Power Rankings #18 -- Gambit Gaming

Riot·Jan 14, 2015·0 votes·22,330 views

Gambit Gaming Region: Europe (EU LCS) Roster:

Top: Cabochard
Jungle: Diamond
Mid: NiQ
ADC: P1noy
Support: EDward

It’s hard to imagine League of Legends without Gambit Gaming. In 2013, Gambit took down Samsung Galaxy Ozone to make it to the Quarterfinals of the World Championship. The next year, Ozone was back with a new mid laner (Pawn) and a new name (Samsung Galaxy White), and took home the title. Meanwhile, Gambit wasn’t even attending Worlds, having just survived relegation. What happened to the once-mighty Moscow 5? After years with only one minor roster swap, Gambit underwent a sea of changes. First, Alex Ich left the team, ultimately being replaced by NiQ. Then, as Gambit struggled throughout the season, Darien and Diamond both found themselves on the bench. Going into 2015, Gambit appears to have stabilized their roster woes. Two of the original Moscow 5 -- Diamond at jungle and EDward at Support -- remain, and are joined by NiQ, P1noy, and Cabochard.

The story of Gambit so far has been of an all-star team fading into obscurity, but IEM Cologne forced us to question that script. Against the Polish powerhouse ROCCAT, a "potential-laden CLG, and Korean-augmented Dignitas, Gambit was hardly considered a competitor. But coming out of nowhere, Gambit smashed both NA teams with a combined 5-1 record. More importantly, they looked up to Moscow 5 form. EDward, long known for his aggressive support play, looked on point throughout the tournament, reminding us why he was once called The Thresh Prince. Diamond, on the other hand, innovated in the jungle once more, pulling out Sejuani in a tournament and dominated. Where Gambit really shone was in teamfights, as they won 5v5 fights with ease. While it was only one tournament, and we take it with a grain of salt, we saw the first hints of the Gambit Gaming of old returned again. Who will be next on our Pre-Season Power Rankings? Check out the rest of the Power Rankings and stay tuned for more each day as we countdown to the start of the 2015 LCS Season.

34 Comments

Phantom xDJan 14, 20157 votes

I did watch the games and compared to their performance last season, the performance is 10 times better! Looking to see great things from them this season.

Chase 4 IQJan 14, 20156 votes

18th isn't high at all. I really think Gambit deserves a higher position. Why? I assume they'll be top-4 in EU LCS this season , they stepped up their game (but that's still to be proven in the following weeks) and finally got a real lineup after all these changes. And it feels like the guys are extremely motivated after claiming their champion title at IEM Cologne as well. Stop asking for Darien, Genja or Alex Ich, those days are gone and accept Gambit they stand before us today. I can understand that the poor performance in the last split brought them to that placement here, but I'm really confident they'll be one of the teams who'll "climb up" immensely. Best of luck, Gambit!

Not that I find these kind of ratings useful anyway, but... sigh I guess a lot of young people get very excited about it and are happy discussing who's better for hours and hours. But in my opinion the only way to make this rating "fair" and objective, would be to make all teams from different regions play in one League, where each team would face every other. Sure, this won't happen. But how can you put a top team of one region over a top team from another region if they never faced each other, at least in this patch/split? Thus I see this "power-ranking" being created mostly for entertainment purposes and the big "NA>EU or "EU>NA" discussions... (and even more Twitch chat-messages like "Entry not your region games so excitiii... ResidentSleeper" kappa

host1LeJan 15, 20157 votes

Top 4 in eu still doesn't deserve this high on the list.

Chase 4 IQJan 15, 20153 votes

Let's see, shall we?

The LoonatikJan 15, 20152 votes

murica got rekt, so did eu, hasn't korea proven enough on the pas lcs? ;3

imFalnJan 15, 20151 votes

"it was only one tournament" man. It just like some surprise elements. when the time past other learn how to deal with it. It is a prove of new GG. Now this is their deserve position.

