The Story of Gambit: Valorant's Best Team, Forced To Disband

Sentinels Gambit optic last year's loud and the current iteration of fnatic valorant has had five teams that were the Undisputed best at some point in the game's history four of them still exist today the only team that doesn't is the team who are arguably the best of them all this is the story of Gambit Gambit is an Esports org that's had teams in all of the major games and found International success in most they look to repeat that in valoran and so joined the scene very early on in the game's lifespan by September 2020 only a few months after the game had left beta they'd already signed the roster to compete in the CIS region looking towards the first tournament in Valor and Esports First Strike every region had its own first track tournament with other regions winners including 100 thieves in North America and Heretics in Central Europe but Gambit looked to take the crown in Russia they fought their way into the main event against other Russian teams like Forza and Singularity but wouldn't be able to take the title so Gambit hadn't found success immediately with this roster and so decided to switch a player out this is where we see the five players who would eventually take over International valent on the same team but the time let's start with the new guy on the team redgar he'd replace Sunset as the igl on the Smoke's roll and was a wholesome personality to add to the team a reputation he still holds to this day next up was Nats the team's Sentinel player he was known as a ratty player at the time but maybe hadn't quite played up to his full potential yet defo was Gambit's duelist he wasn't super flashy but that meant he played off his teammate's utility well and didn't overheat too much and finally their two Flex players both all-around cracked players in both game sense and aim shados and Chronicle this new and improved roster would play in the first CIS Challenger split which culminated in the regional Masters tournament with their new roster they managed to win both challenges and Masters without dropping a single map they'd proved themselves as the best team in Russia and after another almost Flawless split that led them to play against the best teams from all of Europe only two European teams would be invited to the first Global Valor and Lan held in Reykjavik Iceland the Gambit to make it they would have to go through a group stage bracket and then come top two in the playoffs Gambit were up against fpx to see who made it through to the playoffs and with big perform from defo and nuts they took the win there were now only one game away from competing on the international stage against the Titans of early EU valoran fnatic durka takes down knots it's not looking too good for God but they need to turn up here man but there's just nothing they can do fnatic showed why they had such a feared reputation in this match taking it 2-0 over Gambit and advancing to Masters Reykjavik and almost winning the entire thing Gambit hadn't made it this time but when the next International land rolled around Masters Berlin they would not be denied they would practice the same executes 24 rounds in a row in scrims with almost no days off they were incredibly dedicated to perfecting their gameplay and were determined to show it in Split 2. another Flawless split in Russia again granted Gambit passage to the European playoffs once there they won 2-0 over Guild within 1917 in the second map these crazy map scores become somewhat of a pattern for Gambit and then lost 2-1 to ascend to go down to the lower bracket they once again activated lower bracket demon mode to win over liquid which was actually the match that qualified them to Masters they didn't stop there though taking down G2 Ascend and SMB to win the playoff bracket overall they suddenly found themselves as the favorites from Europe heading into Berlin could they live up to those expectations at Berlin they found themselves impossibly the easiest group Gambit 100 thieves crazy raccoon and havan Liberty a hundred thieves were definitely a threat but the two other teams not so much in their first match against crazy raccoon Gambit only dropped two rounds in the whole series they then played 100 thieves which was a hyped matchup in the na vs emea rivalry trades one down oh just narrowly not able to get the same let's go let's go you're so insane you go holy is this Chronicle has plenty of Health Chronicle on the tap the Crow's don't fake he's gotta get it to happen didn't manage to take it despite it being so close and therefore play the rematch against crazy raccoon in the lower bracket this wasn't much closer game but Gambit still took it to O and moved on to the playoffs Masters Berlin was back in the violent days of old where we had single olymp play-off brackets so if Gambit lost once they'd be out and it would not get easier their first opponents in the playoffs were a team who had won over 100 Series in a row they were known for their Innovative strategies and had already beaten SMB and Ascend in the group stages that team was Vision Strikers the Korean Powerhouse how would Gambit fare against Asia's number one team good for one the Rolling Thunder now providing a ton of value as Max is there as well they're entirely unfazed by that ultimate the classic is there oh my gosh Gambit what have we just seen really well apparently a 13-2 on the