faveN on BIG at the CS2 Esports World Cup: “Our minimum goal is to make it to the playoffs.”
BIG’s CS2 rifler, Josef “faveN” Baumann, in an interview at the 2026 CS2 Esports World Cup, discussed the map pick against Aurora Gaming and the team’s preparation on the Cache map, and also outlined the roster’s goals for the event.
On the map selection for the match against Aurora Gaming
We expected that Dust2 and Cache would be the last two maps remaining in the pick pool. Yesterday during practice, the captain and coach were 100 percent certain of this. If we’d been lucky, Inferno—which favors us—would have been left, but if I’m not mistaken, it was banned. In the end, everything played out exactly as we thought it would, so we played on Cache. Not too long ago, we actually had practice matches against Aurora on this map, so overall we knew what to expect.
On practicing on Cache
I agree that it’s a bit harder to play defense on Cache. Why, then, did we have such a strong first half? The fact is, we practiced this map a lot. After Overpass—which was one of our strongest maps—was removed, blameF said we needed to bring Cache up to the same level. Our efforts paid off in full; now it’s among the maps we’re most comfortable with as a team.
On our goals for the championship
Right now, after our debut victory, our minimum goal is to make it to the playoffs, and once we’re there, we’ll see how far we can go. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself; we’ll just take it one opponent at a time and one match at a time.
In their debut match at the Esports World Cup for CS2, BIG defeated Aurora Gaming 1-0 in a best-of-1 series. Josef “faveN” Baumann’s team secured a spot in the upper bracket semifinals of the event’s group stage, where they’ll face G2 Esports.
Photo — Roman Imperium Cup.
