Gambit Esports

Gambit Esports,[1][2] also known by its former name Gambit Gaming, is a Russian esports organisation based in the United Kingdom. It was established in January 2013 after the acquisition of the former League of Legends roster of Moscow Five. The organization previously had a team competing in the European League of Legends Championship Series (EU LCS).

Gambit Esports
Short nameGMB
DivisionsCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
Dota 2
FIFA 19
League of Legends
Founded14 January 2013 (2013-01-14)
Based inLondon, United Kingdom
LocationRussia
CEOKonstantin "groove" Pikiner
PartnersMTS
Websitegambit.gg
The former logos of Gambit Esports from 2013–2015 (top) and 2016–2020 (bottom)

Gambit currently has a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team,[2] a Dota 2 team[3] and a League of Legends team competing in the League of Legends Continental League.[4] The organisation also sponsors a FIFA 19 player, Andrei "Timon" Gurev.[5]

Counter-Strike:Global Offensive

History

On 8 January 2016, Gambit acquired a CS:GO roster consisting mostly of former HellRaisers players.[6] The players were Mikhail "Dosia" Stolyarov, Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev, Rustem "mou" Telepov, Dmitry "hooch" Bogdanov, and Jan "wayLander" Rahkonen. Gambit qualified for MLG Columbus 2016, beating Renegades and Cloud9 in the offline qualifier and later placed 9–12th at the main event. Gambit announced the departure of wayLander on 18 April 2016[7] and officially signed Ivan "spaze" Obrezhan on 19 April 2016.[8] Gambit removed spaze from the active roster on 24 September 2016 and used Emil "kUcheR" Akhundov as a stand-in.[9] Dmitry "hooch" Bogdanov was removed from the team on 2 October 2016.[10] Daniil "Zeus" Teslenko and Abay "HObbit" Khasenov joined Gambit on 12 October,[11] the latter being a six-month loan from the Kazakhstani team Tengri.[12] Gambit won Acer Predator Masters 3 after beating Team Kinguin 3–0 in the finals on 5 November 2016.[13]

On 23 July 2017, Gambit defeated Immortals 2–1 in the grand final of the PGL Major 2017 in Krakow, becoming the first CIS team to win a CS:GO major.[14]

On 9 August 2017, Zeus and Kane stepped down from Gambit to join Natus Vincere.[15][16]

After "ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018" Bektiyar "fitch" Bakhytov left the main team. To replace, a former Na'Vi player and Flipsid3 Denis "seized" Costin was invited, who soon became a full member of the team.

On 27 May 2018, the team released Denis "seized" Costin, and acquired Nikolay "mir" Bityukov from Vega Squadron to replace him. On 10 June 2018, Andrew "Andi" Prokhorov left his coaching position. On 24 June 2018, former Flipsid3 Tactics player Andrei "B1ad3" Gorodensky, who was leased before the end of September 2018, was invited to the position of trainer.

On 5 September 2020, Gambit Youngsters coach Ivan "⁠F_1N⁠" Kochugov admitted using the coaching bug that allowed him to give information about enemy players. He was suspended by Gambit.[17]

On 5 October 2020, Gambit promoted its academy team, Gambit Youngsters, to the main line-up, after they managed to stay in the weekly updated HLTV top 30 ranking for 12 consecutive weeks.[18]

Current roster

Nat. ID Name Role Joined
sh1ro Dimitry Sokolov AWPer 21 May 2019[19]
interz⁠ Timofey Yakushin Rifler 21 May 2019[19]
⁠nafany⁠ Vladislav Gorshkov Rifler 21 May 2019[19]
⁠Ax1Le⁠ Sergey Rykhtorov Rifler 7 July 2019[20]
Hobbit⁠ Abay Khasenov In-Game Leader 27 June 2020[21]
groove Konstantin Pikiner Coach 28 September 2020[22]

Former players

Nat. ID Name Join date Leave date
Dosia Mikhail Stolyarov 8 January 2016 2 December 2019
mou Rustem Telepov 8 January 2016 2 December 2019
mir Nikolay Bityukov 27 May 2018 26 September 2019
dimasick Dmytro Matvienko 14 October 2018 1 October 2019
wayLander Jan Rahkonen 8 January 2016 18 April 2016
spaze Ivan Obrezhan 19 April 2016 24 September 2016
hooch Dmitry Bogdanov 8 January 2016 2 October 2016
Zeus Daniil Teslenko 12 October 2016 9 August 2017
seized Denis Kostin 6 February 2018 26 May 2018
AdreN Dauren Kystaubayev 8 January 2016 1 December 2018
bondik Vladyslav Nechyporchuk 31 December 2018 18 March 2019

