tabseN: "Since XANTARES is gone, we'll all have to get more frags"

BIG's in-game leader spoke about how the team will shape up with their new signing Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade.

Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz took part in the HLTV Confirmed show on Monday where he talked about BIG's 2021, Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş' departure, the addition of gade, and where he sees the team in the future.

Ahead of their first official with their new signing at ESL Pro League Season 14, tabseN revealed why they picked gade to join the team, how the roles will work in the squad, and which issues plagued them in the year so far.

The summer break was the starting point of the conversation, with tabseN saying he took two weeks completely away from the game.

"I would definitely prefer to have at least one more week, to get your head out of the zone and out of the game, but I'm refreshed and I'm definitely looking forward to the grind. I'm shaking, I'm ready to grind with a new player, that is basically how it works here."

Early into the talk, tabseN made public that former BIG player and coach Nikola "⁠LEGIJA⁠" Ninić has rejoined the organization as the assistant coach. "LEGIJA is back. He was never really gone, he is basically one of us and always will be."

BIG's in-game leader praised the work of their main coach as well, Dustin "⁠DuDe⁠" Großmann, who took over the mantle from Tobias "⁠tow b⁠" Herberhold at the start of the year. "He is really smart and he is willing to work. He is not so experienced as a coach, but he definitely knows how the game works and how we work as a team."

So far this year, BIG's results have been less than ideal, suffering last-place exits from ESL Pro League S13 and IEM Katowice, a far cry from their accomplishments in 2020 when they rose to the top of the rankings.

"At some point, we were getting outplayed by ourselves." tabseN explained. "You are thinking so much in the game and outside of the game. You struggle with some things for a while, and if this is your system, then people start to doubt, not do the things they should."

Internal issues seemed to have been creeping up for some time, but the 26-year-old didn't see XANTARES's departure coming. "It was relatively sudden."

XANTARES' decision to leave his German adventure behind and return to a domestic lineup is understandable to tabseN, though, who dismissed the idea that it was strictly in-game communication that pushed the Turkish player to change his environment.

"It is not about the communication at this point, it is more about how he sees himself in the future, what he wants to do, what he loves to do. Obviously, it is playing CS, but if he doesn't feel comfortable… With the communication barrier, we were not able to talk properly together, which is also a huge thing. I can understand how he felt.

"From my side, I wish he had learned German so I could talk more intensely to him about anything, inside or outside of the game, hang out with each other. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. I really appreciate him trying to do it, it is not easy, it is a really really hard language, you have so many hard words to learn, and even for me as a born German, my German is really bad.

"I love XANTARES man, he is a really nice guy and I would've loved to make it work. But his biggest wish was to feel more comfortable, that he can speak more fluently. We have people in the organization that speak Turkish, when he is around them he speaks a lot, but in our team, he cannot talk so much, he cannot really say what he feels and express himself properly. I also feel bad for him. His biggest wish was to go to Turkey, to make a superteam he feels the most comfortable with, and we would never throw stones at him basically. I wish him the best of luck, we are still good friends and hopefully, one day maybe we'll still play in the same team. Never say never."

When the rumors about XANTARES leaving the team started circulating, gade reached out to tabseN and made it known that he was interested in joining the team, the in-game leader recalls. He explained that BIG already knew gade could speak German to some degree and were considering signing him in 2018 before he joined OpTic.

"A huge positive point [about gade] was that he was also the IGL back in the day," tabseN said, adding that the Dane is "is definitely an all-around player" with good fragging ability, even though he has been under the radar at recent times.

The firepower aspect can't be overlooked, though, and BIG's caller is cognisant of that. "Of course, since XANTARES is gone, we'll all have to get more frags." He praised the Turkish rifler's individual ability but focused on the positives the new lineup will have that will allow everyone to be a little better.

"We will have more team play, more communication, get easier kills done. Everyone has to put effort into the team, have better grenades, better communication, better team play, with some jiggles here and there, so someone gets an easier kill. Basically, everyone needs to have more kills overall, and of course, we need someone who is going to put up numbers. Either it is me, syrsoN, it can be k1to, tiziaN, or gade. I think every one of us is capable of putting up numbers, but in the overall picture, everyone needs to be a little bit better."

The team's AWPer was also touched on in the conversation. The tenth best player of last year, Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische hasn't been on the level BIG need him on so far in 2021. "He is one of those players that feels when something isn't right," tabseN says, "he wants the whole team to perform well, he wants to have a good mood". With the new roster, the IGL believes they are on the right path to unleashing him once again.

In terms of roles, things won't change much with the gade - XANTARES swap, but tabseN is expecting the Dane to be a more vocal presence in the same positions. "He can coordinate people, he can make some calls himself when given the freedom to do so. If he feels comfortable he will do it, time will tell but I think he is definitely a second caller in this team and he can make decisions he thinks are right."

No specific goals were set for the team. Inspired by tow b, tabseN's approach is "to be better in the next game, and the next game, and at some point, you win tournaments." BIG are taking it step by step and avoiding the pitfalls of the mentality that settles for nothing less than No. 1.

"I think we can all be proud in Germany that we have a top 10 team in the world. We have been missing it for years and years, and now we have a team that can win some tournaments."

"We know we can win tournaments, maybe we need to have some things go right, maybe we need some luck in there, but I'm confident that our team has the right pieces, right mindset, but we also need to put the work in. If we don't, there will be teams that work harder than us, that are better than us, everyone now has the best aim in the world, so you can't really say "I have outstanding aim", everyone in the top teams has outstanding aim!"

"If everyone is on the same page, I think we will be able to win tournaments again. I always want to win tournaments, but if it is only the top 5 I will not be 'ah, top five'. It is the top five!"

Watch the full HLTV Confirmed episode with tabseN to hear more details about the team, his thoughts on IGLing and ESL Pro League are, as well as a breakdown of the latest news and roster changes.

HLTV Confirmed is also available in audio form on the most popular podcast apps.