Reminiscing about the original Gambit Gaming.

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Allow me to take you back to the beginning, when Gambit Gaming, originally under the name of ‘Moscow 5’, took the League of Legends community by storm, and almost exclusively placed the western hemisphere on the map of a currently Korean dominated world. Moscow 5/Gambit Gaming were often referred to as the “Kings of IEM”. For the newer players, this may seem an alien concept due to the fact that Gambit have been the epitome of mediocre for the past year and a half. Three years ago, Moscow 5 entered an Intel Extreme Masters tournament in Kiev as a complete underdog. No one knew who these Russian players were, or their skill level going into the tournament. The result? Absolute destruction. The ‘Russian Overlords’ crushed their opposition, taking the entire tournament without dropping a single game.

Their former top laner – now known for his hilarious, 420esque persona – along with Diamondprox, revolutionised the ways in which the top teams aspire to play the game in modern day Season 5. Invading the enemy jungle and stealing their jungle camps, popularly termed as ‘Counter Jungling’, is a strategy created by this duo. The incredible thing about Moscow 5 in their prime is that the double teaming, jungle stealing, weed smoking double act were not the only members of the team applying huge map pressure. Their mid laner, Alex Ich, was renowned for his mid lane AP Evelynn, constantly roaming bot lane with her passively gained invisibility. This exact tactic was used at IEM Katowice to take down both of the Korean powerhouses of Azubu Frost and Azubu Blaze in the semi-finals and finals respectively.

Next we arrive somewhat apprehensively toward the bottom lane, the original bot lane of Genja and Edward/GosuPepper. I use the word ‘apprehensively due to the extreme controversy which surrounds these two players. I will start with Edward. The player who was given the label of “Support Carry” due to his carry like performances on high impact support champions, with an emphasis on Thresh and Sona. During Gambit Gaming’s Season 3’ Spring Split, Edward was named by many spectators and analysts alike, as the “Thresh Prince” due to his insanely strong Thresh mechanical plays and pressure he would exert. Next we arrive at Genja, The Time-Lord, the man with the brow, and other such superseding nicknames.  Genja was a very safe player, rarely picking play making champions. He was well known for his Miss Fortune and Ezreal during Season 3, champions which stay very much in the backlines, firing their long range ultimates and cleaning up fights after his front runners had gone forth into the fray. This playstyle had just as much influence on Edward’s “Support Carry” title than Edward’s actual play, as Genja’s playstyle allowed his support to take the glory, something rare back in that era of League of Legends. Genja’s legacy is defined in modern day by his item builds, most notably, during the Season 3 World Championship, he built Trinity Force on Kogmaw vs Imp’s Samsung White Squad, the Season 4 world champions, and destroyed them, acquiring himself an unofficial Penta Kill with a build many, including Lord Doublelift and the rarely-wrong MonteCristo, thought of as “trash”.

Calum McNicholas

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