Steven R. May 22, 2019
Gambit Esports is performing a hard reboot on its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division.
The former major winning organization has outlined its plans to withdraw from CS:GO for the immediate future. Gambit is planning to transfer its remaining players and put together a new team at some point later in 2019.
“Over the past two months we've been conducting a series of negotiations, however, a suitable combination of players hasn't formed to this day. There isn't a lot of time left until the beginning of a qualification cycle for the Major, therefore we made a decision not to settle on a suboptimal solution,” Gambit executive Konstantin Pikiner said in a statement. “Our goal is to assemble a competitive line-up until the end of 2019 and to support it to the best of our ability.”
As a result of the move, Gambit is shopping its remaining players Mikhail "Dosia" Stolyarov, Nikolay "mir" Bityukov, Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov, and Rustem "mou" Telepov to other organizations. The move does not impact academy team Gambit Youngsters, who will continue to compete under the Gambit brand.
The news is a sad end to what was once one of CS:GO’s top teams.
The organization entered CS:GO in 2016 and quickly established itself as one of the top squads in the CIS region. Gambit became a steady presence at majors, placing top eight at both ESL One: Cologne 2016 and the ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta before winning PGL Major Krakow in 2017. The organization began having issues with consistency in early 2018, which led to a poor showing at the FACEIT Major: London. Those consistency issues were worsened when roster issues began dogging the team, leading to regular early exits from tournaments.
Though Dosia and Mou were steady presences for the team, other players came and went on an almost weekly basis.
The team failed to qualify for the IEM Katowice Major, which was followed by the releases of Vlаdуslаv "bondik" Nеchуроrchuk and coach Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy in March. The organization hasn’t been able to plug those gaps since, leading to the team’s inactivity and eventual dissolution.
The organization is currently looking to trade away its remaining four players, though some could be assigned to Gambit Youngsters.