Gambit Esports
Konstantin "groove" Pikiner Andrew "Kimi" Kvasnevskiy Mikhail "Dosia" Stolyarov
2016-01-08Gambit Esports is a Russian esports organization known primarily for its presence in League of Legends.
History[edit]
Entering the CS:GO Scene & Road to Columbus 2016[edit]
In January of 2016, Gambit had signed the team of HS.GG. HS.GG was primarily known for having the former core of HellRaisers, consisting of Russian player, Mikhail "Dosia" Stolyarov and Kazakh players Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev and Rustem "mou" Telepov. Along the side, this lineup consisted of the Russian veteran, Dmitry "hooch" Bogdanov and up and coming Finnish-Russian player Jan "wayLander" Rahkonen. They were also later accompanied by Kazakh veteran Alexandr "beAst" Yakovlev as their coach, who was responsible mostly for leading the team in-game and helping with the team's strategies.
Their first offline showing was at the CIS Minor for MLG Columbus 2016. They had made it out of the group stage in the minor with a 2-0 record, defeating eXplosive 16-4 on Cache, then later defeating Rebels in a best-of-three in a 2-0 fashion. The first map against Rebels was a very tight game of Cache finishing in MR6 quadruple overtime and a final score of 36-32 to Gambit and later the CIS lineup defeated them 16-14 on Cobblestone to win the series and place first in their group. Making it to the playoffs, they faced Russian team Method featuring future teammate, Ivan "spaze" Obrezhan. In this series, Method secured the first map, Train in a 16-14 fashion. Later on, Gambit would win the second map, Cache 16-11 and Cobblestone 16-8 to make it to the grand finals with a possible chance of securing a spot straight to the offline qualifier. Once the Gambit crew made it to the grand finals, they were met once again by the Rebels, however it was a very easy game for the team as they would wipe out Rebels 16-4 on Inferno and 16-3 on Train to secure their spot to the offline qualifier along with a $30,000 cash prize at the very end.
The next event the Gambit team would make it to was the MLG Columbus 2016 offline qualifier. In this event, they would first be matched up with American favourites Cloud9 and their recent addition of Jake "Stewie2k" Yip in their opening match. They would go on and take them down 16-9 on Cache, following a very good CT side for the CIS lineup of 12-3 on the first half. Moving into the winner's match, they would later face the best Australian team, Renegades who had upset Team Dignitas in their opening game - whilst also recently recruiting Karlo "USTILO" Pivac to their lineup. Gambit's match against Renegades was no match for the likes of the CIS team as they would defeat the Australian force 16-11 on Train as they would make it to their first major as a team. Renegades would later face Cloud9 for one of the last four spots to the major.
MLG Columbus 2016[edit]
After a few unsuccessful attempts of qualifying for DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016, the time for MLG Columbus 2016 had come. Gambit's group consisted of them, Danish favourites Astralis, the slumping French team of EnVyUs and Counter Logic Gaming from home soil. The CIS lineup would first face Astralis, but they would face the defeat after a heavy fight, losing 16-10 on Train. Moving into the loser's match, the crew would face EnVyUs, who were upset by CLG in their opening match. Gambit would successfully pass the test as wayLander pulls off an amazing game against the French dropping over 30 frags and carrying them to the best-of-three decider after a close 16-13 victory on Cache.
Finally moving into the last game of the group stage, they would face the American CLG players. The first map would be Cache, won 16-13 by the CIS lineup which AdreN would take for the team despite a tough fight to win the map. The second map would be Cobblestone, which would be the first of maps following the American's comeback along with a hero clip from Tarik "tarik" Celik near the end of the game - Counter Logic Gaming would defeat Gambit and close the map out at 16-11. The final stepping stone before the playoffs would take place on Mirage, which was yet another lacklustre performance from Gambit as Joshua "jdm64" Marzano and tarik would carry the rest of their team to winning the series over Gambit, ending their major run. Shortly after this, wayLander steps down from the active roster on the 18th of April, and is quickly replaced by spaze the following day. On the 20th of June, he was sold to FlipSid3 Tactics.
ESL One Cologne 2016[edit]
After failing to make the playoffs at the MLG Columbus Major in early 2016, Gambit were forced to play in the ESL One: Cologne 2016 offline qualifier for a chance of gaining a spot at the next major. They managed to make their way out of the qualifier, placing 3rd-5th at the qualifier after wins against OpTic Gaming, Team EnVyUs and G2 Esports. They dropped only one map in the 3rd round of the qualifier's Swiss style system against FaZe Clan on Train, 11-16.
