Gambit guarantee playoffs appearance, remain undefeated in EPL

The domestic match-up against Entropiq went in the favour of Gambit as they move into a 4-0 record in the group.

Gambit have guaranteed themselves a slot in the playoffs bracket in ESL Pro League following a commanding victory over Entropiq in a 2-0 fashion on Dust2 and Vertigo. The win sees Gambit stand tall in Group D as they are yet to drop a series. Sitting on a 1-3 record, Entropiq's chances to progress are incredibly slim, as they are relying on several other results to help them on top of their final match against TeamOne.

Entropiq have struggled to best their domestic rivals, having only won a single map against them out of seven played in the past. This series saw the same maps chosen as in their last matchup in May in the EPIC League CIS RMR event, and despite the best efforts of Igor "⁠Forester⁠" Bezotecheskiy, his performance wasn’t enough to secure a map for Entropiq.

Gambit kicked off the series on Dust2 by winning the pistol when Entropiq returned the serve and took the early momentum in the half. Although Entropiq had the early economic advantage, Gambit were able to ensure they were always pressuring Entropiq, even on pistol buys and full saves.

At the half, Gambit led 9-6 and after losing the T side pistol pulled together a full buy at 9-8 to attack the mismatched CT buy with carried-over weapons. With the momentum behind them, Gambit ran away with the next few rounds in addition to doing as much damage to the economy of Entropiq along the way.

Forester was the factor that kept Entropiq in the half as the score tied up at 13-13. But it was Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov that tipped the scales late in the map following three opening kills on the A site, as Gambit gave their opponents no breathing room. The rest of the half went the way of Gambit as the series went onto Vertigo.

Vertigo is currently one of Gambit's most successful map picks, with a 100% win rate in the last three months as they went into the game on a 15-map winning streak. Starting on the T side, Gambit showed their proficiency on the map as Entropiq struggled to get into the half. Ax1Le finished the first half with 21 kills as his team led 10-5 going into the second.

Gambit secured the pistol and the rest of the half fell away for Entropiq, who struggled to keep up with the individual performances of their opponents, eventually losing the map to Gambit 10-16.