BIG to compete without faveN at Rio Major RMR

According to BIG, Josef “faveN” Baumann won’t participate in the upcoming EU RMR for the IEM Rio Major. Due to a serious medical condition that requires him to spend some time away from the professional league, the German player will be replaced by Elias “s1n” Stein of the BIG Academy for the RMR.

The German rifleman Josef “faveN” Baumann will not compete in the Regional Major Ranking Europe. BIG issued a brief statement on Twitter explaining that faveN will not compete in the qualifying due to a medical emergency that necessitates him to relax at home. This will be the 22-year-second old’s illness-related absence from the active CS:GO roster this calendar year. Due to an episode of stomach influenza, he was forced to skip the IEM Cologne Play-in and the Roobet Cup playoffs earlier this year. Although faveN’s absence from RMR has been confirmed, it’s uncertain whether he’ll be able to recover in time for the IEM Rio Major, which starts on October 31.

 

Academy player Elias “⁠s1n⁠” Stein will stand in for BIG at RMR

As their star rifler continues to struggle with health issues, BIG put their faith in young Academy talent. The German side will try to qualify for the IEM Rio Major with academy rifler Elias “⁠s1n⁠” Stein. S1n has been by far the top fragger on the BIG academy, averaging a 1.21 rating over the last three months, according to HLTV.

The young players assisted the team in finishing third in the fifth season of the WePlay Academy League and second at Fragadelphia 17. At Fragadelphiea, which was his first LAN appearance, he made quite an impression, averaging a 1.32 HLTV rating as his side advanced to the championship game.

A strong performance as a stand-in for faveN at the RMR would make a case for s1n to be the next potential call-up as BIG has been quite transparent about its desire to advance players from its academy to the starting team. Furthermore, Tizian “tiziaN” Feldbusch will also make a return to the action to fill in for BIG Academy as s1n moves to the main roster.

BIG’s CS:GO roster for RMR:

• Johannes ‘tabseN⁠’ Wodarz
• Florian ‘⁠syrsoN’ Rische
• Karim ‘⁠Krimbo’ Moussa
• Nils ‘⁠k1to⁠’ Gruhne
• Elias ‘s1n’ Stein 

The European RMR, which is divided into two 16-team events called European RMR A and European RMR B, will take place in Malta from October 4 to 9. The RMR B’s opening round will see BIG vs. Sangal, as well as matches amongst teams like Natus Vincere, MOUZ, Vitality, Heroic, OG, Outsiders, ENCE, HEET, Falcons, Sangal, K23, FANTASY, Monte, SAW, and Illuminar.

Header: ESL Gaming