sh1ro shines as Gambit defeat Spirit to win DreamHack Open November

Gambit bounced back from a map one trouncing to dominantly overrun Spirit in the grand finals.

Gambit bested Spirit in the best-of-five clash with three one-sided map wins to claim the DreamHack Open November trophy, 3-1, marking their first series win over their CIS rivals this year.

The two grand finalists continued their flawless tournament runs in the semi-finals without dropping a single map. Spirit took down Illuminar with a swift 2-0 scoreline, while Gambit were put to work to edge out AGF in two close maps.

Spirit started out strong on Dust2 to strike first blood in the series, but failed to build on their early success as the matchup progressed. Gambit pulled together to recompose and put up a stellar showing on Train (16-2), Overpass (16-6) and Mirage (16-8) to turn the grand finals around and claim the trophy, with star AWPer Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov leading the charge.

sh1ro posted a 1.45 grand final rating to lead his team to victory

Spirit came out hot on Gambit’s map pick of Dust2, promptly racking up a 4-0 start on the defence. Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov’s side responded in kind with four of their own to tie up the score, but it was all Spirit moving forward. Spearheaded by the Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov, the group stage’s best performer, Spirit overwhelmed Gambit for the remainder of the CT side and went on to wrap up proceedings with a near-flawless T half for a 16-6 opening map win.

Next up was Train, where Spirit hoped to extend their series lead off the back of a strong Dust2 showing. However, Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov’s squad fell completely flat after exerting all their energy on the previous map as Gambit ran riot to demolish them 16-2, with sh1ro shining with a 2.04-rated performance.

Gambit carried over the momentum to Overpass and stamped their authority early on with a dominant 11-4 T side. Each player stepped up to the plate when called for to shut down Spirit commandingly, 16-5, to notch the advantage in the series.

With the wind in their sails, Gambit were brimming with confidence heading into Mirage. Spirit put up a fight with the championship on the line to stay neck and neck with their opponents in the first half, but a late four-round streak edged Gambit ahead 9-6 at the break. Once on the defence, HObbit's squad hit a higher gear to lock down the bombsites time and again to storm into the lead, with a Timofey "⁠interz⁠" Yakushin quad kill wrapping up the map, 16-8.

DreamHack Open November 2020Best of 5 SpiritMatchpage 1 3 29th November 2020 Gambit 16Dust2 6 2Train 16 5Overpass 16 8Mirage 16

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	58 - 66	-8	81.6	1.03
Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx	56 - 59	-3	70.4	0.98
Artem 'iDISBALANCE' EgoroviDISBALANCE	56 - 57	-1	64.2	0.90
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	41 - 59	-18	63.1	0.78
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	41 - 63	-22	57.6	0.76

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	73 - 36	+37	82.5	1.45
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	64 - 51	+13	85.2	1.27
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	63 - 56	+7	85.4	1.20
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	54 - 60	-6	66.1	0.98
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	50 - 50	0	62.5	0.96

DreamHack Open November 2020 final standings:

1. Gambit - $50,000
2. Spirit - $20,000
3-4. AGF - $10,000
3-4. Illuminar - $10,000
5-6. Nemiga - $3,000
5-6. Apeks - $3,000
7-8. KOVA - $2,000
7-8. flowskola $2,000

Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 26 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 837 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov Age: 23 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 842 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Illuminar #46 Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'reatz' JańczakMikołaj 'mouz' KarolewskiTomasz 'phr' WójcikArek 'Vegi' Nawojski Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov Age: 24 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 801 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Gambit #20 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov flowskola #105 Anton 'magi' AlevärnLukas 'MistFire' PoromaaHugo 'chawzyyy' GüntherLinus 'nilo' BergmanJoel 'joel' Holmlund KOVA #91 Samu 'uli' LeirilaaksoLauri 'pietola' HietalaSamuli 'Twixie' HerralaJarkko 'spargo' RahjaPetteri 'peku' Jaakkola Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov Age: 19 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.23 Maps played: 541 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.54 Nemiga #21 Aleksandr 'mds' RubetsRassim 'Jyo' ValijevAnton 'speed4k' TitovAnton 'boX' BurkoIgor 'lollipop21k' Solodkov AGF #68 Jonas 'netrick' WenzelsenLucas 'Lukki' PilhedenMagnus 'Frøslev' FrøslevThomas 'TMB' Bundsbæk Spirit #16 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Apeks #69 Dennis 'dennis' EdmanJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadOle 'Marcelious' Kristian LanganSander 'Grus' IversenMartin 'Nasty' Garvik Timofey 'interz' Yakushin Age: 20 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 524 KPR: 0.59 DPR: 0.59