Yesterday was the IEM Katowice Grandfinal between CIS juggernauts Virtus.pro and Gambit esports. Both teams came to this final match unexpectedly, beating the likes of Na’Vi, Astralis and Team Liquid in upset victories to make it here today. The CIS rosters were helped along by their star players like Hobbit of Gambit and YAKINDAR of Virtus.pro, and stellar IGL’s in nafany and Jame.
For the first map, Vertigo, Virtus Pro took the first half 9-6 on the CT side thanks to aggressive A Ramp pushes from YAKINDAR and tight holds from qikert on B Stairs. Round after round fell to Virtus.Pro as these players got early entry and double kills, limiting the amount of players Gambit had to take Bombsite. Despite this aggressive play style, Gambit was able to post 2 rounds at the end of the half after matching VP’s fast play style, with Hobbit getting a triple kill in Round 14 in part due to an aggressive push onto A Bombsite. Starting with the next half Gambit came out kicking. Despite losing the pistol round, they were able to convert a partial buy into a 6 round streak against a diminished Virtus.Pro. Nafany, Gambits IGL, was able to silence VP’s star entry fragger YAKINDAR every round and made his impact for most of the second half. Hobbit too was able to be the rock in many of VP’s pushes, with plenty of multi-kills on A-bombsite. It took VP until round 26 before they were able to regain traction and win 6 rounds in a row to secure the first map 16-14.
The first half of Virtus.Pro’s pick dust2 was a hard fight back and forth between the two finalists. Gambit again was able to take a lost pistol round into a partial buy win, netting them 4 rounds in a row before VP got their form back. Interz stood as Gambits star anchor, with multiple triple kills and denying YAKINDAR space to lurk around. Gambits ability to control mid and snuff out YAKINDAR’s impact led them to win the first half of dust2 9-6. The second half proved to be even worse for Virtus.Pro. Unable to properly build an economy, the CIS squad failed to win a single round on their CT-side. VP’s top players like YAKINDAR and Jame were unable to be impactful as they constantly lacked the proper utility to beat the ungodly aim of Gambits best fraggers, leaving them both with ratings below 0.90. Thanks in part to an outstanding performance by Hobbit and interz, Gambit was able to take the second map triumphantly 19-6, making the match a 1-1 game.
On Train, Gambits second pick and the fourth map of the game it was a similar story. The first half saw Gambit trounce VP 11-4 with them reading their every move with needle-like accuracy. It took Gambit no time at all to cancel YAKINDAR’s aggressive posturing, and paired with impeccable partial buys led them to start the second half strong. The second half was even more decisive, with VP unable to post a single T-side round against Gambit. The highlight of the short half was Hobbit, who was consistently able to stop advances from aggressive players like YAKINDAR and qikert and finished the map with a rating of 2.07. Gambit won Train 19-4 and led the Grand Final 2-1.
The fourth and final map proved to be as uncompetitive as map two and three. Gambit were able to post an excellent CT-side in the first half, finishing 11-4 again. Come the second half Virtus.Pro had regained some of their step on their CT-side, winning 8 maps with a 5 win streak, however they were not able to close the deal and Gambit won 16-12, crowning them the IEM Champion for 2021.
Gambits historic upset to win IEM Katowice 2021 was helped along by stellar performances by their AWPer and tournament MVP sh1ro, veteran anchor and Grand Final best player Hobbit and IGL nafany. For Virtus.Pro, the result was a disappointment after two brilliant playoff wins against Astralis and Team Liquid, with the previously robotic YAKINDAR failing to show his tremendous aimduel skills and Jame unable to gather the necessary economy to help his team to the championship.