PGL Major Krakow: Gambit Esports Defeats Immortals for the Title

PGL Major Krakow was one of the biggest and most interesting Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments this year. Considering that this is the last Major this season, that kind of tournament could have been expected. After several days of the competition, the event came down to the final match between Gambit eSports and Immortals.

Even though rarely anyone could have predicted that these two teams will be in the final, in the end, it turned out to be fully deserved considering their performances in the previous rounds. Since Gambit eSports eliminated Astralis in the semi-finals, many believed that they would be favorites for the win. In the end, that turned out to be right because Gambit eSports outperformed Immortals and won their first Major title.

Game One

The first pick of the map went to Immortals who picked Cobblestone. Game one of the final match started very strong for Immortals who used a very aggressive approach to prevent Gambit from making any serious move and get a footing in the game. Already at the half time, it was clear that Immortals will be taking the win in the first round because the result was 12-4 in their favor.

The second half of the game one turned out to be the crucial moment of that game. Immortals managed to win the second pistol round which gave them big push towards winning the game one. In the end, Gambit eSports was not able to win a single round in the second half as the score of the first game was 16-4 for Immortals.

Vito ‘kNg’ Giuseppe and Lucas ‘steel’ Lopes kept Immortals going throughout the entire game one. Besides them, HEN1 also had a significant role but one thing stands out in his performance in the first game, and that is his kill ratio which was 22-4.

Game Two

The second map of the final was Train, and it was picked by Gambit eSports. The second game proved to be much more interesting, which was expected. Gambit eSports had to win that round in order to stay in the match. One of the reasons why Immortals could not pose a bigger threat in the huge part of the game two was their economy. However, they managed to stabilize their economy a couple of games before the end of the first half, and they managed to bring the score to 9-6 in the first half.

In the second half, Immortals continued to struggle and with Rustem ‘mou’ Telepov and his 28 kills, Gambit eSports had no problems with closing the second round in their favor with the score 16-11.

Game Three

The decisive map of the final match was Inferno and Gambit eSports took the very early advantage when they managed to win the first five consecutive rounds. In that effort, Daniil ‘Zeus’ Teslenko had the biggest contribution as his efforts prevented Immortals from developing their game beyond one or two kills per round. After the first half and after Immortal’s Terrorist side, Gambit eSports had the advantage of 11-4.

However, Immortals won the second pistol round, and they also managed to win the next four consecutive games which made Gambit a bit nervous. However, thanks to Zeus and Abay ‘HObbit’ Khasenov, Gambit eSports did not allow Immortals to fully comeback as they closed the third game with the score 16-10.

PGL Krakow Major was the first Major title for Gambit eSports but not their first title in 2017. However, with $500,000 and a place in history, Gambit eSports took the CS:GO the world by storm.