The first team to qualify for ECS Season 5 Europe from the Challenger Cup has been decided today, as Gambit took down Natus Vincere. The match kicked off on Cobblestone, the Ukrainian team's map pick, where they weren't able to get the good CT start, but still ended with a respectable number of six rounds going into the Terrorist side. However, Gambit locked it down on the defensive side, with Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov, Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev and Rustem "mou" Telepov putting up strong performances to close the map quickly, 16-6. Hobbit's squad finally secured a spot in a top-tier online league
Overpass followed, where Natus Vincere started off much better, grabbing a 7-4 lead as Terrorists despite losing the pistol. However, with Denis "seized" Kostin on the forefront, Gambit recovered and took the lead going into the second half, 8-7. Despite an anti-force loss, Gambit were able to establish themselves on the Terrorist side early and contain Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev well enough to grab a 16-12 victory and a 2-0 for the series. ECS Season 5 Europe Challenger CupBest of 3 Natus Vincere Matchpage 0 2 8th March 2018  Gambit 6Cobblestone 16 12Overpass 16
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple | 44 - 36 | +8 | 98.5 | 1.35 | Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie | 43 - 39 | +4 | 86.6 | 1.17 | Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic | 32 - 38 | -6 | 81.2 | 0.96 | Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward | 24 - 38 | -14 | 60.7 | 0.66 | Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus | 21 - 43 | -22 | 46.2 | 0.62 |
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized | 42 - 33 | +9 | 95.9 | 1.34 | Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevAdreN | 43 - 35 | +8 | 83.3 | 1.29 | Mihail 'Dosia' StolyarovDosia | 41 - 34 | +7 | 93.2 | 1.23 | Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit | 36 - 34 | +2 | 83.5 | 1.15 | Rustem 'mou' Telepovmou | 32 - 28 | +4 | 60.6 | 0.99 |
With this result, Gambit have, for the first time, qualified for one of the two top online leagues. The squad is currently playing their fourth consecutive ESEA MDL season in hopes of qualifying for ESL Pro League, and have failed in their last four attempts to make ECS, placing third the last two times. The following teams now have a spot in ECS Season 5: Astralis | Envy | FaZe | fnatic | G2 | Virtus.pro | MOUZ | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Gambit | TBD |
 Astralis #8  Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Emil 'Magisk' Reif  Gambit #14  Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov Rustem 'mou' Telepov Denis 'seized' Kostin Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov  Rustem 'mou' Telepov Age: 26 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 776 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66  Natus Vincere #7  Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov  G2 #9  Richard 'shox' Papillon Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro  Ninjas in Pyjamas #10  Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund Dennis 'dennis' Edman William 'draken' Sundin Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner  FaZe #1  Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Håvard 'rain' Nygaard  Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev Age: 28 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1078 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68   Envy #28   Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer Ali 'hAdji' Haïnouss  Denis 'seized' Kostin Age: 23 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1064 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67  MOUZ #4  Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi Martin 'STYKO' Styk Robin 'ropz' Kool  Virtus.pro #18  Filip 'NEO' Kubski Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Paweł 'byali' Bieliński Michał 'MICHU' Müller  fnatic #5  Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson Maikil 'Golden' Selim  Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 20 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.20 Maps played: 758 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.68  Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov Age: 29 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1169 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 |