At the main event, Gambit were placed in Group A, alongside Astralis, Team Dignitas and CLG. The team won their opening match against CLG 16-13 on Dust 2 and would next meet Astralis, the favourite for advancing unbeaten out of the group stage. The pressure made no difference however, as the team won the match, with an upset result of 16-6, again on Dust 2. In the playoffs, their promising performance came to an end, after being defeated 5-16 and 3-16 on Train and Cache by Fnatic in the quarter-finals.
Roster changes and ELEAGUE Major 2017[edit]
Following the conclusion of the 2016 Cologne Major, beAst was removed from his position of coach on September 9th, and was replaced by TsaGa on the same day. Later in the month, spaze was demoted from the active roster, and placed into a back-up position. During this period, kUcheR joined the team as a stand-in. Not long after, on October 2nd, hooch announced that he had been removed from the team. 10 days later, HObbit joined the team on a 6 month loan deal from Tengri, alongside former Natus Vincere captain Zeus, who became the new captain for the team. Some success followed thereafter for the team, such as winning DreamHack Winter 2016.
At ELEAGUE Major 2017 in Atlanta, Gambit had a successful group-stage campaign, losing only one game in the Swiss system. In the first round, Gambit defeated North 16-8 on Cobblestone, the opening match of the tournament. In the 2nd round, they defeated GODSENT 16-9 on Overpass on the back of an inspired performance by AdreN. However in their third round match, they faced the Polish powerhouse Virtus.pro and faced defeat at 16-10 on Train. In the fourth round, Gambit faced FaZe Clan, who they beat 16-14 on Overpass, securing Legend status for the second Major in a row.
Now in the playoffs, the squad once again met Fnatic. The best-of-three series kicked off with Fnatic's choice of Cache, where Gambit lost 7-16. The second map however, Zeus led the squad with incredible composure to a swift victory of 16-3 on Overpass, a map which had looked solid for them all tournament. In the third map however, their good form came to a close as they were defeated 7-16 on Dust II, ending their major run at the quarter-finals.
PGL Major Kraków 2017 and beyond[edit]
After making the playoffs at the ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta, Gambit kept their legend spot for the second consecutive time. Their quarter-final finish placed them in the 2nd seeding pool for the next Major, meaning they would be playing opponents from group 3 in the first round, the teams that placed 1st-2nd and 3rd-5th at the PGL Major Offline Qualifier. Their first opponents were mousesports, who placed 1st-2nd at the Offline qualifier. Gambit surged to a 16-10 victory on Inferno, thanks to a strong performance from the whole squad. In the winners bracket of round 2, the team faced G2 Esports, and took them down in a convincing 16-6 win on Cache, a favourite map for the Frenchmen. In the third round, the good performance continued after a 16-11 win on Train, against home favourites, Virtus.pro.
After reaching the quarter-finals, Gambit met Fnatic for the third consecutive time in a Major's playoffs. This time, however, they broke their quarter-final curse by sweeping Fnatic 2-0, with scores of 16-14 and 16-12 on Train and Inferno respectively. In the semi-finals, Gambit were matched up against Astralis, the tournament favourites after having knocked out SK Gaming prior to the match. Astounding performances from AdreN and mou helped the team defeat the Danes 2-1. The final scores were 16-10, 8-16 and finally 16-12 on Overpass, Inferno and Train respectively.
Gambit moved on to face Immortals in a surprise grand-final. Things did not start well for Gambit in the best-of-three series, after being crushed on Cobblestone, and only being able to win 4 rounds in the entire match. The next map was Train, which Gambit had looked solid on thus far in the tournament, after defeating Virtus.pro, Fnatic and Astralis on the latter map. The final scoreline was 16-11, splitting the series 1-1. Everything came down to the final map, Inferno, another solid map for both teams. The first half ended 11-4 in Gambit's favour, thanks to strong holds and plays from the three Kazakh players, AdreN, mou and HObbit. When the sides turned however, Immortals started to close the gap, after winning the pistol round and being able to string together four rounds consecutively, before Gambit could win one back. After winning one round on the T half to set the score at 12-8, Gambit were immediately reset. Despite the bad economy, Zeus led the team to win the next 2 rounds, placing the score at 14-9. The best efforts of Immortals were no match, with the Brazilians only able to win one round out of the next three, which left the final scoreline 16-10, marking the first Major win for any CIS team in history. AdreN was pronounced MVP of the Major by HLTV, thanks to his amazing individual performances and consistent fragging throughout the tournament.
Shortly after this spectacular performance, captain of the team, Zeus, and coach of the team, kane, left the team due to internal disagreements. Both players transferred to Natus Vincere, Zeus's former team. fitch was acquired on August 15th on a trial basis to complete the roster with AdreN becoming the new IGL for the team. On November 15th, fitch's trial was completed and he was signed to the team though later on Dosia was given the responsibility of IGL. Andi, former Natus Vincere coach was also brought along at an earlier time.
