The second-longest standing active player of BIG’s CS:GO roster is reportedly benching himself following the team’s poor results at IEM Katowice 2023.
Florian “syrsoN” Rische is stepping down from the active lineup, according to a report from Dexerto today. The team announced the player won’t be able to participate in the IEM Brazil 2023 qualifier due to “personal reasons” and will be replaced by Marcel “hyped” Köhn.
This comes after BIG’s disappointing run at IEM Katowice 2023. The German team managed to make it out of the play-in stage after defeating Complexity and FURIA but failed to win any games in the main event. They lost to G2 Esports (2-0) and Team Spirit (2-1).
Despite stepping down, syrsoN has performed well over the last three months, garnering a 1.08 rating and a plus 47 KD difference, according to HLTV. In fact, stats-wise, he was the team’s best player over that time period.
The 26-year-old is expected to be replaced by hyped on a permanent basis, but it remains to be seen when the official announcement will be made by the German organization.
SyrsoN is the second longest-standing player in BIG’s CS:GO roster. He joined the team in January 2020 after leaving Sprout and had been pivotal to their success for years. In 2020, BIG were one of the best teams in the world, but they mostly played in online tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SyrsoN was named the 10th best player of that year by HLTV.
The qualifier for IEM Brazil 2023 is scheduled to begin today, with two spots in the tournament on the line. Other notable squads taking part in the event are ENCE, Bad News Eagles, and Sprout.
