Esports Update: Gambit Esports managed to live up to their pre-tournament favouritism to claim first place at this year’s ROG Masters 2017. The side were largely expected to take the spoils, given their status as a tier-one team in comparison to the other sides at the event. However, this was also an opportunity for Gambit to show some consistency over lower-tier teams, something they have lacked as of late.
Gambit quickly out of the gate
Beginning play in Group A, in a best-of-two series, Gambit began against 5POWER on Overpass. Gambit came out of the gates on fire, securing the first 12 rounds on their T side before dropping a round. Gambit ultimately grabbed a dominant 13-2 half before swapping over to the more-favoured CT side. The UK-based side claimed the first three rounds in relatively simple fashion for the dominant 16-2 victory, although oddly enough, Dosia only grabbed four kills in the win.
Cache was a different story, however, as 5POWER leapt out to a 5-0 lead on their own T side. Gambit recovered nicely, pulling the score to 7-8 at the half. Gambit then returned to their dominant form, garnering eight of the nine opening rounds on their T side to put themselves on map point at 15-9. Five rounds later, Gambit broke through, claiming the 16-13 win and the 2-0 victory.
Gambit made to work for the win
The second and final Group A series was against Splyce, in which Splyce pulled off the opening upset on Mirage. Every player on Gambit had a similar game, as each player either secured 24 (mou, fitch, AdreN) or 23 (Dosia and HObbit) kills in the 16-19 overtime loss. Gambit did, however, rebound and claim Nuke 16-8, a map teams are rarely willing to play in today’s Counter-Strike landscape, pushing Gambit straight into the semifinals due to a tiebreaker (that Gambit won 16-10 on Mirage, avenging their earlier defeat).
Vega Squadron fall in semis
The semifinals, which were held as best-of-three contests, saw Gambit face off against Vega Squadron, initially on Overpass. Beginning on the right foot, Gambit ground out a 7-3 lead on the less favoured T side before Vega closed with four of five rounds for the 8-7 Gambit lead. From there, it appeared to all fall apart for Gambit, as after claiming the opening two rounds, the side looked completely lost on their CT defence. Everything worked for Vega, as they won the final nine rounds in a row for the stunning 16-10 win. jR led the way for Vega with 26 kills, continually opening up the defence.
The next map of Mirage was all about each team’s T side, where first Vega Squadron secured ten rounds for a commanding 10-5 half. Gambit, however, impressed on their own T side, only dropping two rounds in a dominant 11-2 half for the 16-12 victory. The final map of Cache was completely one-sided, as Vega only claimed a single round on their T side, leading to a 14-1 half for Gambit, and an eventual 16-1 stomp. Fitch went ballistic, with 24 kills in the 17 rounds of play.
Gambit sweep the finals
The grand finals saw Gambit square off against TyLoo. The Chinese outfit had battled every step of the way, from their last place in the group before two 2-1 victories in the playoffs. The first map of Overpass was incredibly close, with TyLoo relying completely on bondik for anything positive in the game. Each team continually secured a few rounds before their opponents strung together their own streak, leading to an incredibly back-and-forth affair.
Down 13-14, Gambit finally found consistency on their CT side as they claimed the final three rounds for the 16-14 thriller. As noted, bondik went absolutely crazy for TyLoo, grabbing 38 kills with no overtime. The second map of Inferno once again was all about Gambit’s T side, as they burst out of the gates for a 12-3 half. Gambit quickly swept TyLoo away on their CT side, dropping a single round before achieving victory at 16-4.
At this point, it looked as though the third map of Train would be a stomp, given Gambit’s momentum and prowess. Yet TyLoo showed up, pulling out nine rounds on their CT side for the 9-6 lead. Gambit responded in similar fashion, also securing nine rounds on their CT side, setting up overtime. Gambit completely dominated their overtime CT side, gathering all three rounds for the 18-15 score line and championship point. While TyLoo did claim the first round of their CT side, it was too little too late, as Gambit secured the final round needed for the win, and the championship.
While Gambit did pull out the victory in 3-0 fashion, the close nature – 16-14 and an overtime win – leave the same questions that many had entering the tournament. If anything, more was learned about TyLoo, as the Chinese battled back throughout the playoffs and continued to keep it close with the much higher-tier team in Gambit.