Notable achievements

Bold denotes a CS:GO Major

2016

  • 1st CIS Minor Championship - Columbus 2016[23]
  • 1st Adrenaline Cyber League[24]
  • 1st Acer Predator Masters Season 3[25]
  • 1st DreamHack Winter 2016

2017

League of Legends

Gambit Esports
Short nameGMB
GameLeague of Legends
Founded14 January 2013
LeagueEU LCS (2013–2015)
LCL (2016–present)
Team historyMTG (2011)
Team Empire (2011)
Moscow Five (2011–2012)
Gambit Gaming (2013–2015)
Gambit.CIS (2016–2017)
Gambit Esports (2018–present)
Based inMoscow, Russia
Head coachIgors "ATRemains" Radkevič
ManagerVladimir "Kayos" Ivanov
Championships3
AnalystEvgeny "Seigimitsu" Podlobnikov

EU LCS (2013–2015)

On 10 January 2013, the now-defunct esports organisation Moscow Five released their League of Legends roster; this was in part due to the arrest of their CEO Dmitry Smilianets in July 2013, which left the organisation with a lack of funding for several months.[31] Four days later, on 14 January, it was announced that Gambit Gaming had acquired the former M5 roster.[32]

Marking their first appearance in an offline event as Gambit Gaming, in late January 2013, the Russian team would compete in IEM Season VII - Global Challenge Katowice as one of the eight qualified teams. Gambit Gaming would go 1–2 in the group stage, winning against MYM, while losing to Curse Gaming EU and Azubu Blaze. Because of this, the round robin had a tie between MYM, Gambit and Curse Gaming EU, all of whom went 1–2. A time coefficient was used to break the tie, giving Gambit Gaming a spot in the semi-finals. Gambit Gaming, as the underdogs, would defeat Azubu Frost 2–0, then go on to take first place by knocking out Korean powerhouse Azubu Blaze, who they had lost to in the group stage. Gambit Gaming took home US$15,000 (~11,609 EUR) as well as a direct seed into the IEM World Championship.

Having qualified as Moscow Five, Gambit Gaming would compete in the European Season 3 League of Legends Championship Series. Gambit would be a highly respected threat throughout Spring, being one of the most feared teams to play. They would complete the European Spring LCS Split in 2nd place, with a record of 21–7. This ensured their LCS spot for the summer split portion of the league. They would then take second place in the Season 3 EU Spring Playoffs, losing 2–3 to Fnatic in the final.

Gambit attended the IEM Season VII - World Championship in Hannover, Germany in March. The team dominated their group, going undefeated with a 5–0 score, placing them in the semi-finals. They then faced CJ Entus Frost and lost the set 2–1, knocking Gambit out of the tournament and seeing them finish in 3rd overall.

The Russian team was invited to play in an international exhibition at 2013 MLG Winter Championship, playing first against Americans Team Dignitas, they won 2–0, by constantly pressuring their opponent. Gambit then faced Korean top contender KT Rolster B in the exhibition finals but were unable to beat them and secure 1st place, losing the match 2–1.

In April 2013, Gambit Gaming players Danil "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov, Aleksei "Alex Ich" Ichetovkin, Evgeny "Genja" Andryushin, and Edward "Edward" Abgaryan were publicly voted to represent their respective positions on the Europe LCS All Star team, to compete at All-Star Shanghai 2013 and play against the world's best All Star teams, chosen in the same fashion.[33] However, a rule stating that only 3 members of any team, could be inducted onto the team caused Genja to be replaced as AD Carry by Evil Geniuses' Yellowpete. The team's top lane was sOAZ from Fnatic. The EU LCS first faced off against heavy favorites Korean OGN Champions, and although good early game play from jungler Diamondprox looked promising for the team, the Koreans overtook them in a 2-0 set. Their next opponent was from their sibling league, the North America LCS. Both teams played an explosive two games of up and down fighting, however, NA LCS ended up being the victor, knocking the EU LCS out of the tournament.

