Gambit Esports have suffered a second loss in the StarSeries i-League swiss stage, leaving them just one loss away from elimination in Kiev, Ukraine.
The CIS side have had a troubled 2018, but achieved their best result in a while at DreamHack Masters Marseille last month. Any hopes of parlaying that top four finish into a strong result on home soil, however, hang by a thread.
Yesterday Gambit dropped their opener to fellow CIS Avangar. That might look like an upset on paper, but Avangar did beat Gambit for first place in the CIS qualifier. That put Gambit in the 0-1 group for day two, where they faced off against fellow strugglers Virtus Pro.
The match started out on Mirage, with Gambit holding a slim 8-7 lead at the halfway point. VP rallied though, putting themselves on match point at 15-10, before Gambit mounted a comeback to take the map to overtime. Virtus Pro were able to go the distance, claiming a 19-17 win. The second map was Train and Gambit once again led at the half. 9-6 this time. But once again they let this lead slip, and went down 16-13.
Gambit now face Renegades tomorrow, with the loser of that match among the first two teams to be eliminated. Renegades find themselves on the precipice after losses to GODSENT and Hellraisers.
Natus Vincere avoided a similar fate to Gambit after being upset 2-0 by Chinese side Tyloo on day one. A massive 55 kills from Aleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev helped Na`Vi claim a pair of 16-8 map wins over the tournament’s other Chinese team Vici Gaming Flash. Vici will face NRG Esports tomorrow in the eliminator after NRG lost to North earlier today.
Attention now moves to the 1-0 teams, with SK Gaming vs. Avangar and Mousesports vs. Tyloo kicking things off.
