After heroics saw them qualify for Stage 2 with an incredible comeback against NRG, BIG couldn’t get another comeback over the line to earn the opportunity to play in front of the German fans in Stage 3.

Following their heartbreaking loss against B8, AN1MO caught up with JDC to discuss the loss and what BIG learned following their first foray into tier one CS as a unit.

A tough loss to take. How are you feeling straight afterwards?
I'm a bit disappointed. Many things could have gone our way; Overpass is one of our favourite maps but I think I didn't show up to the level I should've on that map, I woke up very late in the series.

I had a rough start on Ancient, but we were good so that didn't matter. On Overpass we couldn't get it going. On Dust2 I had an incredible game in the beginning, but some of the rounds were just crumbling even though we had a good lead.

There were just mistakes in our overall game. I'm devastated.

When we did our interview for the magazine you spoke about how you never expected to be here for this event. What positives are you taking from it? Are you still proud of the run and how far you went?
There's many positives, this wasn't a given, and working our way here has been incredibly hard.

We can't take for granted. The comeback versus NRG, beating MIBR and paiN, having the chance to make it to Stage 3 with two BO3s. Of course, it sucks to have been killed by G2 and having a close game against B8 that we could've converted, but if we look at it, we said at the beginning that it's a long-term project.

Now, we actually have a hurdle to overcome. We've been blessed with 80% win rate and winning many tier two events, so now I hope this is a time where the team doesn't crumble because we've had our first set back.

We need to reflect and learn within our positions, there's a lot of room to improve and we have a tournament in two or three weeks, so we need to be ready.

You also mentioned back in that interview that you hadn't faced opposition as high level as you would here. What have you learned now you've played at the tier one event?
For me, what stood out is that as soon as we faced better opposition, we went away from our game. We over-complicated things and didn't stick true to our roles, and maybe lost confidence in what we do.

Other than that, it's something we have to reflect on. I can't pinpoint one thing right now. I think everyone in the team did amazing, and I think everyone in the team did badly. Now it's a case of reducing the bad and increasing the good so that we find a good solution.

Have the results here changed the expectations for the rest of the year?
I'm not so sure. It's definitely a setback for us mentally right now, we expected to win this game against B8. They're a team that, if you want to be really good, you have to beat them, so while they're obviously strong, it's not a team out of our range.

We have to look at ourselves now and see. If this sets us back mentally, it'll be very bad, and they can't happen.

What are the goals now for the rest of the year?
We have to watch this Major back a lot, and that will be our preparation for that next event in China. We have the chance there to step up, so we want to finish our season on a strong note there and maybe go on a playoff run and beat some very good teams there.

📺 Watch the full interview.