new campaign.

Header: ESL Gaming