A few days before Summer EU LCS started, long time support player Edward would leave the team, stating "First of all, the main reason of such end is misunderstandings between me and Genja. Despite to the fact that we played together for more than one year we didn't fit to each other. Secondly, I don't like the current atmosphere in the team after few bad results in a row. Due to these factors I have decided to leave the team."

In July 2013, GoSu Papper left the team to join Team Curse.[34]

Edward was then replaced by Darker who eventually lost his spot to Voidle, who was then released on 4 November.

On 17 August 2013, Gambit Gaming would finish the Summer Split tied up for 2nd place, at 15–13, along with Fnatic, Evil Geniuses and Ninjas in Pyjamas. However they managed to secure a 4th-place finish after losing the tie breaker against Evil Geniuses, going on to defeat Ninjas in Pyjamas in the losers bracket then losing again to Evil Geniuses in the deciders match, which granted Gambit Gaming a spot on the Summer Playoffs.

Gambit would then play against Ninjas in Pyjamas in the Summer Playoffs, defeating them 2-0 and advancing to the Semifinals where they would lose 0–2 against Lemondogs, dropping the 3rd Place Match to face Evil Geniuses, in a match that decided the third team that would represent Europe in the Season 3 World Championship. Gambit was victorious and claimed the win over Evil Geniuses, 2–1.[35]

Gambit was placed into a tough group with fellow European rivals Fnatic, North American third seed Team Vulcun, Korean OGN Spring Winners Samsung Galaxy Ozone and Filipino champions Mineski. They earned an undefeated 3-0 their first day of the group stage, looking extremely strong as Europe's third seed. Gambit continued to play solidly throughout the groups, finishing in a tie for 2nd place with Samsung Galaxy Ozone at 5–3. In a close tiebreaker game against the Korean team, Gambit emerged victorious and advanced to the playoffs with fellow European competitor Fnatic.

Gambit faced off against the Korean first seed NaJin Black Sword in the quarterfinals. NaJin Black Sword was called a "dark horse threat" by caster MonteCristo since they had not competed in the previous two months and had recently replaced their starting mid laner, SSONG, with substitute player Nagne. After winning the first game, Gambit succumbed to the Koreans 1–2 in a close match, thus being eliminated from the tournament and taking home seventh place.

Gambit's first tournament in the 2014 season was the IEM World Championship. The team performed well, but were knocked out in the semifinals by KT Rolster Bullets.

The Spring Split was a slight disappointment for Gambit. Also, due to visa issues, Darien, Diamondprox, Alex Ich, and Genja were all unable to play in the 6th week of the Spring Season. Zorozero, Hulberto, Nukeduck, and fury III substituted for Top, Jungle, Mid, and ADC respectively. The team only managed a 5th-place finish in the split. This was a fall from Gambit's high standards, but still meant that they had a spot in the Spring Playoffs. The team ended up coming in 5th in the tournament, after losing to Team ROCCAT in the quarterfinals.

In May Alex Ich left Gambit for Challenger Series team Ninjas in Pyjamas to spend more time with his family.[36] His departure from Gambit ultimately meant that the Summer Split would be worse for the team than the spring split. Gambit struggled throughout, with Darien, Diamondprox and Genja becoming substitutes for periods over the split. The team finished in 7th place, meaning that they would have to fight for their LCS status in the Spring Promotion. With Krislund substituting for Genja, Gambit held on to their place in the LCS, beating SK Gaming Prime in their promotion matchup.

On 5 November 2014, Gambit announced that Cabochard was joining the team as the new top laner, dispelling rumors of a potential return to the team by Alex Ich in the top lane position. Two days later the team announced that Krislund was permanently joining the team as the starting AD carry. At the same time, he switched his ID to P1noy. After these two additions, the starting roster going into the 2015 season was Cabochard, Diamondprox, niQ, P1noy, and EDward.

Gambit was one of the fan-voted teams to IEM Cologne, along with Team Dignitas and Counter Logic Gaming. They won the tournament after beating Counter Logic Gaming in the final. At the start of the 2015 EU LCS Spring Split, Gambit moved into a gaming house in Berlin.

