Gambit crush Spirit in IEM Katowice semifinals

Serious PGL Krakow vibes.
Image via Gambit Esports

Another playoff series, another 2-0 victory for the Gambit Esports roster. Gambit have dispatched yet another regional foe at the Intel Extreme Masters CS:GO World Championships in Katowice—this time in Team Spirit.

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Gambit opened the series by securing their own map pick of Overpass, 16-11. Overpass was a surprisingly quiet affair for the previously red hot Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, but Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov stepped up with a 23-12 KD performance.

The series turned to Spirit’s pick of Inferno, and for the second straight playoff series, it looked like Gambit would dominate their opponent’s map pick. Gambit controlled their CT-side first half, leading 12-3 at halftime, and increased their lead to 15-4 early in the second half. Spirit did not allow themselves to be completely bombed though, going on a late run with their backs against the wall. Spirit brought it back to 15-13 before a successful B site push by Gambit ended the comeback.

Spirit’s magical IEM Katowice run comes to an end. They advanced to the main event via the play-in stage and defeated G2 Esports, Heroic, and Astralis to earn their semifinals spot. In doing so, they catapulted up to a top 10 spot on the HLTV rankings. Amazingly, all four teams in the semifinals were play-in teams.

Gambit’s victory is their second straight 2-0 of the playoffs after stunning Natus Vincere in the quarterfinals. Their playoff appearance comes after an impressive run through the Group A lower bracket, where they dispatched mousesports, Heroic, and G2.

With Gambit’s win, they’ve secured a spot in the IEM Katowice grand finals, and await the winner of Team Liquid and Virtus.pro.


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Author
Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.