2018 FACEIT London Major: Navi Crushes The Dreams Of BIG

The Faceit London Major is in full swing. A strong showing in the group stages of the Major set BIG to be the team to look out for. Gob b especially demonstrated exceptional site holding skills, he would routinely be able to hold his own against Tier 1 players. The underdog run, however, came to a disappointing end for BIG in the quarter-finals after being clinically dismantled by the hands of Na’Vi.

Big was utterly destroyed on Dust 2 where they only managed to take 2 rounds from the Russian powerhouse. Neither player on BIG managed to get double-digit frags or even manage a respectable KDA. Simple and electronic being the highlight for Navi, taking 21 kills apiece. The low win rate of aim battles of BIG and hesitation to push against the aggressive Navi side would bring almost every round down to the wire where BIG would try and rush during the last moments and be eliminated.

Nuke turned out to be more of the same, it started off with a good pistol round for BIG but slowly spiraled out of control as Navi took down player after player, winning eco rounds against full buys on BIG. Tizian was the only player who could manage a positive KDA, surprisingly Simple did not have much to do this game. Flamie was the MVP for Navi on Nuke.

The pressure of playing on a big stage affects most teams, while the under-dogs have now been laid to rest, BIG can still be proud of their achievements this year and their performance that lead them so far. It was a gutting and anti-climactic conclusion for their fans, but hopefully, the team will learn from this defeat and get their revenge next time around.