first map set them up to take the series Pretty comfortably and so they moved on to face G2 in the next round but before we talk about that series we need to mention a player on Gambit who'd caught the eyes of the world in Berlin nuts had begun to develop a playstyle where he could seemingly sneak Behind Enemy Lines completely unnoticed we'd seen it to some degree before but Nats brought lurking to a whole new level in Masters Berlin and there's no better map to show that on than icebox vs G2 Gambit had taken the first map 1310 and so if they won this one too they'd be into the grand finals [Music] instead it just comes down to this moment and uh three ridiculous remix well leaving just nuts he thought he's giving his team a free pass in towards the a site instead he sent them to their death we thought Nats had snots by mix while it turns out it was the other way around Nats now having to clutch this one out no idea where mixwell is in the Snake Bite Not Quite clearing the angle he's about to run to sight reloading and mix well there seems to be no way for G2 to get off the starting point well by the looks of things death was holding it with an op and that's gonna be the rifle dropped look at this but I mean get out of here the ruddiest player I've ever seen in my life the fact that he could look two kills why not yeah give give him all of them not really gonna get away with anything for now [Music] how is he there I don't understand how does he manage to do that I know he's gonna I cannot be kind of makes you smart do it tags they're losing their lives three players remain G2 being utterly humiliated they'll get themselves a spike one they'll give themselves a bit of Hope and shade us looking to drop more players another one Falls it is looking over it's on the Kellogg's to give them anything and G2 have been humiliated as Gambit make their way through to the final and who the hell will doubt them now they've made it into the grand finals in incredible fashion the 13-0 in the semi-finals of an International Tournament the likes of which we'd never seen before in valorant and something we haven't seen since moving on to the Grand Final and their opponents will be very familiar to most they were under the Envy Banner at the time but would later become the dominant optic team of 2022 this was also their first appearance at an International Tournament so whichever way this went we'd see a brand new winner of a trophy would na get their second in a row or could Gambit become the first EU champions [Music] nothing seconds now Victor 34 HP and it's done shados leans forward map one was an absolutely brutal battle between these Tunes excuse me yay got a solved but it is against Big Boy Nat and Yates gonna get that to halfway you know it is now Nats what are you gonna do about this though okay that's the plan okay for zoom off if the spam comes in he goes right back up yay what can you do the right click what am I watching he's got the diffuse Lauren yay has just clutched that round where are they going with this they need something to open up for them here and nothing is they have 25 seconds and they gotta now lean back towards Beaver still here he still knows what's going on there's still Nets at the back of the side Envy come on you've got to make this happen Graco destroys Envy three back-to-back frags and it might be four in a second he's on the chopping block Gambit have made it to 12. one more round and Gambit walk away wanna call the man who just destroyed them in the prior round is just around the squad I mean oh my God yeah he's made a meal of it it's all going to pieces Gambit took the series 3-0 over envy and won the Masters Berlin title they looked completely undefeatable at their Peak with five of the best players in the world on every roll Gambit had cemented themselves in the Valiant history books and with that grand finals win they had the opportunity to do it again at Champions at the end of the year December of 2021 rolled around and with it came that first valorent Champions tournament Gambit would be accompanied there by many teams they'd played before Envy fnatic liquid and vision Strikers just to name a few luckily though they got a fairly easy group again so didn't have to worry about any of those teams the teams they did have to worry about were team secret and Vikings both minor region squads who were the underdogs in the matches especially considering Gambit had just come off a title win they definitely put up strong fights though team secret took a map off of Gambit although then did get 30 node right after and it got a specially scary in the Vikings match Gambit were down 12-5 on the final map of icebox one round away from the loser's bracket once again but this was a team who could seemingly pull off Miracles and this particular one took them into the playoffs nine rounds in a row to win 14-12 and with that match they'd made it back once again single LM playoffs lose once and you're out their opponent would have been Envy in this first match had the results gone as predicted but after a shock upset it ended up being X10 instead X10 had momentum coming in from the previous game but Gambit dealt with them effectively and moved on to the semi-finals that was the thing about Gambit their emphasis on utility usage as opposed to relying on individual skill meant that they tended to get upset a lot less often than other teams and they still