Gambit Esports Gambit Esports Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Chronicle Timofey Khromov d3ffo Nikita Sudakov sheydos Bogdan Naumov nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin is one of the most successful and recognizable organizations in the CIS region, fielding a number of teams across a range of games, now including Valorant. The organization is best known for its CS:GO team, who previously housed a lineup that would go on to win the PGL Major Krakow 2017. as well as their Dota 2 and Battle Royale teams.

The team officially announced their all-Russian roster less than a month ago, bringing in Andrey “ ENGH ” Sholokhov to coach the team. He previously coached FishkaVTom, which included two future Gambit players, before joining the organization.

With Gambit in the midst of a the NGL Open Cup and with their eyes set on First Strike in the coming months, VLR.gg sat down with ENGH to discuss his journey into Valorant and the team's goals going forward.

You were a pro Overwatch and Point Blank player in the past; why did you decide to take the game from RIOT as a new discipline? What knowledge from previous games have you found useful in Valorant?

Hello to all fans of Valorant. Why did I switch to Valorant? Probably the most important thing is that the game is completely new and in it, you can show yourself to the fullest from the very start. Of course, moving to Valorant, my amateur experience in 1.6 and CS:GO, as well as my professional experience from Point Plank, helped me a lot.

In other words, I understood the basics of shooters and what to do in them, and the experience from Overwatch helps me with the implementation of ultimates and the rotation of agents' abilities, how to play in bundles, etc. In general, I very quickly adapted to Valorant and began to understand this game, as I think, at a decent level.

Why did you decide to be a coach in Valorant, starting with FishkaVTom in June?

The main factor why I became a coach is an injury to my right shoulder and lower back. The decision to move to the post of coach was not easy for me in general, but I understood that I could not play like other pro players — I could be a good captain, but would be a bad shooter, which I didn't want.

In general, I already had quite a lot of experience in coaching. When I was the captain of my teams in CIS, I was not only a leader in the game, but also outside the game and served as a manager. Therefore, moving to a purely coaching role, I adapted very quickly and now I am trying to become better in my position.

In general, the first team I was invited to was Berezka (alexey, azee, chrollo, pkmk, chronicle) — people who played Overwatch or Apex Legends know these guys. It was an excellent coaching experience for me, after which I understood what I needed to work on. FishkaVTom was my second team, which we did together with Gray and NLaaeR. FishkaVTom reached a decent European level, we were top 9 on VLR.gg when I left.

You all have been building the roster for quite some time, but the fifth player (Ayaz " nAts " Akhmetshin) appeared recently and nothing was known about him. Why was he the last player people learned was on the team?

The searching of the team was carried out by the managerial staff of organisation and Gambit's analyst k1n3ct. That is, when I was invited to the post of coach, the squad already had four people: sheydos, d3ff0, Chronicle and Sunset, and the organization entrusted me with the search for the fifth player for the team.

In total, there were seven players on the test and all of them showed themselves on a good side, but the choice became obvious for the whole team when nAts played with us. All the players, including myself, chose him to be fifth.

What can you say about the Gambit in general? What was your reaction after being invited to such a famous organization as a coach?

Gambit Esports is a high-level organization that immediately showed its best side. The manager explained that they have a serious approach to discipline, and Gambit proved this immediately in practice. They gave a bootcamp for 12 days in a good house, with cool internet and PCs. As for my reaction, I was glad that my work was noticed by such an eminent organization. The invitation to Gambit became an important sign for me that the position of coach is right for me and I have to work even better than before.

How has the team improved since you started training together?

Since the beginning of our first training sessions with the full roster, we've done a lot of work and, by the end of the bootcamp, definitely became better in many game aspects and the players themselves see this. But we are still a new team and we have a lot of work worth doing to become a really strong team.

Gambit also brought along an analyst who has worked with the organization in other esports to assist the team's development. That analyst, Vladimir “ k1n3c7 ” Baklunov, was able to speak on behalf of the Gambit organization on their entry into Valorant.

It looks like the public finds your Valorant roster announcement an odd decision, what do you think about it and why do you think they are reacting to it that way. What are you planning to do to win over people who are not convinced by the lineup?

There are several circumstances that could explain this attitude. Firstly, as I wrote earlier, Valorant was not particularly popular in our region. Perhaps that is why many find the creation of the composition inappropriate at the current time.

Secondly, it is worth separating constructive criticism from criticism motivated exclusively by emotional motives in the spirit of "this is not my game, why is anyone playing it?". We understand that many are not yet ready to accept the new roster, but we always think for the future and look forward to growth in the future.

We will make every effort to ensure that the work done is reflected in our results and we hope that along with them, an awareness of the importance of discipline in our region will come, which will attract new players and fans.

How difficult was it to keep the roster secret before the announcement?

Our team has been gathering for the last three months, so it was almost impossible to keep it secret. The signing was preceded by lengthy negotiations and discussions, clarification of roles, and selection of candidates. All this inevitably had to be discussed with strangers who were not connected with us by any legal obligations. In fact, we were not particularly worried about this — in the end everything secret becomes apparent.

What are your plans for this game?

We plan to become the best in our region and start competing with the best teams in Europe, while promoting Valorant as a discipline among our fans from other games.

The roster of your organization showed excellent results by winning the Major in CS:GO, do you think the current players will be able to replicate that success in this game and topple the G2?

I can only say that we will strive for this. G2 are strong opponents and we have a lot of work to do to compete with them in an official match. Victory over them would be a main event for us and confirmation that all our labors were not in vain.

Gambit Esports Gambit Esports Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Chronicle Timofey Khromov d3ffo Nikita Sudakov sheydos Bogdan Naumov nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin are currently competing in playoffs of the aforementioned €4,000 EUR NGL Open Cup, with the team eyeing a win in Riot's upcoming First Strike circuit, which is set to begin later next month for the European/CIS region.