This time last year, sh1ro, nafany, interz and Ax1Le were on Gambit Youngsters. Hobbit was on Winstrike, and had just lost 2-1 to the Youngsters.
On the 28th of February 2021, those boys finally became men - nay, they became legends.
The tag of Youngsters may have left the team name, but to many, they still held that tag. sh1ro was clearly a superstar, but a superstar for the future! He's just a kid, for god's sake. He can't be better than me already.
Yesterday, however, they officially ditched the Youngsters tag. Not just ditched it; ripped it off, strangled it, chokeslammed it into the ground and burnt it. They won IEM Katowice.
No, not won their group. Not won a semi-final. Won IEM Katowice, beating Virtus.pro 3-1 in the final. It wasn't sh1ro who carried, though, it was Hobbit - who found 90 kills in the final, from somewhere deep inside himself. He went all the way back to the Krakow Major for that one.
Not only did they prove themselves to be the finest team in the world right now, they smashed NaVi and Spirit en route to the final, cementing themselves as better than everyone else by beating their brothers up. Imagine if Man City beat United and Liverpool to win the Champions League. That's how good it felt.
Beating Astralis and Liquid got VP to the final, so it's hard to say they didn't deserve to be there either - but despite a phenomenal performance from YEKINDAR over the tournament, they fell at the final hurdle, leaving the Gambit men on top of the world.
From Youngsters, to stars, in less than a year. The future is in good hands.
Here's the final Top 8:
Never miss a thing! Get our recap of the biggest news and matches straight to your inbox, twice a week.
