Gambit take down fnatic after anti-climactic finish to book last IEM Winter playoffs spot

After a messy first two maps that saw three overtimes played, Gambit locked down the series 16-4 on the deciding Overpass.

In a late-night final series of the IEM Winter group stage, Gambit booked the last playoffs spot following a 2-1 victory over fnatic. The back-and-forth battle saw the Swedish-British mixture miss out after winning the opening Inferno in overtime, as the Russian side replied with a double-overtime triumph on Vertigo and outclassed their opponents on the Overpass decider.

Gambit will play Vitality on Sunday at 19:15 next in the quarter-finals, a match where the CIS squad will be the underdogs on paper, looking to pick up their first-ever victory against the French side having lost to Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's team on the two occasions they faced one another at IEM Summer and ESL Pro League Season 14, in 0-2 series each time.

Although the final loss will undoubtedly be difficult to accept for Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin and company after they had the chance to close the series in two, overall it has been a positive showing from the team that had recently added Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield, as they finish IEM Winter in the top eight in their first appearance at a tier-one event with the current lineup.

The final series of the IEM Winter group stage began on Inferno. It was a map that took a couple of big turns, as at first fnatic looked to be in cruise control after a key 1v4 clutch from in-game leader ALEX but later found Gambit a difficult opponent to finish off when it was the CIS team's turn to pull off big clutches.

Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov played a massive part in turning the scales after Gambit were down 6-13, stepping up to the plate with a 1v4 clutch, a quad-kill in a 3v5 scenario, and a double in a 2v4 situation to help his team deny fnatic a comfortable victory and force them to overtime. There, the British-Swedish combination salvaged the map after all, finally closing out the advantageous situations after finding early openings.

From the get-go, Vertigo looked like Gambit's domain after more unlikely clutches went their way early, this time courtesy of Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov in 1v4 and 2v4 scenarios. Despite the crushing losses, fnatic remained competitive as they ended the half just three rounds behind and won the second pistol, and soon the score was even once William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman saved a scary-looking anti-forcebuy round with a quad-kill.

Perhaps signifying fatigue from both teams as the series went long past midnight, a messy finish to the map full of last-second rotations and awkward retakes saw the two teams keep trading rounds in close situations until we reached overtime. There, fnatic survived up against two match points the first time around but couldn't withstand Gambit's offense in the seconds.

The series reached an anti-climactic finish on Overpass, which witnessed a show of domination from Gambit on the CT side as fnatic ran out of steam. A 14-1 half from sh1ro and company had the Swedes and Brits staring into the distance in breaks between rounds, and after a brief resistance they conceded the final map 4-16.