The IEM Katowice – a million dollar endowment tournament, one of the main events on the calendar on Counter-Strike but played online this year – ended Sunday evening with a surprise: the success of a Russian club, Gambit Esports. An important organization from Eastern Europe which had not evolved at this level since 2017 and its victory (a sensation, already) at the Major of Krakow.
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And final, Gambit beat Virtus.pro (14-16, 16-6, 16-4, 16-12), another ghost from Russia, symbol of the comeback of clubs in the CIS zone (Commonwealth of Independent States in French, made up of several countries of the former USSR): in play-offs, out of six teams, four were from it (Gambit, Virtus.pro, but also Team Spirit and especially Na’Vi, n ° 2 worldwide and more expected). They took advantage of the missteps of the French Vitality (n ° 3), eliminated from the groups, or the Danes of Astralis (n ° 1), surpassed by Virtus.pro in the first round of the final phase.
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This performance, Gambit, partner for several weeks of AS Monaco on Dota 2 and Fortnite, owes it in part to the emergence at this level of a raw talent: the young Russian (19 years old) Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, elected MVP of the tournament. Highly observed for several months, the latter has confirmed its full potential by being decisive in any situation.
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