Gambit eliminate NASR from BLAST Premier Spring Showdown

The CIS squad made quick work of NASR, showing a particularly dominant performance on Vertigo.

Gambit have made it past their first obstacle in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, taking out NASR out in two quick maps, Dust2 (16-8) and Vertigo (16-2), and have secured their presence in the second round of the tournament’s single-elimination bracket.

NASR, who made the tournament after winning the Dune Cup, the Middle Eastern qualifier, were only able to keep up early on in the series, on the attacking side of Dust2, but deflated after the first few rounds and fell behind on the CT sides on either map, unable to show what they had ready on the attacking side of Vertigo as they were taken out just three rounds after switching sides.

Following their victory over NASR, Gambit will now face stiffer opposition in the quarter-finals, as they will go up against the winner of the Brazilian derby between MIBR an FURIA. "I would like to play FURIA, I like to play against arT, he’s very aggressive and I like his play style," Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov said when asked about who he'd like to play next, "it’s very nice to play against him."

Gambit took the lead after the first pistol round on the CT side of Dust2, but after getting a bit too eager and overextending in the first gun round NASR tallied their first round. From there on out the two teams stayed neck-and-neck throughout the first ten rounds, tied up 5-5, but the CIS squad then kicked into gear and won the last five rounds to hit double digits before the half.

NASR kept themselves alive, contesting aggressive play in the pistol round successfully and coming out on top in the three first rounds of the half, but nafany and company took control once rifles were in play and shut the map down, winning by an ample 16-8 scoreline.

Gambit then kicked off their map pick, Vertigo, with a powerful terrorist side, showing that their 91% win rate on the map in the past three months, with 11 wins and a single loss, is no fluke, as Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov, Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and nafany all put up big numbers early on, with Gambit going up 11-0.

NASR got in a couple of rounds before the half to secure they wouldn’t be 16-0’d, but Gambit continued their dominating performance on the CT side with a clean pistol round after which they were able to comfortably ride the map out, closing it 16-2 and ending the series.