On the 16th of January, 2018, Gambit Esports announced that the club was bought by the Russian mobile operator MTS. [1]
Timeline[edit]
- January 8th - Gambit Gaming signs HS.GG.[2]
- January 19th - beAst joins as coach. [3]
- April 18th - wayLander steps down from the Gambit roster.[4]
- April 19th - spaze joins Gambit Gaming.[5]
- June 20th - Gambit Gaming agree to sell wayLander to FlipSid3 Tactics. [6]
- September 9th - Gambit replace beAst with TsaGa as the coach of the team. [7]
- September 24th - Gambit announce that spaze has been demoted to a substitute position, while kUcheR joins as a stand-in.[8]
- October 2nd - hooch announces that he has been removed from the team. [9]
- October 12th - HObbit joins Gambit Gaming after Tengri agree to loan him for six months. [10] and Zeus is signed by Gambit Gaming and become their new captain.[11]
- November - Gambit Gaming rebrands to Gambit Esports.
- July 23rd - Gambit Esports win PGL Major Kraków 2017, defeating Immortals 2-1 in the grand final.
- August 2nd - Gambit Esports buyout HObbit from Tengri. [12]
- August 9th - Zeus and kane leave the team - following internal disagreements - to join Natus Vincere.[13]
- August 15th - fitch completes Gambit's roster.[14]
- October 4th - Andi joins as coach. [15]
- November 15th - fitch's trial ends successfully.
- February 6th - seized joins the team on trial and fitch is benched. [16]
- May 27th - seized is benched, mir is leased from Vega Squadron for a month . [17]
- June 10th - Andi resigns from his coaching position. [18]
- June 27th - Gambit Esports announce that they have purchased mir's contract from Vega Squadron. [19]
- July 3rd - fitch's contract expires and he becomes a free agent. [20]
Player Roster[edit]
Active[edit]
| Active Squad | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | |||
|
|
Dosia 
|
Mikhail Stolyarov | 2016-01-08 [2] | ||
|
AdreN | Dauren Kystaubayev | 2016-01-08 [2] | ||
|
|
mou | Rustem Telepov | 2016-01-08 [2] | ||
|
|
Hobbit | Abay Khassenov | 2017-08-02 [12] | ||
|
|
mir | Nikolay Bityukov | 2018-06-27 [19] | ||
Inactive[edit]
| Inactive Players | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Inactive Date | ||
|
|
seized | Denis Kostin | 2018-02-06 [16] | 2018-05-27 [17] | |
Former[edit]
| Former Players | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | ||
|
|
fitch | Bektiyar Bahytov | 2017-11-15 [14] | 2018-07-03 [20] |  AVANGAR
| |
|
|
mir (Loan)  |
Nikolay Bityukov | 2018-05-27 [17] | 2018-06-27 [19] |  Gambit Esports
| |
|
Andi (Coach) | Andrey Prokhorov | 2017-10-04 [15] | 2018-06-10 [18] | ||
|
|
fitch (Trial) | Bektiyar Bahytov | 2017-08-15 [14] | 2017-11-15 [14] | Gambit Esports
| |
|
|
Zeus
|
Daniil Teslenko | 2016-10-12 [11] | 2017-08-09 [13] |  Natus Vincere
| |
|
|
kane (Coach) | Mykhailo Blagin | 2016-10-12 | 2017-08-09 [13] | Natus Vincere
| |
|
|
HObbit (Loan)  |
Abay Khasenov | 2016-10-12 [10] | 2017-08-02 [12] | Gambit Esports
| |
|
|
spaze (Inactive from 2016-09-24) | Ivan Obrezhan | 2016-04-19 [5] | 2016-10-24 |  s4s
| |
|
|
hooch
|
Dmitry Bogdanov | 2016-01-08 [2] | 2016-10-02 [9] | s4s
| |
|
|
beAst (Coach) | Alexandr Yakovlev | 2016-01-19 [3] | 2016-09-09 [7] | Inactivity
| |
|
wayLander (Inactive from 2016-04-18) | Jan Rahkonen | 2016-01-08 [2] | 2016-06-20 [6] |  FlipSid3 Tactics
| |
| Temporary stand-ins | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Replacing | ID | Name | Tournament(s) | |||
|
|
groove (coach) |
Konstantin Pikiner[18] | DreamHack Open Summer 2018 ZOTAC Cup Master 2018 Europe | |||||
|
|
phise | Alexander Grabovskiy |  |
|
AdreN | Dauren Kystaubayev | ESEA MDL Season 28 Europe (vs. Royal Bandits) | |
|
|
theryan | Danil Novikov | |
|
AdreN | Dauren Kystaubayev | ESEA MDL Season 28 Europe (vs. EnVyUs Academy) | |
|
|
ANGE1  |
Kirill Karasov | |
|
seized | Denis Kostin | ECS Season 5 Europe (vs. mousesports) | |
|
|
seized | Denis Kostin | |
|
fitch | Bektiyar Bahytov | ESEA Premier S27 - Europe IEM XII Katowice Qualifier | |
|
|
kUcheR | Emil Akhundov | |
|
spaze | Ivan Obrezhan | Adrenaline Cyber League 2016 | |
|
|
DavCost  |
Vadim Vasilyev | |
|
spaze | Ivan Obrezhan | ELEAGUE Season 1 - Last Chance Qualifier | |
