On the evening of May 30, the matches ended EPIC CIS League Spring 2023 in CS: GO – the first tournament of the RMR series for the CIS. The past event was remembered by the audience for several reasons. At the end of the championship, the first line, and with it 1.6 thousand RMR points, went to the squad Gambit Esports, which once again confirmed the title of the best team in the region. Natus Vincere, contrary to the expectations of the fans, did not make it to the final of the competition. The community split into two camps watching unexpected victories Akuma over the favorites. How the EPIC CIS League 2023 went – in the material from Cybersport.ru.
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Gambit Esports is the main hope of the CIS at the Major in Stockholm
Another tournament, another prize for Gambit Esports. At the last five events, Vladislav nafany Gorshkov’s roster reached the grand final and won three of them. The last tournament was probably one of the main goals of Gambit: at the EPIC CIS League, RMR points were played, necessary to get to the upcoming Major in Sweden.
According to HLTV.org, the best team in the world confirmed its title by confidently passing the upper bracket and losing only two maps in the playoffs. During the group stage, the roster experienced some problems, losing in matches with Team Spirit and Natus Vincere, however, approached the decisive matches with maximum concentration and literally left the opponents no chance. Here, once again, I want to take off my hat to the discipline of Gambit Esports: the team of Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov played groups from houses, but by the playoffs returned to the bootcamp in full force, which probably contributed to the final result. Gambit Esports continues to demonstrate a tremendous desire to win, while maintaining crazy stability for our region. With the current approach, the team is not only the main hope of the CIS in the Major, but also one of the favorites of the championship in principle. To all appearances, the players do not intend to lose this attitude, which is good news.
Abai HObbit Khasenov. Source: DreamHack
The most valuable player in the EPIC CIS League 2023 was Abai HObbit Khasenov, who played the tournament at a level unattainable for his opponents and earned a rating of 1.32. This is the third MVP medal for Gambit Esports players in 2023 – earlier sh1ro became the best at IEM Katowice 2023, and Ax1Le was recognized as the most valuable participant in ESL Pro League Season 13. This trend is reminiscent of the best times of Astralis, when any of the Danish five could win the coveted medal MVP in any tournament. The same is happening now with Gambit Esports: there are no weak links in the team, and you can safely expect bright performances from each of the members of the roster. However, in addition to the rich collection of MVP medals, Astralis has four major trophies to its credit. The youth of Gambit Esports are still far from this, but thanks to the victory at the first tournament of the RMR series, the team practically guaranteed itself an autumn trip to Sweden to PGL Major Stockholm 2023, where they will make the first attempt to start their own era.
Region with the highest competition
If we recall the first tournament of the RMR series for the CIS in 2023, it will become obvious what path our region has traveled over the past 12 months. The line-up of the local ESL One: Road to Rio looked something like “Natus Vincere and everyone else”, and now a year later six teams from the top twenty of the HLTV.org rating are taking part in a similar tournament. Last May, the absence of Alexander s1mple Kostylev’s roster from the group was taken by the fans as an incredible sensation, and this time the 5-6th place of NAVI (the team will meet Entropiq in the match for fifth place on June 1) caused quite moderate dissatisfaction among the fans.
Alexander s1mple Kostylev. Source: StarLadder
The level of the CIS teams has really grown, and it no longer seems like a coincidence. Our teams continue to capture the HLTV.org rating, they are ruining opponents from other regions without a chance, and the level of play at local competitions is constantly growing. EPIC CIS League 2023 was no exception: in the course of the tournament, face-to-face meetings of almost all favorites took place, and each match, as it turned out, was fraught with many intrigues, which was reflected in the final results. During the tournament, the Gambit Esports champion lost to Team Spirit and NAVI, Natus Vincere themselves lost to Spirit in the elimination match, and in the next round, Abdul degster Hasanov’s roster had already lost to VP. In short, the competition in the CIS is higher than ever before.
A star named Akuma
During the EPIC CIS League 2023, another bright star from the CIS, Akuma, lit up in the Counter-Strike sky. The roster of Sergiz Sergiz Atamanchuk demonstrated a phenomenal level of play, including victories in the playoffs over the giants of the world CS Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro. The team did a huge amount of work and at the first major tournament was able to break into the top-3 right away. But, unfortunately, Akuma’s “happy ending” in this championship was overshadowed by not the most pleasant rumors about its players.
The fact is that during the matches against Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro, Akuma players showed such a number of highlights that clips with them instantly spread across the network. And as is often the case when it comes to an online tournament, the lion’s share of the community representatives declared the members of the young team to be cheaters. Prosecutors mainly appealed with two clips featuring Sergiz, in one of which he allegedly looks at the radar at the decisive moment of the round, and in the second – he catches perfect timing and successfully meets the players attacking base A on Mirage.
Sergey Sergiz Atamanchuk
The Counter-Strike community has split into two camps. Some demanded the immediate disqualification of Akuma, while others, on the contrary, insisted on the honesty of the Ukrainian team. Of course, this situation did not go unnoticed by the media representatives of the professional CS: GO scene. For example, the former player and coach of Natus Vincere Sergey starix Ischuk said that “it really looks like Akuma is playing with the radar.” The Ukrainian mentor was supported by another former representative of NAVI, Denis seized Kostin, who published a detailed opinion on the situation on social networks.
On the other side of the barricades was the former coach of the team Ivan Johnta Shevtsov, who urged everyone to stop bullying Akuma. Shevtsov, who worked with the roster under the tags CR4ZY and Project X, insists on the hard work of young esportsmen, flatly denying accusations against them. It is noteworthy that before the head-to-head duel between Gambit Esports and Akuma in the upper bracket of the playoffs, Abai HObbit Khasenov expressed a kind of respect to his opponents, recalling a chance meeting with some of the team’s players on the retake server several years ago.
Denis seized Kostin. Source: ESL
Of course, such a situation forced the organizers of the championship, represented by the Russian Federation of Computer Sports, to conduct an internal investigation of the incident and make an official statement on this matter. So, according to representatives of the FCC, the audit did not confirm suspicions of the use of prohibited programs by Akuma players. It is important to note that at the EPIC CIS League 2023 matches, the tournament participants did not use anti-cheats, which will probably leave the question of the honesty of the players open for a while. One way or another, at this stage, the FCC’s decision is final, and therefore we all can only congratulate Akuma on an incredible result at the first major tournament in its history.
The next championship of the RMR series for the CIS starts in less than a month: from June 27 to July 4, StarLadder will hold the second qualifying tournament for the upcoming Major. PGL Major Stockholm 2023 will take place in Sweden from 23 October to 7 November. 24 teams will share a prize pool of $ 2 million.