BrohammadJan 14, 20155 votes

Cabochard is great and all, but darien needs to return to his role of god of top lane

Pieftw247Jan 14, 20154 votes

p1noy the god

llaycloutJan 15, 20153 votes

So gambit gets 18th for beating 2 NA teams that won't finish in top 6 lcs and they're ahead of the jungle and support from the best team to ever play lol? Ok bye power rankings.

Chase 4 IQJan 15, 20156 votes

Go drunk you're home

Wombatus RexJan 15, 20153 votes

It was specifically stated that Vici´s rating was extremely conservative. We have had no lack of cases where great players didn´t gel at all with their new team, and we don´t yet know how Vici will work. Gambit had new players and despite that managed a respectable showing at IEM Cologne with both the new blod and some of the old guard stepping up. This is a good sign for their state come LCS.

It may be Vici mop the floor with everyone in China and turn out to be way better than GG. It may be they completely flop. With Gambit, the margin of error is much less.

TooPrettyToDieJan 17, 20151 votes

Please enlighten me the vast amount of times when a great player didn't gel at all with their new team. Insec joins a new team and wins Kakao switches to KT B and wins and wins again as KT A Those are the only two cases I remember

xDenkeRxJan 17, 2015

agree....

College DebtsJan 14, 20152 votes

Beating NA bottom teams makes them top 20 how? CLG has a sub too

EleshakaiJan 14, 20153 votes

I don't think it's so much about the fact that they beat them, but rather how their play looked. 18th isn't that high either, really.

Rank 1 LooterJan 15, 20152 votes

18th is higher than you or I will ever be, don't act like its nothing. They have made a comback since a huge row of losses and ending low in the EU LCS. I think they've done a great job making it even on the list and with picking themselves up again. They will always be my favourite team, even if they weren't on this stupid list. GO GAMBIT ;D

EleshakaiJan 15, 20151 votes

{quoted}

18th is higher than you or I will ever be, don't act like its nothing. They have made a comback since a huge row of losses and ending low in the EU LCS. I think they've done a great job making it even on the list and with picking themselves up again. They will always be my favourite team, even if they weren't on this stupid list. GO GAMBIT ;D

Sheesh people complain about anything... how much you like a team has nothing to do with how good they are. No matter how good alliance(or elements as they call themselves now) is, I'll always hate them because almost their entire roster are arrogant prats and their interviews are always just them inflating their own egos while talking crap to their competition... I just hope their arrogance doesn't taint Rekkles, 'cause he's always been so humble about his accomplishments.

18th is absolutely impressive when you compare it to the average LoL player, but it's out of about ~40 teams(if you assume around 10 teams per league, not sure how many are in China/Korea - maybe 60 if you include SEA and the 'other' regions), so it's not like they're placing them unreasonably high, which is what I was getting at. They're being placed in what is probably the top half or top third, which seems reasonable for a long-standing team that has shown renewed confidence and synergy recently, but has also struggled.

Phantom xDJan 14, 20152 votes

I did watch the games and compared to their performance last season, the performance is 10 times better! Looking to see great things from them this season.

KyokujitsujinJan 15, 20152 votes

+1. The best.

4kg hladkej múkyJan 15, 20152 votes

alex ich best Khazix mid ever

TarkamacskaJan 15, 20152 votes

Im so happy with them, their ADC is very agressive and the toplaner is promising. I want a strong Gambit/M5 again, they are the funniest team.

Q9A8Z7W6S5X4Jan 15, 20152 votes

We want swaglord Darien back Amumu item 3070

imFalnJan 16, 20151 votes

with out the skilled teammate like Alex, Darien just be a nooblord.

xfakenickxJan 16, 20152 votes

Go Gambit Go You will be better then #18 :)

Evening TrainJan 16, 20152 votes

EDward <3

WubbaDubbaLubLubJan 15, 20151 votes

The "Thresh" Prince. Did Phreak write this article

Wombatus RexJan 15, 20151 votes

I´m cautiously optimistic about Gambit this season. P1noy started badly in the IEM but turned it up later and was very fun to watch (man, that 1st game vs CLG :D) . Cabochard seems ok for now, Niq is solid, Diamond and Eddie seem to be back in shape. It´s no 2013 dominant Gambit yet, but they can be fun to watch.