Gambit are the IEM Katowice 2021 champions. The unexpected victors won the CIS battle between themselves and Virtus.pro to claim the title. After losing the initial map, Gambit dominated their opponents on their way to a 3-1 victory in the best-of-five series.
Abay ‘Hobbit’ Khasenov put up a super star performance, finishing the four maps with a massive 106 average damage per round and a +25 kill-to-death differential, the highest in the server by a large margin. Next up in ADR was Virtus.pro’s star rifler Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis at 81.5 although he finished with a -13 k/d.
Virtus.pro looked good on Vertigo, Gambit’s first map pick, breaking away with a string of seven rounds in the first half to hold a 9-6 lead. However, Gambit pulled off a streak of their own on the CT side winning six of the first seven rounds to close the gap and then take the lead. Virtus.pro came alive in the end though, taking the final five rounds to steal away Gambit’s map pick 16-14.
That is about where we could say the story ends for the next two maps as Gambit absolutely decimated gambit on Dust2 and Vertigo, giving up a combined 10 rounds compared to their 32.
Overpass would be the decider in terms of whether Gambit was to take the series 3-1 or Virtus.pro could begin their comeback. Gambit controlled the game early with Virtus.pro only netting two of the first seven rounds before heading into the half in a deficit of 11-4. Winning the pistol and following two rounds gave them the hope needed but Gambit was ready to crush that dream, winning four in a row to put themselves on match point. In a backs against the wall situation, Virtus.pro strung together five more rounds to hit 12 before ultimately falling in round 28 to lose the map and series.
Maps:
Vertigo –
Gambit 14:16 Virtus.pro
Dust2 –
Gambit 16:6 Virtus.pro
Train –
Gambit 16:4 Virtus.pro
Overpass –
Gambit 16:12 Virtus.pro
| Gambit | K – D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Abay ‘Hobbit’ Khasenov |
90 – 65 | +25 | 106.0 | 1.40 |
 Timofey ‘interz’ Yakushin |
66 – 54 | +12 | 67.7 | 1.18 |
| Sergey ‘Ax1Le’ Rykhtorov |
69 – 55 | +14 | 73.6 | 1.14 |
| Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov |
59 – 39 | +20 | 61.3 | 1.13 |
| Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov |
67 – 66 | +1 | 68.9 | 0.99 |
| Virtus.pro | K – D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis |
68 – 81 | -13 | 81.5 | 1.08 |
| Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali |
66 – 60 | +6 | 63.9 | 0.98 |
 Sanjar ‘SANJI’ Kuliev |
50 – 69 | -19 | 61.8 | 0.75 |
| Alexey ‘qikert’ Golubev |
44 – 75 | -31 | 58.5 | 0.74 |
| Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov |
48 – 66 | -18 | 51.6 | 0.73 |
IEM Katowice 2021 final standings:
1. Gambit – $400,000
2. 
Virtus.pro – $180,000
3-4. 
Liquid – $80,000
3-4. Spirit – $80,000
5-6. 
Astralis – $40,000
5-6. Natus Vincere – $40,000
7-8. 
FURIA – $24,000
7-8. 
G2 – $24,000
9-12. FaZe – $16,000
9-12. 
Vitality – $16,000
9-12. Evil Geniuses – $16,000
9-12. Heroic – $16,000
13-16. OG – $10,000
13-16. 
NIP – $10,000
13-16. 
BIG – $10,000
13-16. mousesports – $10,000
Photo: Gambit
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