BIG makes more radical changes in CS2: Krimbo out, new IGL in

BIG has benched Karim “Krimbo” Moussa, its best CS2 player, on October 12. Additionally, the German organization promoted Lukas “⁠FreeZe⁠” Hegmann from the academy team to the main squad, and he’ll be the new IGL, taking over the captaincy from Johannes “⁠tabseN⁠” Wodarz.

These radical roster changes see BIG continue its roster overhaul after replacing Marcel “⁠hyped⁠” Köhn with the Belarusian AWPer Gleb “gr1ks” Gazin on October 10. By adding gr1ks, BIG became an international team, as they will have to switch their communication from German to English.

Though the removal of Krimbo seems shocking, it’s more likely that the German rifler asked to step down and play for a consolidated international project, rather than helping BIG shape theirs, which could fail or take months to see significant results.

BIG’s Chief Gaming Officer, Roman Reinhardt, said in an official statement that he knows Krimbo will “perform successfully” in his next step, indicating that the organization and the player are parting ways.

Krimbo and we reached a joint decision to pause his participation in the active lineup. I am sure that whatever his next step may be, he will continue to perform successfully at the highest level and appreciate his dedication and the standard he has set.

This roster overhaul comes after a disastrous season, in which BIG failed to qualify for both the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 and the StarLadder Budapest Major. So, it’s understandable that the German organization is shaking things up heading to 2026.

How will these changes affect BIG?

TabseN’s days as BIG’s IGL are over — for now. Credit: Sebastian Pandelache | © PGL

BIG loses a reliable fragger by parting ways with Krimbo, but the team likely is putting their chips on tabseN returning to his peak form now that he’s no longer IGLing.

The 30-year-old has been BIG’s IGL for the past six years through the good and bad times. But this year, nothing worked, and tabseN’s individual level worsened.

It does seem strange that BIG is banking on FreeZe, an unproven player at the highest level who’s also 27 years old, to lead the team for now on. Before this move, it seemed that FreeZe’s career as a player was over, as BIG had made him an assistant coach in August.

This is what Roman Reinhardt had to say about FreeZe’s promotion to IGL:

FreeZe brings a new structure and a fresh perspective to our in-game leadership, while tabseN’s role change ensures his influence remains central to how we play with all his experience and dedication for BIG.

So, BIG will play the NODWIN Clutch Series 1 playoffs on October 17 with FreeZe, tabseN, gr1ks, Jon “⁠JDC⁠” de Castro, and David “⁠prosus⁠” Hesse.

Read more CS2 news here.

Feature image credit: Sebastian Pandelache | © PGL