After years of success in League of Legends, Gambit Gaming expanded its operations into other titles. Its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team found fast success, winning a number of prominent events. In 2017, the renamed Gambit Esports entered into Dota 2.
The organization started by signing the roster of Thug Life ahead of the qualifiers to The International 2017. The lineup included a mix of veteran and rookie talent including hot upstart Nikita "Daxak" Kuzmin and former Team Empire player Andrey "ALWAYSWANNAFLY" Bondarenko.
The lineup struggled in the CIS qualifiers to The International 2017 but made few changes after missing the event. Gambit found success in smaller regional leagues, but failed to qualify for any notable events elsewhere. Roster turnover followed, and when the team flopped in the qualifiers to The International 2018 it resulted in Gambit releasing its lineup and starting over.
Gambit returned to Dota 2 just a month later by signing the roster of ferzee after it took second place in WePlay! Reshuffle Madness 2018 and qualified for the Kuala Lumpur Major. This reunited Gambit with a number of players from its past, including Daxak, Ivan "VANSKOR" Skorokhod, and Vasily "AfterLife" Shishkin.
This iteration of Gambit was considerably more successful. The team debuted by taking second at GG.Bet Invitational Season 1 and posted strong placements in a number of events outside the Dota Pro Circuit including WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness and ESL One Katowice 2019.
Unfortunately, that success didn’t carry over into majors. The team only qualified for two of the five majors that season and came up short of earning a direct invitation to The International 2019.
This forced Gambit into the CIS qualifiers for the event. Despite entering as massive favorites, the team fell well short of making the cut and missed The International for the third year in a row. While the team posted some strong performances in the 2018-2019 season, Gambit once again purged its roster after failing to qualify for TI.
The new team made a strong first impression by taking second place at ESL One Hamburg 2019, but the team’s struggles in Dota Pro Circuit tournaments continued from there as the squad finished in last place at the MDL Chengdu Major and failed to qualify for DreamLeague Season 13 the ESL One Los Angeles Major.