Due to their 1st-place finish at IEM Cologne, the team were invited to compete at the IEM Season IX - World Championship. After a Round 1 loss against CJ Entus, Gambit Gaming were knocked out of the tournament, losing to Team WE in Round 1 of the losers bracket. Domestically, they finished fourth in the spring LCS round robin and then tied for fifth with Copenhagen Wolves in the playoffs after a quarterfinal loss to Unicorns Of Love. After the playoffs, the team released Leviathan from his position as head coach, citing commitment issues in the latter half of the season.

Gambit Gaming had an unsuccessful Summer Split. After a rocky early start to the season and a combined 0–4 record in the first two weeks, Gambit improved to fifth place after 8 weeks, largely thanks to the coaching of Shaunz. At one point the team had the potential of finishing as high as fourth. However, going into the last week of the split, FORG1VEN received a four-game-long penalty from Riot as the result of toxic behavior in soloqueue. Moopz subbed in as the team's AD carry for the last 2 games of the split. Losing these 2 games, the team finished the regular season in 8th place, meaning that they would be playing in the 2016 Spring Promotion. The team faced mousesports, winning the series and securing their place in the 2016 Spring Season.

Gambit's LCS spot was sold to Team Vitality in December 2015.[37]

LCL (since 2016)

On 12 January 2016, Gambit reentered the professional League of Legends scene after acquiring a spot in the newly formed LCL challenger series. The team branded itself as Gambit.CIS and fielded a new roster consisting of Fomko, LeX, Archie, BloodFenix and FatoNN.

After playing through the challenger series, Gambit qualified for the promotion tournament, where they defeated Team Differential 3-0 and qualified for the League of Legends Continental League (LCL). The team then finished 6th in the 2016 LCL Summer Split with a record of 6–8.[38]

For the 2017 LCL Spring Split, Gambit fielded a new roster consisting of FIRees, Diamondprox (who previously played for Gambit Gaming in the EU LCS), zoiren, Nikstar and Xavieles. Gambit finished 6th with a record of 6–8.[38]

On 5 June 2017, Gambit announced a new all-star roster, replacing everyone on their previous team except Diamondprox. PvPStejos and Kira joined after leaving M19 (the previous split's 1st place team), Blasting joined after leaving Virtus.pro and Edward rejoined the organisation after leaving Vega Squadron. The team went on to qualify for the 2017 World Championship after finishing 1st in the 2017 LCL Summer Split group stage and playoffs, defeating M19 3–2 in the finals.[39]

Gambit was drawn in Play-in stage Group A with Team WE from China and Lyon Gaming from Latin America North. They were defeated in all matches and did not qualify for Play-in stage round 2.

Lodik replaced Blasting as ADC on 8 March 2018. Gambit ended at the first place of group stage with 12 wins and 2 losses, securing a playoff spot.[40] In playoffs, Gambit beat Team Just 3–1 in the semifinals and RoX 3–0 in the finals to win the split and qualify for the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).[41]

Gambit was drawn in Play-in stage Group A with Rainbow7 from Latin America North, Kaos Latin Gamers from Latin America South and Ascension Gaming from Thailand of Southeast Asia. Gambit dominated Group A with 5 wins and only 1 loss to Ascension Gaming. This placed Gambit in 1st place in Group A, securing them a spot in the main event qualifiers, where they lost to Taiwan's Flash Wolves 0–3 in round 2.[42]

Gambit ended at the second place of group stage with 9 wins and 5 losses, securing a playoff spot. In playoffs, Gambit beat Team Just 3–2 in the semifinals and Dragon Army 3–1 in the finals to win the split and qualify for the 2018 World Championship Play-in Stage.

Gambit was drawn in Play-in stage Group D with G-Rex from Hong Kong (LMS) and Kaos Latin Gamers from Latin America South. They lost both games to G-Rex but won both games against Kaos Latin Gamers and qualified for Play-in stage round 2 at 2nd place. Gambit was drawn against Cloud9 from North America in round 2 and lost 2–3, therefore not qualifying to the main event group stage.

Roster

Gambit Esports roster
PlayersCoaches
RoleHandleNameNationality
Top Dreampullka  Leksin, Mark   Russia 
Jungle PvPStejos  Glazkov, Alexander   Ukraine 
Mid Phlaty  Lemeshchuk, Alexey   Russia 
Bot Shiganari  Pervušins, Artjoms   Latvia 
Support Lekcycc  Lexikov, Alexander   Russia 
Head coach

Yevgeny "SaDJesteRRR" Starosvetskiy


Legend
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player
  • Injury/Illness

Latest roster transaction: 29 January 2021.

