Gambit beat HAVU to win Pinnacle Cup

Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov put on a masterclass to spearhead the Russian side to success in the $100,000 event.

Gambit have secured the Pinnacle Cup title and $80,000 with a 2-1 victory over HAVU in the grand final. The Russian squad dominated the opening Train (16-8) off the back of a standout showing from sh1ro before unexpectedly dropping their map pick of Mirage (10-16), on which they had held a 100% win rate over seven maps in 2021 prior to their encounter with HAVU. Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov rose to the occasion on Overpass (16-7) to provide his team with the extra firepower to secure the victory in the three-map affair.

HAVU entered the grand final brimming with confidence after they ran over their Swiss stage opponents and then dispatched SAW, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and BIG in the playoffs. However, they ended up faltering at the last hurdle against the tournament favourites, who had been directly invited to the quarter-finals and defeated Wisla Krakow and Spirit to set up the clash with the Finnish team.

sh1ro led the way with a 1.61 grand final rating

sh1ro kicked off the grand final with one of his renowned clutches, outmaneuvering his opponents in a 1v2 on the CT pistol of Train. The star AWPer continued his dominance throughout the half as he spearheaded Gambit to a 9-6 lead with a 21-4 K-D and seven multi-kills. After the Russian side came out on the offence with the same intensity to promptly add four to their tally, a team ace got HAVU on the board in the second half as they looked to reduce the deficit, but back-to-back triple kills from Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov propelled Gambit to map point. The Finns could only muster one more round before Train concluded at 16-8.

HAVU responded on Gambit's pick, Mirage, by putting up a commanding defensive display to win ten consecutive rounds on the way to an 11-4 half. Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov and co. found their footing as the two teams swapped sides to string together six rounds and get hot on HAVU’s heels, but the Finns regrouped and hit a higher gear to close out the map 16-10 and level the series.

Gambit had enough after losing their undefeated streak on Mirage and ran rampant on Overpass to redeem themselves. The Russian squad racked up 12 rounds on the CT side off the back of solid performances from the trio of Ax1Le, HObbit and sh1ro. HAVU attempted to kick-start a comeback by winning the second half pistol, but Gambit hit back to pull further ahead, with a Ax1Le ace helping his team to series point. The Finns held out for three rounds before the inevitable 16th round went in favour of the world's No.3 team, who added another trophy to their cabinet to continue their impressive rise in 2021.

Pinnacle Cup 2021Best of 3

Gambit

Matchpage

2

1

4th April 2021

HAVU

16

Train

8

10

Mirage

16

16

Overpass

7

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	71 - 33	+38	99.4	84.9%	1.60
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	60 - 48	+12	85.9	78.1%	1.28
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	62 - 48	+14	85.1	71.2%	1.20
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	45 - 47	-2	75.1	80.8%	1.10
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	42 - 47	-5	70.3	69.9%	0.99

HAVU	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Jani 'Aerial' JussilaAerial	48 - 55	-7	76.8	65.8%	0.95
Lasse 'ZOREE' UronenZOREE	51 - 54	-3	62.6	63.0%	0.92
Sami 'xseveN' LaasanenxseveN	45 - 56	-11	69.4	61.6%	0.86
Olli 'sLowi' PitkänensLowi	42 - 60	-18	63.8	69.9%	0.81
Jemi 'jemi' Mäkinenjemi	37 - 56	-19	63.5	68.5%	0.80