German Counter-Strike was a marvel to see in the days of 1.6, and it’s been a long time since the scene had much acclaim. But Johannes ‘tabseN’ Wodarz has slowly been building up the country’s prominence in the esport alongside the rest of the BIG lineup.
Hailing from pre-Source era LANs, tabseN was there when the Germans were a force to be reckoned with, alongside the neighboring French teams of the time. But that pales in comparison to modern CS:GO, where a German player has yet to even grace a grand finals for a Major.
Looking to right that wrong, tabseN would leave NRG Esports in 2017 to create Berlin International Gaming (BIG). He linked up with Fatih ‘gob b’ Dayik and Nikola ‘LEGIJA’ Ninic to take Germany back to its CS glory days.
The early road was rocky, to say the least. Roster changes and injuries marred the first couple years.
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This made it hard for tabseN and co. to put together any meaningful results, with only minor success or deep bracket runs that would fizzle out before reaching the finals. TabseN didn’t win a single championship in 2019, that was his first dry year since 2012.
- Read more: Nadeshot explains 100 Thieves exit from CSGO
Then the online era of 2020 rolled around, where he was now the prominent IGL and the team had added Florian ‘syrsoN’ Rische and Nils ‘k1to’ Gruhne to the lineup.
Like classic German engineering, he would create a team that could withstand major obstacles and persist pressure. This is the story of how tabseN rebuilt German Counter-Strike.
