Hobbit shines as Gambit beat Virtus.pro to win EPIC League CIS

The PGL Major Krakow winner put on a show to help his team conquer the RMR tournament.

Gambit came from behind to beat Virtus.pro 3-1 and win EPIC League CIS, the first Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament of the year in the region. With this victory, the IEM Katowice champions moved up to second place in the CIS RMR standings with 1600 points, 180 fewer than leaders Spirit, who carried 600 points from last year's RMR circuit.

After scraping through the Swiss stage with a 3-2 record, Gambit kicked their game into a higher gear in the double-elimination playoffs, beating Entropiq in three maps before making light work of Spirit and Akuma to book the first spot in the best-of-five title decider.

Hobbit was named the MVP of the RMR tournament

Fresh off a 2-0 victory over Akuma in the consolidation final, Virtus.pro came into the final with guns blazing as they limited Gambit to nine rounds on their own map pick of Train despite a strong performance from Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov (1.64 rating, 28-13 KDD).

But the world No.1 shook off the cobwebs of their below-par opening map and soon showed their class. Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov took centre stage as Gambit turned the match around, putting in the highest rating in each of the team's map victories, including an impressive 2.14 rating on Dust2, to be named the the MVP of the tournament, adding the medal to his MVP award from DreamHack Open Winter 2016.

EPIC League CIS 2021Best of 5

Gambit

Matchpage

3

1

30th May 2021

Virtus.pro

9

Train

16

16

Dust2

7

16

Vertigo

14

16

Overpass

7

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	93 - 57	+36	98.0	80.2%	1.45
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	84 - 47	+37	83.8	81.2%	1.40
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	65 - 76	-11	75.0	70.3%	1.06
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	56 - 62	-6	63.3	69.3%	0.95
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	49 - 60	-11	56.6	74.3%	0.94

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	73 - 62	+11	73.6	69.3%	1.06
Aleksei 'Qikert' GolubevQikert	62 - 69	-7	76.4	68.3%	0.94
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	59 - 67	-8	62.1	64.4%	0.89
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	53 - 80	-27	67.1	63.4%	0.84
Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievSANJI	52 - 69	-17	56.0	64.4%	0.79

EPIC League CIS 2021 final standings:

1. Gambit - $15,000 + 1600 RMR Points
2. Virtus.pro - $10,000 + 1500 RMR Points
3. Akuma - $5,000 + 1400 RMR Points
4. Spirit - $3,000 + 1300 RMR points
5. Unknown flag cis TBD - $2,000 + 1200 RMR points
6. Unknown flag cis TBD - $2,000 + 1100 RMR points
7-8. FORZE - $1,500 + 950 RMR points
7-8. K23 - $1,500 + 950 RMR points
9-11. Nemiga
9-11. ex-Marlian
9-11. Trident
12-14. bankaPEPSI
12-14. 1win
12-14. IN.GAME
15-16. GROND
15-16. 100PG

Note: The 5th-6th place decider between Natus Vincere and Entropiq will be scheduled shortly, according to the tournament's organisers.

Both Gambit and Virtus.pro will return to action in a few days' time as they will be taking part in IEM Summer, which will kick off Thursday. Gambit will take on Sprout in the opening group round of the $250,000 tournament, while Virtus.pro will be facing fnatic.