had incredible individual players to top it off they would need to show that in the semi-finals which is regarded as one of the best series in Valor in history Gambit vs crew crew were a similar opponent to X10 as they'd pulled off some crazy upsets in this tournament to make it hit crew were fueled by pure passion and had some incredible individual players like Kesner and Mizuno Gambit's based on seem to match up well against them but when a team has that much momentum sometimes they're impossible to stop casting it's made a decision going into this close corner but they haven't checked it that's a double and indeed four kills for Kenston might be able to try and isolate one of these players It's Gonna Be Cops on the other side and the shot is connected the sneaky pushed through catches him though a big round from deltin and it's left into the one versus one it's a perfect place piece of utility out from redcar can he get this final kill yes he can it's somebody slowing them down he's harassing them in the back lines 20 seconds left as they make their way forward up goes nags no knives connecting Klaus though going huge the Nano keeping the back and this is already done crew walked out with 13-7 map three it's where we'll decide things and you can see that they're very scared of that operator and why wouldn't you be chronicled playing behind the smoke and there's the opening as they come around the corners all five an ace for chronicle the rounds saved Chronicle produced what I believe to be the best Ace in tolerant to this day to keep Gambit alive in this match and let them take it home 1816 was the final score and Gambit moved on to the Grand Final this was the first time a team had made it to a second Grand Final we've seen it a few times more now with optic loud and fnatic but Gambit were the first their opponents would be Ascend a well-known photo them from emea CNET was their flashy jet player who stood out in most series but in this tournament Zeke and Stark so stepped up massively to bring the team to a whole new level this would be Far and Away Gambit's most difficult match would they be able to challenge a white hot ascend jump Peak that's enough it's a reassure positioning what Zeke two kills out of nowhere and suddenly this round becomes a little bit more viable but time is the biggest problem this when you're gonna step up and deliver but it's gonna be Chronicle the chiming I don't think he's gonna have the time surely sure oh my God Zeke has just destroyed them therefore you still need beings got him across the map scene and still stands as well this could be the one this could be the round to take him across the line Nat The Last One Alive here and Ascend bound back 13-7 there is life in them yet then came fracture and nuts gave the people what they wanted to try and find something to do he's right our drop already potential to challenge keyless down to two stars are in C Ned he literally will not die now has to be aware that he could be surrounded he's dealing with the pressure walls he knows that Nat has his back gonna find one right God swings in and it's all down to Star so it's all but over 13-3 a Flawless end to the neuron Flawless map this was decisive and after taking the lead in the final moments of icebox Gambit looks Prime to take the Champions Trophy but Ascend refused to be put down foreign split was the final map and Ascend simply had too much momentum for Gambit to stop they took the series 3-2 in the closest Grand final of the pre-franchising era Gambit hadn't managed to win a second International trophy in a row but they'd come damn close and things were only looking up for 2023. a new system in Europe meant that Gambit didn't have to play a whole split in Russia and could go straight into playing against the whole region that meant that 2022 started with a match against liquid which they two owed and another against fpx which they narrowly lost that had a decent start but nothing could have prepared them for what would happen next it was as sudden as it was brutal and Relentless ukrainians woke up to find themselves plunged into the midst of all explosions and air red Sirens ringing out here in Kiev and cities across this country as Russia launched a full-scale Invasion on multiple fronts in the early hours of this morning with the Russian invasion of Ukraine Riot games prevented any Russian organizations from competing in valoran that of course included Gambit after the match against fpx the Gambit team wouldn't play for almost an entire month while the situation was figured out eventually Gambit and Wright came to an agreement that allowed the team to compete under a neutral name not representing Gambit that name would be Masters 3 Champions or Meg since they'd missed three weeks of the group stage they had to play games on three days in a row now without an orc the whole situation didn't seem to have a big impact on Gambit's performance originally they too owed each of the three series on their return week in convincing fashion that took them into the playoffs where they too owed Guild in the first round leaving them only one Series win away from making it to Masters Reykjavik 2022 which would be their third international event in a row Mech vs fnatic the exact same scenario had occurred this time last year it was a fated matchup and it would not disappointed actually Chronicle is the first one to land a shot darker