We are now less than one week away from the start of the much-awaited IEM Rio Major in Brazil. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 17 Majors. Today we have reached PGL Major Kraków 2017.

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 Gambit (Hobbit, AdreN, Dosia, Zeus, mou)

 Cache, Cobblestone, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train.

PGL Major Kraków 2017 was the eleventh CS:GO Major tournament in the history of the game and was held from July 16 – July 23, 2017 in the TAURON Arena in Kraków Poland. Like the three previous Majors, this one also featured a total prize pool of $1,000,000 with 16 teams competing for the lions share.

Back when Gambit were formed, the roster consisted of a mix of unproven rookies and legends that were supposedly past their prime. They had their work cut out for them to prove their worth in-game. However, running rampant at tournaments like DreamHack Winter Open 2016, Gambit dominated their competition. This event saw them rip apart Renegades in a dominating 2-0 Grand final.

Gambit continued to impress and slowly made a name for themselves throughout the early half of 2017, and in events, they obliterated the likes of fnatic and Astralis, making it clear that they had no intention of slowing down. Finally proving themselves to the Counter-Strike world, Gambit took home the victory at PGL Major Kraków 2017 against Immortals in the Grand final and became the first CIS team to ever win a Major. Gambit shocked the entire CS:GO scene as many expected an early exit from them.

One thing the Counter-Strike community especially remembers from the Grand final at the PGL Major Kraków 2017 is Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov’s legendary grenade.  

For many CS:GO players it’s a well-known fact that, on the iconic Inferno, you can stand in the corner of pit and survive the bomb explosion if you have a good amount of health. An individual who certainly knows this is Gambit’s Dosia who is the man behind one of CS:GO’s most iconic moments in the history of the game. On the final map of the Grand final, Dosia hurled a perfectly placed grenade to that exact above mentioned corner in ‘pit’ on Inferno, killing two enemies to crater Immortals’ economy. Gambit lost the round, but Dosia’s nade helped them win the war.

The grenade is genuinely legendary, so much that it even got immortalized as a graffiti by Valve who hung up a poster depicting Dosia’s grenade and placed it right where it exploded. The play encapsulated everything that was special about Gambit’s Major run. The determination. The ingenuity. The magic.

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FaZe, SK Gaming, and Astralis were the only conceivable contenders. Teams like G2, fnatic, and NAVI were dark-hose picks, but it seemed like an unrealistic ask even for those teams. Zeus and company from Gambit were not even in the conversation. Yet Gambit won the PGL Major Kraków 2017 and surprised every CS:GO fan.

Gambit went up against the Brazilian squad from Immortals after beating defending champs from Astralis 2-1 in the semi-finals. Immortals were no slouch either as they took down Virtus.pro themselves in the semi-finals.

The action of the Grand final started on Immortals’ pick of Cobblestone, where the Brazilians exploded into action with an impressive 3-12 lead at the end of the first half. Playing on the CT-side, the Brazilians continued playing like a train with no brakes and managed to quickly close out the map with a 4-16 scoreline.

But then Gambit got to work. On the second map of the series, Train, Zeus and company delivered a solid T-side and threw Immortals off their game with quick executions, which Immortals had no response to. Stellar performances from HEN1 and kNg helped Immortals grab 6 rounds in total before Gambit ended the first half with a 9-6 advantage. The Brazilians would go on to equalize the score, but after buying up, Gambit took control of the game with no response from Immortals, bringing the scoreline to 12-9. A triple-kill from Gambit’s mou in a partial buy gave his team their 14th round and left the Brazilians with no money to attempt a comeback. Gambit tied off the series 1-1 with a 16-11 scoreline, forcing the decider.

On the decider of Inferno, Gambit stormed to a 11-4 lead on the CT-side full of momentum. Immortals picked themselves up early in the second half, winning four rounds without response. Adrenaline was running high in both squads, and when Hobbit secured Gambit their first round of the half with a sensational 1v3 clutch, the whole TAURON Arena exploded. That was the start of a great run from Gambit, who brought the scoreline to 14-9 and only allowed Immortals to take a single round before wrapping up the series 2-1 with a 16-10 scoreline.

Following this outcome, Hobbit and company from Gambit earned $500,000, while the Brazilians took home $150,000.

Highest rated players at PGL Major Kraków 2017

1. {cflag:UA} Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (NAVI) – 1.43 Rating

2. {cflag:BR} Marcelo ”coldzera” David (SK Gaming) – 1.40 Rating 

3. {cflag:DE} Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz (BIG) – 1.30 Rating  

4. {cflag:KZ} Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev (Gambit) – 1.26 Rating 

5. {cflag:FI} Miikka “suNny” Kemppi (PENTA) – 1.21 Rating 

6. {cflag:DK} Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen (Astralis) – 1.20 Rating 

7. {cflag:DE} Johannes “nex” Maget (BIG) – 1.20 Rating 

8. {cflag:DK} Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke (North) – 1.17 Rating 

9. {cflag:DK} Nicolai “device” Reedtz (Astralis) – 1.17 Rating 

10. {cflag:RU} Denis “electronic” Sharipov (FlipSid3) – 1.15 Rating

Gambit won 72 out of 137 rounds on the T-side (52.6%) and even did better on the CT-side winning 82 of 145 rounds (56.5%).

Tomorrow we take a look at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. 

