BIG sign gr1ks; Switch to English

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 10/10/2025

BIG have confirmed the signing of Gleb ‘gr1ks’ Gazin from Heroic in a move that will see the German org move to English in-game communication.

Heroic signed gr1ks in late June, but benched the AWPer soon after due to proported in-game differences.

gr1ks replaces German AWPer Marcel ‘hyped’ Köhn, ending his second stint in the German roster.

gr1ks ends short but not sweet Heroic stay

His short stay at Heroic saw gr1ks play only 17 maps before being benched at the beginning of August.

The bizarre episode concluded with Heroic releasing a statement saying that “Not all the pieces we put together have fit as well as we hoped, and we take full responsibility for that.”

The statement went on to back coach Tobias ‘TOBIZ’ Theo, citing stylestyle differences.

gr1k’s was replaced by Älımjan ‘alkarenn’ Bıtımbai of Spirit Academy, who has since AWPed for a Heroic roster who went on to fail to qualify for the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.

gr1ks in return stated that he had made it clear what kind of player he wanted to be, and that didn’t align with Heroic.

Prior to securing the deal with BIG, gr1ks was loaned to GUN5 where the AWPer kept up his game-readiness in Tier 2/3 Counter-Strike.

What can BIG expect from gr1ks?

BIG therefore have secured a player who is seemingly ready to play, and will be well aware of his tendancies and preferences.

Specifically, gr1ks is a highly aggressive AWPer – something which has proven to be a tough task in modern Counter-Strike.

While players like Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov exemplify the impact such AWPers can have, other aggressive AWPers have found it difficult to be consistent at the top of CS.

We have seen recently players like Liquid’s Roland ‘Ultimate’ Tomkowiak emerge with aggro playstyles, but quickly be figured out in the cauldron of anti-stratting and demo watching endemic to Tier 1 CS.

The good news for BIG is that they’re in reality not a Tier 1 organisation at the moment.

gr1ks may be able to build into higher opposition as BIG plough through the dozens of online officials in Tier 2 CS.

The adjustment may, in fact, be more difficult for BIG who are now communicating in English.

The roster still includes four Germans, and a German coach in Sebastian ‘xenn’ Hoch.

The organisation has made similar moves to accomodate Britain’s Owen ‘⁠smooya⁠’ Butterfield and Britain/Pole Mateusz “‘mantuu⁠’ Wilczewski in the past.

However, the mid-season change will be a significant adjustment for the players who make mid-season.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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