Gambit cease all League of Legends operations after 8 years

William Davis Published 22/04/2021

An organization that most old-school League of Legends fans will remember is leaving the scene. Gambit Esports will cease all LoL operations going forward. 

After over eight years in the LoL scene, Gambit recently announced that it will drop its the League of Legends roster. The roster recently competed in the CIS region’s LCL league. Gambit has been a part of the league since 2016 and competed among the best European LoL teams prior to that in the earliest seasons.  

Gambit’s exit from League of Legends will likely come as a surprise to many, leaving a lot of fans looking for a new team to root for. It’s also with a heavy heart and a difficult decision leaving the scene according to Gambit CEO Konstantin Pikiner. 

“Making this decision was really difficult since our organization’s history began with a League of Legends squad,” Pikiner said. 

Gambit will mostly be remembered for its legendary roster with names such as Aleksei “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin, Danil “Diamondprox” Reshetnikov, and others. The team was originally known as Moscow 5 but would later join under the name Gambit Gaming. When joining Gambit, the roster was already considered one of the best in the world and went on to win titles such as IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, and ESL Major Series 2012 Winter under the Gambit name. 

After the original players started to go separate ways, Gambit continued competing in the EU LCS up until 2016 where Team Vitality purchased its spot in the league. After that, Gambit entered the LCL league and has since then won three titles and participated in the World Championship twice.    

In the most recent 2021 LCL Spring Split, Gambit ended in a shared third place and missed out on a spot at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational. With the team shutting down, five talented players will be on the market for other European teams to consider. 

Gambit as an organization will continue its operations, primarily in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, where the team is currently ranked as the best team in the world according to the HLTV ranking. Gambit’s success in the Counter-Strike scene has been impressive, after winning the Intel Extreme Masters XV – World Championship and BLAST Premier Spring Showdown in 2021.  

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