AdreN

Hobbit

Dosia

Gambit Esports

All the best teams from the CIS region are at the moment competing at the prominent IEM Fall CIS. The tournament is a Regional Major Ranking event, which works as the last qualifier for the upcoming PGL Major.

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In the fight for the important RMR points, a quite strange and potentially problematic situation has emerged.

The case is that, in the last group stage match between K23 and INDE IRAE in Group B, it actually could benefit K23 to lose the match, instead of winning it. Because K23 is already out of contention for the playoff, owing to their losses against Virtus.pro, Gambit, and forZe.

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And with a loss for K23 today, INDE IRAE will move up to 12 points in Group B. That means Virtus.pro has to win against forZe in their last match or end on top in regards to the tiebreaker rules. If Virtus.pro doesn’t manage to qualify for the playoffs and also loses their 5th place decider, they will receive 0 RMR points.

That means K23 are heading to the major because VP only has 1600 RMR Points, while K23 hold 2575 in 4th place. Another possibility for K23 to get a ticket for the PGL Major is for Entropiq to miss out on playoff in Group A. It just has to be either Virtus.pro or Entropiq that misses out on RMR points at IEM Fall CIS. 

1. NAVI – 3680 (Already qualified for Major)

2. Spirit – 3530 (Already qualified for Major)

3. Gambit – 3475 (Already qualified for Major)

The Twitter user, CarbonDogma has made a thread explaining the situation concerning every CIS team in contention for a spot in the Major. In the Twitter thread, you can get an overview of every team and their route to playoffs and vital RMR points.

In 2016 the two-timed major winner and MVP Marcelo "coldzera" David played for Luminosity Gaming the first six months of the year, and for SK Gaming in the rest.

He played 18 maps at the major, averaging a rating of 1.34, an absolutely outrageous result by the lurker from Brazil. No one was even near his level, and this is also why he was chosen as the best player in the world in both 2016 and 2017.

In 2017 at SK Gaming things didn’t go downhill for "coldzera", who seems to live for the big stages.

The Brazilian once again proved to be one of the best major players of all time, as he became the best-rated player at the majors two years in a row, with an average rating of 1.32 in 15 maps with SK Gaming.

Once again he managed to outperform the best players in the world at the time and kept proving why he was such a feared individual back in the day.

The Brazilian phenom's future is unknown after he was benched on FaZe.

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coldzera

s1mple

flamie

device

NiKo

FaZe

YeaH!

It's been 665 days since the conclusion of the latest CS:GO major. 

The StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 was the last major before the outbreak of Covid-19, which has delayed all major sporting events around the globe. But with the PGL Major Stockholm coming up in just 133 days, we can finally begin to be excited for the 16th Major tournament in history.

But how did it go in the last 15 events? We give you the list of all the winners and the MVPs.

DreamHack Winter 2013 Jönköping {cflag:SE} Fnatic - JW

ESL Katowice 2014 {cflag:PL} - Virtus.pro - pashaBiceps

ESL Cologne 2014 {cflag:DE} - Ninjas in Pyjamas - friberg

DreamHack Winter 2014 Jönköping {cflag:SE} - LDLC - Happy

ESL Katowice 2015 {cflag:PL} - Fnatic - Olofmeister

ESL One Cologne 2015 {cflag:DE} - Fnatic - flusha

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 {cflag:RO} - Envy - kennyS

MLG Major Columbus 2016 {cflag:US} - LG - coldzera

ESL Cologne 2016 {cflag:DE} - SK Gaming - coldzera

ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2016 {cflag:US} - Astralis - Kjaerbye

PGL Kraków 2017 {cflag:PL} - Gambit - AdreN

FACEIT London 2018 {cflag:GB} - Astralis - device

IEM Katowice 2019 {cflag:PL} - Astralis - Magisk

StarLadder Berlin 2019 {cflag:DE} - Astralis - device

Fnatic - 3 golds - 1 silver - 2 semi-finals

Ninjas in Pyjamas - 1 gold - 4 silvers - 1 semi-finals

flusha

friberg

olofmeister

Magisk

Kjaerbye

kennyS

Astralis

Fnatic

Ninjas in Pyjamas

LDLC

Virtus.pro

The first IEM Summer open qualifier has come to a conclusion. It sees K23, another CIS team that has proven its capabilities, as well as the European roster of Movistar Riders, go through to the next qualifying stage. The main event of IEM Summer 2021 will span from Jun 3rd - Jun 13th, 2021, and features 16 teams battling for a prize pool of $250.000. There are three qualifying spots that can be earned for the main event. K23 and Movistar Riders are one step closer to earning themselves a place at the big summer event. 

The CIS roster of K23, centered around the experienced Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev, made sure that they would advance further by defeating MASONIC, the tournament's biggest surprise, in their final challenge. After two close maps against Nordavind, Movistar Riders managed to secure the second qualifying spot with the help of Owen "smooya" Butterfield. 

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The closed qualifier is set to take place on April 26-28 and will feature ten teams, in addition to K23 and Movistar Riders. Two out of the other ten teams are going to be found in another open qualifier, whereas the remaining eight teams will be invited by the tournament organizers. 

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

AdreN

Player stats

Articles mentioning AdreN

PGL Major Kraków 2017: The first CIS team to ever win a Major

K23 would actually benefit more by losing their next IEM Fall game

When coldzera dominated the CS:GO scene

All CS:GO Major winners

K23 and Movistar Riders advance to the closed qualifier

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