Though Gambit were able to make their third straight final, Navi denied them another championship.
After a tough start to 2021 and uncharacteristically poor performances from some of their best players, Navi have seemingly made a full recovery. The series began on Overpass, where Navi started with an 8 round win streak that set the tone of the series. Despite some excellent plays by Sergey “Ax1Le” Ryhtorov, Gambit struggled to find their footing in this match. Continuing success on T-side, Navi ultimately won the match 7-16. Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev gave his team a strong start, posting 23 kills and 101 ADR.
The series continued to Dust2, a map that Navi has excelled at in recent memory. Navi began with an immaculate T-side, dropping only 3 rounds in their 12-3 start. Though faltering slightly due to the effort of Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov, Navi ended the map 16-12.
The final map, Train, certainly seemed to favor Navi. Far and away Navi’s best map, heralding a 65% winrate, they kept this trend by finishing the series with another 16-12 win. Though not the team’s most consistent fragger, Denis “electronic” Sharipov came alive in the final two maps of the series. Electronic ended the series as the undisputed MVP, finding 75 total frags, 102.8 ADR, and an overall 1.47 rating.
This unfortunate ending for Gambit echoes their past finals loss to Heroic. Though the upcoming CIS team has managed to reach finals in nearly every tournament they have touched recently, their ability to close out has not fully developed. For Navi, this marks their latest first place finish since WePlay! Clutch Island back in June of 2020.
After the series, S1mple credited the rigorous bootcamp the roster underwent after several middling performances. Not participating in Flashpoint 3 or cs_summit, Navi will make their next appearance at EPIC League CIS, facing off against regional opponents where they will look to recreate these results.
Also read:
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