Gambit best TI champions for trophy win

Gambit Esports captured their latest tournament trophy with an impressive 3-0 win over the defending TI champions.

As fans wait for The Chongqing Major, the WePlay! Dota 2 Winter Madness event brought in some of the top Dota 2 teams in Europe. Team Empire Hope, Pavaga Gaming, and NoPangolier dominated the group stage.

Alliance, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Forward Gaming, and OG were invited directly into the quarterfinal stage, but it was Gambit Esports who would surge ahead and meet OG in the final. Gambit won their semifinal with a clean 2-0 score against Ninjas in Pyjamas, while OG defeated a hot NoPangolier squad.

The first game of the grand final heavily favored Gambit Esports with a middle lane Meepo strategy game against OG’s Razor and Anti-Mage draft. OG initiated a desperate team fight in the enemies’ shrine, but Gambit Esports were prepared and wiped OG’s heroes off the map.

This gave Gambit Esports the opportunity to take Roshan and finish the opening game. Their early domination led to an 18k net worth lead in just 18 minutes.

In the second game, Gambit Esports successfully repeated their opening feat as Keeper of the Light and Elder Titan played vital roles in Gambit’s strong initiation, along with an early Blink Dagger for their Dragon Knight.

On the other hand, OG’s draft lacked synergy during team fights as OG’s heroes were consistently locked down by Gambit’s crowd control efforts. The game ended with a 27-kill advantage for Gambit Esports.

Both teams brought their “A” game in the final battle of the series. Although Gambit Esports were showing good rotations in the early game, OG fought back valiantly.

OG drafted Clinkz and Terrorblade and the TI champions were doing decent damage, forcing Gambit to be careful in timing their initiations. But Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin’s Pangolier was soon unkillable, and Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin’s Visage was dominating from his carry position. OG tapped out after 34 minutes.

This was the debut event for OG’s stand-in and new carry Igor “iLTW” Filatov.

Gambit Esports took half of the $100,000 prize pool for their win.