https://www.cybersport.ru/counter-strike-go/articles/epokha-dvoevlastiya-v-cs-go-kak-mezhdu-gambit-esports-i-navi-rodilos-samoe-interesnoe-derbi-v- istorii-sng

Best Derby Ever

First, advice: if for some reason you haven’t watched the StarLadder CIS RMR 2023 grand final between Natus Vincere and Gambit, then be sure to fix it soon. The teams presented the fans with an incredibly entertaining Counter-Strike, and the NAVI players, thanks to an incredible comeback from a 0: 2 card score, gave themselves the title of champion and 2,000 RMR points. This victory allowed the roster Alexandra s1mple Kostyleva Lead the Regional Major Rankings.

During the tournament Natus Vincere and Gambit Esports met three times – once in the group stage and twice in the playoffs. It is noteworthy that the first two matches went to the collective’s piggy bank Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov, but in the decisive game the representatives of the Ukrainian club were able to find the keys to Gambit and broke a streak of four defeats in head-to-head matches.

The matches between NAVI and Gambit are a high-class sight even for the most sophisticated Counter-Strike fan. An abundance of highlights, a huge number of clutches and ingenious individual solutions – all this is about the meetings of the s1mple and sh1ro rosters. Well, the most pleasant moment in the entire history of this confrontation is that Gambit and NAVI occupy the first two positions in the world rankings, which means that their matches are not a local derby, but the main matchup on the entire professional CS: GO scene. The teams have proven that they can beat each other, which means that each meeting is doomed to success in terms of the quality of the game. If the roasters do not magically lose their shape in a three-hour flight to Cologne, then with a lion’s share of probability we will be able to see another grand final between NAVI and Gambit in the near future, only this time it will finally happen on LAN.

Team Spirit – the next breakthrough?

At the end of the championship, the third place and 1,750 RMR points went to Team Spirit. Structure Abdula degster Hasanova looked good against outsiders and imposed a tangible fight on the tops (which is 13: 2 for the attack on Dust2 against Natus Vincere). Separately, I would like to note the team’s victory over Virtus.pro, with which Team Spirit continues an unspoken struggle for the title of the third team in the region. The first three meetings of these roasters in 2023 remained with VP, but the series was interrupted at StarLadder CIS RMR 2023. Based on what we saw at the second tournament of the RMR series, it seems that Spirit took the lead in the race for the CIS top-3 title.

The main problem for Team Spirit at the moment is the difficult start of the matches. At StarLadder CIS RMR 2023, the team held seven meetings, and all of them ended with a score of 2: 1. And most importantly, in all seven series, Team Spirit started with a 0: 1 score. Of course, coincidence intervened in part – in all matches Spirit picked the second, but nevertheless, losing the first map seven times in a row is not the best result. The closest event for Team Spirit will be IEM Cologne 2023, where the roster starts from the Play-In stage (bo1 series in the first round), where there will simply be no time for buildup. Let’s hope that the experience gained at StarLadder CIS RMR 2023 will help Team Spirit turn on maximum speeds from the very first rounds, otherwise it will be problematic to compete for the title of the third team in the region with VP, which already has a slot in the main stage of the championship.

Virtus.pro is on the verge of failure

Virtus.pro’s performance at StarLadder CIS RMR 2023 turned out to be a frank failure. One win in four matches, missing the playoffs from a not-so-difficult group and zero RMR points earned. After the second tournament of the Regional Major Rankings series for the CIS, the roster Jami Jame Ali left the top 5 of the regional table, which means that at the moment VP does not even have a slot in the Challengers Stage of the major. Moreover, Virtus.pro also lacks a slot at the third and final tournament of the RMR CIS series – the team will compete for it in qualifying.

Business at the composition Mareka YEKINDAR Galinskis are not going in the best way, and it is especially unpleasant to realize this a couple of days before the start IEM Cologne 2023 – the first LAN in a year and a half, where the actual distribution of forces on the professional CS: GO scene will finally become more or less clear. Well, for VP fans, this championship will be an excellent chance to understand whether StarLadder CIS RMR 2023 was an exception to the rule, or the team has again found itself in a crisis, from which it has been so diligently chosen throughout 2023.

Can’t repeat

Special attention at StarLadder CIS RMR 2023 was awarded Akuma, and for obvious reasons. At the first tournament of the RMR series, the team Sergey Sergiz Atamanchuk took third place, and then spent a whole month at the center of a scandal due to suspicions of team members in foul play. For those who slept through everything: after EPIC CIS League Spring 2023 many media representatives of the professional CS: GO scene openly called the players cheaters. At some point, even the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) stepped into the case, claiming there was “substantial evidence” of Akuma’s guilt, but in the end, no one provided facts that could 100% convince skeptics.

At the second tournament of the RMR series, Akuma players were expected, if not getting into the top 3, then at least reaching the playoffs. But, unfortunately for the fans of the Ukrainian team and to the delight of its haters, at StarLadder CIS RMR 2023 the team frankly failed and flew out of the tournament, winning just one map in four matches. In a recent interview with our media resource, Sergiz suggested that this time the opponents approached the preparation more carefully, and also complained about the low individual form of their team’s players. What happened at the two RMR series championships, apparently, will never be known, given the differing opinions of the parties, as well as the lack of 100% proof.

According to the results of StarLadder CIS RMR 2023, Atamanchuk’s team left the top 5 of the regional RMR rating for the CIS, which means that it, like VP, will have to be selected for the final event through a closed qualifier. Akuma definitely needs to get to this tournament, otherwise it will be much more difficult, if not impossible, to wash off suspicions of unfair play.