BIG recruit two academy players

11-1-2024 20:52

The German organization bolsters its academy ranks with two players from outside the DACH region.

b1elany joins BIG's academy program

Zoran "⁠xicoz⁠" Markovski and Maciej "⁠b1elany⁠" Biliński have joined BIG Academy, the German organization has announced. The announcement marks a policy shift for BIG’s academy program, which will for the first time include players from outside the DACH region.

The new duo will step into the shoes of Luc "⁠ArroW⁠" Oehmke and Marc "⁠MRC9⁠" Philipp Jarke. The former, who has been with BIG Academy since January 2023, was moved to the bench, while the latter is exploring his options just four months after being recruited.

xicoz is best known for his stand-in spell for Sprout last year following the departure of Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward. Before that, he represented Entropiq Prague, the sister team of Entropiq, and played for BLUEJAYS alongside players like Aleksandar "⁠CacaNito⁠" Kjulukoski and Anel "⁠NENO⁠" Ceković.

b1elany spent the last year with PGE Turow, averaging a 1.06 rating. The Polish team notably made it to the closed qualifier for the BLAST Paris Major's European RMRs and finished runners-up to ThunderFlash at the Polish Esport League 2023 Split 4 Finals.

On X/Twitter, BIG Academy coach Tugay "⁠TuGuX⁠" Keskin said that picking up two players from outside the DACH region while retaining a German core is “the right step.”

“The first praccs are done, and while we need a bit of time, of course, I like what I see already!” he wrote.

With these changes, BIG Academy are now:

Tom "⁠skyye⁠" Hagedorn
Luca "⁠pr1metapz⁠" Voigt
Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn
Zoran "⁠xicoz⁠" Markovski
Maciej "⁠b1elany⁠" Biliński

Tugay "⁠TuGuX⁠" Keskin (coach)

2024-01-11 20:52

1 reply

No BIG Not gamer legion

2024-01-12 00:07

2024-01-11 20:53

xicoz pretty mid we’ll have to see how they perform under mr tugux tho

2024-01-11 20:59

roof region

2024-01-11 21:04

2024-01-12 00:00

Cool

Even academy teams can't stay national smh

2024-01-11 21:05

12 replies

why would they if the whole scene goes more and more into international

2024-01-11 21:07

11 replies

Because international teams are boring to watch and support

2024-01-11 21:08

10 replies

but its the biggest market, international academy teams allow for more talent and they train communicating in english early

2024-01-11 21:09

5 replies

Still boring though

4 replies

blame national scenes for failing to produce enough talent to sustain the scene instead of recycling the same trash over and over. why do you think the French, NA, Swedish, and Polish scenes have been or almost been completely annihilated from existence from the top level these past few years?

2024-01-11 21:20

2 replies

huh... Poland probably has had the most upcoming players these past 2 years... outside of like Russia.

2024-01-12 00:54

But yet if you haven’t noticed, they keep producing talent but there is basically no scene. Even dycha and hades themselves once said it: “Polish CS doesn’t exist”.

2024-01-12 01:06

The only boring thing here is your attitude. International teams are more exciting.

2024-01-11 21:32

You aren't gonna see national team from now everything is international. Edit: Thanks to G2, FaZe, Vitality, MOUZ, NAVI, Falcons and others.

2024-01-11 21:11

Uhm, Denmark has some fully Danish teams, Sweden has some and so on. BIG was special in Germany because they had a fully German team (not anymore ofc), but now the Academy team is just another random team. What's better, being Top 10-15 with a mediocre international team oder being Top 20 with a national team that German fans can support?

2024-01-12 09:36

National team meta is gone buddy atleast in 2024 i'd have to say International team is more fun to watch than national team it's been so long we've seen so many org signing mix-international lineup.

2024-01-12 18:49

International teams are just as fun to watch and support as national teams are

2024-01-12 11:58

But will they ever be recruited to the main team

2024-01-11 21:06

mantuu is polish and got recruited to main team. BIG is open to have international roster now yeah, or at the very least EU

2024-01-11 21:30

3 replies

nope, they will always have a german core

2024-01-11 21:37

Lol no germany without tabsen does not exist

2024-01-11 23:53

krimbo exists

2024-01-12 09:59

So glad to see more and more players from North Macedonia, lessgooooo

Get ready to learn German Bois. Why no Germans? BIG lost the plot in terms of German scene youtu.be/QiZNSzWIaLo?si=f0QuRPyVJ_XtCFDg

2024-01-11 21:17

GL :)

Marc just joined, played better than I expected and gets booted. Wp

2024-01-11 21:23

he left on his own

2024-01-12 07:47

Sure? The text only states he is looking for sth new, maybe he was still in probation?

2024-01-12 09:35

He usually makes a living out of streaming which he cannot do if he wants to play professionally

2024-01-12 11:36

2024-01-11 21:35

LETS GO XICOZZZZZZZ!!!

2024-01-11 21:40

Unexpected asf and is probably an upgrade over ikla imo

2024-01-11 22:40

b1elany was also in the running for the last place on the 9INE squad. With many ppl claiming that if not jcobb then at least him (rumors said that also jedqr and maary was in the run for the spot as tomiko was locked in for 4th) should become the 5th player, and then jcobb quit but 9INE also decided to test Bambosh (hltv didn't update his profile and he's listed here as KukuBambo)

2024-01-11 21:42