In a showdown between two of the favorites to win the StarLadder ImbaTV Kiev Minor 2020, Gambit Esports dominated Alliance in their group stage matchup to secure an Upper Bracket berth in the playoffs.
Alliance opened the series with a four-protect-one strategy keyed by Spectre for Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov, while Gambit countered with a high-damage lineup headed by a core duo of Riki for Kiyalbek “dream`” Tayirov and Shadow Fiend for Danil “gpk” Skutin.
Gambit took full advantage of Spectre’s slow buildup and went on the offensive early, which slowed Nikobaby’s Radiance pickup to the 21-minute mark while they took over most of the map and secured the Aegis twice for gpk.
- Gambit returns gpk to the active roster just in time for the Kyiv Minor
- CR4ZY enters Dota 2 by picking up the Fighting PandaS roster
With the Aegis in the hands of gpk’s unstoppable Shadow Fiend and the Alliance lineup still far from being in fighting shape, Gambit demolished their opponents’ base and forced them to call GG at 36-minute mark.
Gpk had one of the most dominant performances on Shadow Fiend in the 7.24 patch so far, notching a 8/1/9 KDA and hitting over 700 gold and experience per minute en route to finishing the game at level 25 and 25,000 net worth.
Gambit dominated Alliance once more in game two to sweep the Group B Winner’s Match and secure the top spot in the group. They will be the first to secure an Upper Bracket berth at the Minor playoffs alongside Team Aster, who topped Group A.
READ MORE: StarLadder Kyiv Minor 2020: Everything you need to know
