SK battle past Gambit in Katowice
SK and Gambit were the teams taking part in the final game of today, with the two sides both looking to sustain their tournament lives. The two teams were set to play on Inferno, Overpass and Train.
SK began Inferno with the pistol and two anti-eco rounds on their CT-side, before pushing on to start an immense lead. With Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo leading his men forward, they were bounding ahead with a 6-0 lead looking extremely unstoppable.
Gambit finally came into the game by taking two rounds, but that was it for them in the first half. With Marcelo "coldzera" David and Fernando "fer" Alvarenga firing on all cylinders, the Brazilians secured a strong 13-2 half time lead.
The second half was a slightly different story. Gambit's CT-side began with them taking the pistol and anti-eco rounds before pushing on for a five round run with Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov and co. looked to get back into the game.
SK did secure a round to push their lead further, but Gambit instantly hit back to get into double digits. But the Brazilians were too strong to be knocked back after a strong lead, with Ricardo "boltz" Prass taking three to win the map 16-10.
Overpass began with SK exploding onto the bombsite to secure the pistol and two anti-ecos. Gambit secured the first full buy, but the Brazilians instantly answered back to start a run of rounds to claim a 7-1 lead. FalleN's team was looking unforgiving in this map.
Although Gambit did secure another round, with Abay "Hobbit" Khasenov showing shades of his form of old, SK once again came back to reset Gambit and keep on extending their lead, with Epitacio "TACO" de Melo proving key in a number of rounds. Denis "seized" Kostin took four kills to single-handedly secure a third round for Gambit, before pushing onto the next. But SK secured the final round to take an immense 11-4 lead.
The second half began with SK's CT-side taking the pistol round, thanks to TACO securing a 1vs1, before pushing on to the two anti-eco rounds. Hobbit won a 1vs2 to secure the first full buy round, and then pushed on to close down the score gap.
But from there it was just Gambit, slowly whittling down SK's lead. Taking round after round as Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev and co. were close to evening up the game. But SK weren't going down, as fer picked up four kills to put his team on match point. Gambit weren't to let their hard work be in vain, securing the next round to put the game on a knife-edge. From there they caused overtime by forcing a 15-15 score.
Overtime began with Gambit comfortably taking the B-site to open up their T-side rounds. SK immediately answered back with a site defense as FalleN leads from the front removing four of the opposition, before claiming the final round. The second half of overtime saw Gambit wrestle the lead, taking two rounds to claim map point. After that, Hobbit won a 1vs2 to claim the map 19-17, completing the comeback and putting them at level pegging against SK.
Train was left, and it was Gambit to open the proceedings by taking the pistol round and two anti-ecos on their CT-side. SK wasted no time in the first full buy round as coldzera secured three kills to start a run where the Brazilians started to take the lead.
From there the Brazilian team was on another level as FalleN and coldzera topped the tables with individual displays of talent. With eight rounds won in a row, they were clearly in the driving seat towards the end of the half. Although Gambit took three more rounds to slightly firm up their position, SK picked up the final round for a 9-6 lead.
The second half began with FalleN picking up four kills on the pistol round for SK's CT-side to take that and the first anti-eco round. Gambit's forcebuy in the third round put them straight onto the board, but not before SK once again pulled the ace out of the pack and returned to leading the match.
From there SK raced off to the end, swiftly claiming match point before FalleN and friends claimed it all for themselves to the tune of 16-7.
SKGambit| SK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
69 - 55 | +14 | 91.9 | 68.2% | 1.31 |
| Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
66 - 47 | +19 | 78.4 | 78.8% | 1.24 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
63 - 50 | +13 | 76.9 | 65.9% | 1.16 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
54 - 54 | +0 | 72.4 | 69.4% | 1.04 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
53 - 55 | -2 | 69.0 | 72.9% | 1.00 |
| Gambit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rustem 'mou' Telepov |
56 - 54 | +2 | 62.3 | 63.5% | 0.98 |
 Denis 'seized' Kostin |
58 - 64 | -6 | 80.4 | 58.8% | 0.95 |
| Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov |
50 - 63 | -13 | 68.2 | 69.4% | 0.91 |
| Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
48 - 60 | -12 | 65.6 | 67.1% | 0.90 |
| Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev |
49 - 64 | -15 | 72.8 | 61.2% | 0.88 |
This result sees SK head for a knockout match-up against domestic rivals Cloud9 tomorrow, with the winner going forward into the playoffs. For Gambit, their tournament road is now over.
