Gambit hammer Virtus.pro to win IEM Katowice 2021

Gambit came back from a narrow opening loss on Vertigo to clinch the title with clear-cut wins on Dust2, Train, and Overpass.

Gambit have defeated Virtus.pro in the IEM Katowice grand final 3-1 (Vertigo 14-16, Dust2 16-6, Train 16-4, Overpass 16-12), clinching by far their biggest title so far along with the $400,000 grand prize. With the best-of-five win, the lowest-ranked team of the tournament completed an incredible upset run that saw them beat their three biggest regional rivals in the playoffs, having beaten Natus Vincere and Spirit in the previous two rounds.

Vertigo opened the final series as Gambit's first map pick and delivered a back-and-forth affair that went the distance. At one point Virtus.pro looked heavily favored to win the map after the Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali-led side went on a spree on the CT side once they got a hold of weaponry, in large part thanks to openers and multikills from Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis.

The tide changed when sides switched a second-round forcebuy went the way of Gambit, who then went on to win eight out of the next nine rounds, interrupted only by a 1v2 clutch from Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev. With backs against the wall at 11-14, Virtus.pro found important timings in middle to break their opponents' economy, before YEKINDAR's four consecutive openers pushed his team over the finish line at 16-14.

Hobbit led the way with 90 kills

Dust2 was heading in a similar direction in the first stages of the opening half, with Gambit securing the second round with a forcebuy and getting off to an early lead on the CT side and Virtus.pro bringing it back after a couple of low buy upsets of their own. Gambit pulled away at the end of the half on the back of three individual plays from Timofey "⁠interz⁠" Yakushin, however, and put together a flawless Terrorist side to equalize the series with a comfortable win on the second map.

Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov & co. seemed to carry over the momentum to Train, with a couple of triples from Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov seeing Gambit get off to a great start on the offense. Virtus.pro struggled to find answers, only winning four rounds on the preferred side thanks to an ace from YEKINDAR and good AWPing from Jame, and it was all but over when they also conceded the second pistol round, with Gambit rallying to another whitewash victory at 16-4.

It all ended on Overpass as Gambit looked to put on another one-sided performance after a dominant defense, where HObbit continued to put up great numbers to help his team secure an 11-4 lead going into halftime. After conceding the next pistol round, the nafany-led side took little time to reach match point once they had the money to buy up, and despite a commendable comeback attempt from VP they closed the series at 16-12, 3-1 with a well-timed B attack.

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 5 GambitMatchpage 3 1 28th February 2021 Virtus.pro 14Vertigo 16 16Dust2 6 16Train 4 16Overpass 12

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	90 - 65	+25	106.0	1.40
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	66 - 54	+12	67.7	1.18
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	59 - 39	+20	61.3	1.14
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	69 - 55	+14	73.6	1.14
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	67 - 66	+1	68.9	0.99

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	68 - 81	-13	81.5	1.08
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	66 - 60	+6	63.9	0.99
Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievSANJI	50 - 69	-19	61.8	0.75
Alexey 'Qikert' GolubevQikert	44 - 75	-31	58.5	0.74
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	48 - 66	-18	51.6	0.74

IEM Katowice final standings:

1. Gambit - $400,000
2. Virtus.pro - $180,000
3-4. Liquid - $80,000
3-4. Spirit - $80,000
5-6. Astralis - $40,000
5-6. Natus Vincere - $40,000
7-8. FURIA - $24,000
7-8. G2 - $24,000
9-12. FaZe - $16,000
9-12. Vitality - $16,000
9-12. Evil Geniuses - $16,000
9-12. HEROIC - $16,000
13-16. OG - $10,000
13-16. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $10,000
13-16. BIG - $10,000
13-16. MOUZ - $10,000

Ninjas in Pyjamas #13 Fredrik 'REZ' SternerHampus 'hampus' PoserTim 'nawwk' JonassonNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraErik 'ztr' Gustafsson Evil Geniuses #11 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 617 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.66 FaZe #18 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif MOUZ #16 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýFrederik 'acoR' GyldstrandRobin 'ropz' KoolAurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Virtus.pro #6 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Liquid #5 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipMichael 'Grim' Wince BIG #4 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 26 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 899 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Dzhami 'Jame' Ali Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 963 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.55 Spirit #7 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Natus Vincere #2 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Vitality #3 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier HEROIC #8 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck Gambit #15 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov OG #12 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenIssa 'ISSAA' MuradMateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski G2 #14 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Age: 19 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 600 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.69 FURIA #10 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoPaytyn 'junior' JohnsonKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 886 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Timofey 'interz' Yakushin Age: 20 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 586 KPR: 0.59 DPR: 0.59