This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
With just three teams remaining on the final day of competition at CS Summit, Gambit Esports made a valiant effort to take down the vaunted SK squad but ultimately came up short, giving SK yet another title.
Day 4 opened up with OpTic Gaming facing Gambit Esports. The up-and-coming CIS-based Gambit got off to a nice start with a 3-0 lead on Inferno before OpTic battled back with a few rounds of its own to set up a 4-4 tie after eight rounds. It was all Gambit for the rest of the first half, taking a 10-5 lead into the break. OpTic tried its best to survive in the second half, but Gambit consistently picked up rounds to take the map 16-10. The action moved to Mirage for Game 2 where the Green Wall was out in full force as the North American hopefuls rushed out to a 12-3 lead after the first half of play. Gambit won six of the first seven rounds in the second half to make things interesting, but OpTic took the next three rounds to close out the 16-9 win to force a Game 3.
While OpTic had nicely put its wall back up, Gambit became a bulldozer in Game 3, bringing that wall crashing right back down and leaving OpTic hurting inside. OpTic won the pistol round on Cobblestone, but not much else in the first half as Gambit forced its way to an 11-4 lead at the half. OpTic again won a pistol round, but then failed to follow it up. Gambit, led by Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev's 24/11 KD (kills/deaths) and 100.7 ADR (average damage per round), easily found the rounds needed to lock up the 16-6 victory to move on to face the Brazilian giants of SK Gaming.
With SK getting a free win by virtue of the fact that it came through the upper bracket, its route to victory was already much shorter. Gambit seemed to be unfazed by this, coming out of the gate with a strong showing on Inferno in Game 1. It took the first five rounds of the match in blistering fashion before SK found its footing by winning eight of the next 10 rounds for an 8-7 lead at the half. The second half was a much different story, however, as Gambit nearly ran the table on SK with a 9-2 showing to tie the series with the 16-10 victory.
Despite looking a bit worse for wear in Game 2, SK got its swagger back in the third frame on Cache. On the back of sweltering retakes and flawless executions, the Brazilians dominated the first half to the tune of a 13-2 scoreline. Gambit were seemingly ready to move on to the next map as SK picked up the first three rounds of the second half to complete the 16-2 win.
Picking up right where it left off after the romp that was Game 3, SK jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first half of its old favorite map of Train. Gambit recovered nicely in the rest of the half with six of the final seven rounds won to cut SK's lead to 9-6 at the half. Unwilling to let SK back into the game, Gambit kept on pushing to open the second half with five straight rounds won to take an 11-9 lead. SK then woke up from its slumber to completely shut down Gambit with six straight wins to put itself on championship-point. Gambit prolonged the inevitable with two wins before SK put the CIS team down for the count with a 16-13 victory.
SK Gaming will now turn its attention back to the North American ESL Pro League where it currently sits at the top of the standings with just two weeks left in the regular season.