going in for a little bit more kills he's landed for them that's the last alive you blink and you miss it literally and no shots will they missed making all this noise all this presence but the rest of the team is going elsewhere not still waiting for them catches the first and the second Spike down at his feet that is huge he even continues to aggress that he's taking the whole team down you are two rounds away from making it to Iceland our fanatic are holding on to it in fact they're mounting a little bit of a retake of their own wanting to mount the rap and they run into Nets that blind is perfect but a little bit too late I know it's gonna be left just into the hands of Mystic John the flank Magnum at least able to grab one the defuse underway they'll swing into it stopping it at the start now things get dangerous halfway or just about Brave coming around the corner though he stopped the defuse he's running the clock down Depot wants the swing and surely that's it one on time now oh [Music] most fun setup inside of B Main and then light play flank this is their round I'ma call it now Mech don't win this I mean they need a god-tier performance to get out alive in this one they have to catch durka and they've done none of it fnatic win this one out 23-21 and they're booking their flights to Iceland baby they're going to masters from down 9-3 to a 23-21 overtime unfortunately it didn't go Mex way and fnatic qualified to Reykjavik Mech was 0.02 seconds away from qualifying 0.02 seconds separated them from having the chance to cement themselves as the best team in Valor in history Mech returned for split 2 after seeing their old rivals and optic win the international title it was a rocky group stage for them only winning two matches and qualifying to playoffs by four rounds it was another similar story in playoffs winning a few matches and coming one game away from the international Lan but again they couldn't quite do it in fact they lost to the eventual winners of it this time in fbx so again if they had won that series who knows what they could have done in Denmark with the final Tournament of 2022 being Champions Mech had one final chance to make it to the international stage again the last chance qualifier something to note is that before the lcq they made a roster change defo made way for JD to add even more flexibility to the roster now all Mech had to do was win four matches and they'd be qualified to Champions they could finally get their revenge on fnatic fpx and optic but that all started with another Revenge match against Ascend in the first round of lcq they took them down fairly easily with nuts debuting his chamber and dropping 32 kills on the final map that brought them into the upper semis where they faced oglu and they took them down as well two games left liquid had once again activated the lcq buff and made it to the upper final despite some roster changes before the tournament if Mac won this match there'd be one game away map 1 13 8 liquid map 2 13 8 Mech map 3 icebox yeah well this is Oliver there's no way Nats wins this right don't say that right he's in a one on Three I know pavlas but you don't say that in here because you know what he's capable of he's very much capable of many many things and he can hide within it spots out scream this could be the play of his life he knows exactly what's happening and he finds the fight 18 s there were now one match away after losing to Mech in the upper final liquid beat G2 to make it back into the grand finals so it'd be a rematch to decide who went to Istanbul bind was map one and it went Max way and all was looking good but when liquid and scream especially are in an lcq they seem to have some kind of valorent blessing Shields not imply for everyone and screams is going already destroying their trap this will be information it doesn't even realize jainos caught sleeping it seems anything's Gonna Keep Going international trip scream how does he get three taking him down the flash out of the cloudburst we know the strategy but a little different this time hello I had to scream out into it and yumpy's in there with the operator this round could just be done next we'll try to hold on to Quick kills this is it for Mech they need this round and this man has clutched time again Mech had a very fractured 2022 and seemed not to be destined to make an International Tournament but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt in fact it probably hurt even more knowing that they could have continued their legacy as one of the best teams in the world if it wasn't for circumstances completely out of their control this team looked unbeatable in their Prime who knows how far they could have gone the story of Gambit and their potential as a team would live on in the pre-franchising valoran history books as the era we could have had I've been command thank you Gambit and thanks for watching

Channel: Commend

Views: 359,214

Keywords: valorant, tenz, sentinels, sentinels sacy, sentinels pancada, c9 roster valorant, valorant franchising, valorant montage, yay franchising, commend valorant, valorant franchise explained, valorant franchise teams, marved, franchising players, valorant moments, valorant iconic moments, valorant best moments, gambit, story of gambit, gambit documentary, the story of gambit, gambit valorant

Id: 6fKz2HqSH_I

Length: 21min 30sec (1290 seconds)

Published: Thu May 04 2023