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Gambit Esports emerged as surprise winners of the the PGL Counter-Strike Major, emerging victorious at the $1m Counter-Strike tournament.
Gambit went up against Immortals after taking out defending champs Astralis 2-1 in the best of three semi finals, but Immortals were no slouch either, taking out Virtus Pro themselves in the semi-final. The Brazilian’s exploded into action with a 12-3 lead at the end of the first half of the first match.
Immortals hammered this home with a 16-4 scoreline, and then Gambit got to work. On the second map, Train, Gambit had a solid terrorist side and threw Immortals off their game, before they sorted out their economy and fought back before Gambit tied off the series 1-1 with a 16-11 scoreline.
Gambit took this momentum and wrapped up the series 2-1, and their PGL Major victory is their first major championship win, and their second title of 2017.
A team from the CIS region winning a Major is exciting for a Counter-Strike scene that’s very much in flux, with the long-held dominance of Danish teams starting to come to an end, while recent tournaments has seen south American teams, largely SK who were eliminated here by Astralis, emerging as heavy favourites.
As the European stint of tournaments comes to a brief end, the competitive meta is in an exciting place.