|
|
DavCost  |
Vadim Vasilyev | |
|
mou | Rustem Tlepov | Operation: Kinguin #2 | |
Organization[edit]
| Organization | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | |||
|
|
groove | Konstantin Pikiner | CEO | 2016-01-08 | ||
|
|
Kimi | Andrew Kvasnevskiy | Manager | 2017-??-?? | ||
Former[edit]
| Former Organization | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | Leave Date | New Organization | |
|
|
TsaGa | Rustam Tsagolov | Analyst | 2016-09-09[7] | 2018-06-06 |  Monolith Gaming
|
Achievements[edit]
| Date | Placement | Tier | Tournament | Results | Prize | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-04-22 | 3rd - 4th | Premier |
|
DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 | 0 : 2 |
|
$22,000 |
| 2017-12-10 | 1st | Major |
|
ROG Masters 2017 | 3 : 0 | 
|
$117,500 |
| 2017-09-03 | 3rd - 4th | Premier |
|
DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 | 0 : 2 | 
|
$22,000 |
| 2017-07-23 | 1st | Premier |
|
PGL Major Kraków 2017 | 2 : 1 | 
|
$500,000 |
| 2017-04-30 | 1st | Major |
|
DreamHack Open Austin 2017 | 2 : 0 |
|
$50,000 |
| 2017-04-23 | 2nd | Major |
|
cs_summit 1 | 1 : 3 | 
|
$33,750 |
| 2016-11-26 | 1st | Premier |
|
DreamHack Open Winter 2016 | 2 : 0 | 
|
$50,000 |
| 2016-11-06 | 1st | Major |
|
Acer Predator Masters Season 3 | 3 : 0 | 
|
$25,000 |
| 2016-10-01 | 1st | Major |
|
Adrenaline Cyber League 2016 | 2 : 1 |
|
$50,000 |
| 2016-01-24 | 1st | Major |
|
CIS Minor Championship - Columbus 2016 | 2 : 0 | 
|
$30,000 |
| About achievementsComplete Results in any Tournament | |||||||
Gallery[edit]
Rosters[edit]
Logos[edit]
Original logo used prior to July 8th, 2016
Alternate logo first used at DreamHack Winter 2016
References[edit]
- ↑ "MTS invests in esports and acquires Gambit Esports club". Gambit Esports. 2018-01-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 serginio (2016-01-08). "Welcome Gambit CS:GO". Gambit Gaming. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 serginio (2016-01-19). "beAst to Coach Gambit CS:GO". Gambit Gaming. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
- ↑ MIRAA (2016-01-08). "wayLander leaves Gambit". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 alex kryvytskyy (2016-04-19). "spaze joins Gambit CS:GO". Gambit.gg. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 MJ Finch (2016-06-20). "Gambit and FlipSid3 close deal on wayLander". FlipSid3 Tactics.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Gambit - Roster History". ESEA. 2016-09-09.
- ↑ professeur (2016-09-24). "kUcheR to replace spaze in Gambit". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Dmitry "hooch" Bogdanov (2016-10-02). "Good finish for my time in Gambit".
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 alexkryvytskyy (2016-10-12). "HObbit joins Gambit".
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 alexkryvytskyy (2016-10-12). "Zeus - new captain of Gambit CS:GO". Gambit Gaming.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "HObbit officialy joins Gambit". Gambit Esports. 2017-08-02.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Zeus is back to Natus Vincere G2A!". Natus Vincere. 2017-08-09.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 "Fitch completes Gambit CS:GO roster". Gambit Esports. 2017-08-15.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Andi to coach Gambit CS:GO". Gambit Esports. 2017-10-04.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "seized joins Gambit CS:GO". Gambit Esports. 2018-02-06.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 breakthedeskplz (2018-05-27). "Gambit leases Nikolay "mir" Bityukov from Vega Squadron". Gambit Esports.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Andrey "Andi" Prokhorov resigns from Gambit CS:GO head coach position". Gambit Esports. 2018-06-10.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 breakthedeskplz (2018-06-29). "Gambit Esports is buying out mir's contract from Vega Squadron". Gambit Esports.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 fitch (2018-07-03). "Hi all. I’m free agent now. Thanks to @GambitEsports for everything.".
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