Gambit eSports overcame an opening loss to Ascension Gaming on Day 3 to win Group A. With the win, they will now face either EVOS Esports or Flash Wolves for the right to compete at the main event of the Mid-Season Invitational.
Today was very intense. We are incredibly fortunate that we won all our games on Thursday! Got three days to prepare four our next BO5! #MSI2018 pic.twitter.com/M6Hdf2IfKx
— Gambit Esports (@GambitEsports) May 5, 2018
Over the two days of action, Gambit showed that they were clearly the best team in Group A. They entered today’s action at the top of the table with a 3-0 record and bounced back after the early loss to Ascension.
In their second match of the day, Gambit faced Kaos Latin Gamers. KLG had their backs against the wall despite a 2-1 start after losing to Latin American rivals Rainbow7 earlier in the afternoon. Things were pretty even between these teams in the laning phase, but an early Baron take was the catalyst for a Gambit win.
KLG was unaware that Gambit had started Baron until it was already down to half of its health. They entered the pit and tried to force a fight, but their opponents were able to escape the area with buffs on all five members. From there, Gambit reset and then pushed through the bottom lane. A few minutes later they won the match after winning a team fight at the edge of KLG’s base.
In their last match of the day, Gambit faced Rainbow7. Rainbow7 was the pre-tournament favorite to win the group according to oddsmaker BetDSI. After a 1-2 start, R7 had put themselves back in contention with wins over KLG and Ascension earlier in the day. A win would force a tiebreaker match with Gambit, while a loss would knock them out of contention.
However, it wasn’t meant to be for Rainbow7. They decided to have jungler Oddie take Zac into the decisive match-up, while Gambit’s Diamondprox countered with Olaf. Diamondprox was able to get Gambit significantly ahead in the laning phase due to Olaf’s playmaking ability. Gambit was able to pile on neutral objectives and then withstood some great late game play from Rainbow7 to pick up the win.
Gambit will either face EVOS Esports on Tuesday or Flash Wolves on Wednesday.
