In a stunning turn of events, Gambit Esports dispatched of Natus Vincere today in the quarterfinals of the IEM Katowice CS:GO World Championships. Na’Vi won’t repeat as the Katowice champions.
Gambit had the advantage of starting the series with their map pick of Overpass. Despite Na’Vi jumping out to a 5-1 lead, Gambit were able to rally on the shoulders of young star AWPer Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov. Sh1ro went toe-to-toe with superstar AWPer s1mple all map long.
This sent the series to Train, Na’Vi’s pick. On a map the reigning champions should have won, they ended up getting destroyed by the former Youngsters. Sh1ro yet again was lights out, alongside former Major winner Hobbit. Na’Vi only got three bomb plants on their T-side and two of them were defused. Gambit got whatever they wanted on Train and sent Na’Vi home early. Sh1ro was the consensus MVP of the series.
Katowice has turned into a showcase for the rising CIS region. Team Spirit rampaged through Group A, capping their run off with a 16-1 thrashing of Astralis to secure a semifinal spot. Both Gambit and Virtus Pro ran the lower bracket gauntlet to qualify for the playoffs. And all three teams had to play through the play-in stage as well.
Gambit have secured another CIS showdown in the semifinals against Team Spirit. Virtus Pro will now try to make the semifinals as well if they can get past Astralis. Whichever team wins that series will get to play Team Liquid in the next round.