References

  1. "Gambit Esports". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  2. "Gambit Esports". Liquipedia Counter-Strike Wiki. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  3. "Gambit Dota 2 - Gambit Gaming". gambit.gg. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  4. "Gambit.CIS". Esportspedia - League of Legends Esports Wiki. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  5. "Gambit FIFA - Gambit Gaming". gambit.gg. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  6. Juillet, Jacob (8 January 2016). "Gambit Gaming sign CS:GO roster". TheScore eSports. TheScore Inc. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  7. Cechladze, Arthur. "wayLander leaves Gambit CS:GO". Gambit Gaming. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  8. Mira, Luis. "spaze joins Gambit". HLTV. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  9. Burazin, Zvonimir. "kUcheR to replace spaze in Gambit". HLTV.org. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  10. Louchnikov, Aleksei. "Dmitriy "hooch" Bogdanov departs from Gambit Gaming". GosuGamers. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  11. Mira, Luis. "Zeus completes Gambit roster". HLTV.org. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  12. "HObbit joins Gambit CS:GO". Gambit Gaming. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  13. Gonzales, Dennis. "Gambit win Acer Predator Masters 3". The Score eSports. TheScore Inc. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  14. "PGL Major Kraków 2017 - Liquipedia Counter-Strike Wiki". wiki.teamliquid.net. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  15. Villanueva, Jamie (9 August 2017). "Zeus and seized return to Na`Vi, Kane also joins from Gambit". Dot Esports. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  16. "Natus Vincere bring in Zeus and Kane, seized returns". HLTV.org. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  17. "F_1N admits to one-time coaching bug use, gets suspended by Gambit*". HLTV.org.
  18. "Gambit promote Youngsters roster". HLTV.org.
  19. "Gambit put primary line-up "on hold"; open to offers for players". HLTV.org.
  20. "Ax1Le officially replaces Porya in Gambit Youngsters". HLTV.org.
  21. "Gambit Youngsters transition to six-man roster with Hobbit addition". HLTV.org.
  22. "groove to coach Gambit Youngsters temporarily following F_1N's ban". HLTV.org.
  23. "Gambit win CIS Minor over Rebels". HLTV.org.
  24. "Gambit Esports win Adrenaline Cyber League".
  25. "Gambit win Acer Predator Masters 3".
  26. "Astralis win the ELEAGUE Major!". HLTV.org.
  27. "SK Gaming take home cs_summit after decisive victory against Gambit". Fragbite.com.
  28. "DreamHack Open Austin 2017 CS:GO results, Gambit wins first place". sports.yahoo.com.
  29. "G2 beat North to win DH Masters Malmö". HLTV.org.
  30. "ROG MASTERS 2017 Grand Finals". HLTV.org. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  31. Good, Owen (27 July 2015). "Big-League eSports Team Owner Among Those Charged in Huge Hacking Case". Kotaku.
  32. Lingle, Samuel (23 September 2015). "Former Moscow Five owner pleads guilty to role in one of the biggest-ever U.S. hacking cases". Dot Esports. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  33. Mitchell, Ferguson (8 May 2014). "Alex Ich joins NiP to spend more time with family". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  34. Mitchell, Ferguson (14 January 2014). "Everything you need to know about the upcoming 'League of Legends' season". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  35. Funk, John (13 September 2013). "League of Legends World Championship viewers guide: the teams, the players, the stories". Polygon. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  36. Mitchell, Ferguson (8 May 2014). "Alex Ich joins NiP to spend more time with family". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  37. Lingle, Samuel (10 December 2015). "Team Vitality buys Gambit Gaming's LCS spot, signs kaSing". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  38. "Gambit.CIS". Leaguepedia. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  39. "2017 LCL/Summer Split". Leaguepedia. Archived from the original on 22 July 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  40. "LCL/2018 Season/Spring Season". Leaguepedia. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  41. "LCL/2018 Season/Spring Playoffs". Leaguepedia. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  42. "2018 Mid-Season Invitational". Leaguepedia. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
ELEAGUE Major 2017
Astralis
PGL Major Kraków 2017 winner
2017
Succeeded by
ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018
Cloud9

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