After several disappointing tournament finishes, Gambit Esports is now opening transfer negotiations for star Abay “Hobbit” Khassenov.
Gambit Esports announces an opening of transfer negotiations concerning Abay "HObbit" Khassenov of Gambit CS:GO pic.twitter.com/lDu2eotoAj
— Gambit Esports (@GambitEsports) September 18, 2018
Gambit would state that he should “gain an opportunity to prove himself in another team” after two years with the team. Hobbit will be available for transfer on October 1, when Gambit returns from ESL One New York. They will be playing with the current lineup until then. Whether or not the team finds success in New York, Hobbit will be finding another team for the upcoming 2019 season.
A Disappointing 2018
The past year has been one of the worst in terms of results for Gambit Esports. Their 2017 was great, as they would end up winning the 2017 Major in Kraków. Also, they would end the year with a win at the 2017 ROG Masters. However, 2018 has brought upon mixed results, with several last place finishes at large events. ESL One Cologne, StarSeries i-League Season 5 and more recently Dreamhack Masters Stockholm have all seen Gambit fall to unprecedented levels.
Their roster has also been in flux throughout the year, with the team replacing in-game leader Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko and Denis “seized” Kostin. Gambit would then buyout the contract of Nikolay “mir” Bityukov from Vega Squadron. In July, the team would then loan coach Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy from FlipSid3 Tactics. Unfortunately for Gambit, all these roster moves would not affect their success at all.
2018 and The Future for Hobbit
2018 was not kind for Hobbit, but it wasn’t kind for the rest of his team either. His stats are suffering, but that can be thrown up to Gambit having horrible performances in general. Therefore, I believe with a new team and environment, Hobbit can flourish once again. Although he has had a pretty lackluster 2018, Hobbit still has a pretty high ceiling. He can provide firepower for teams that are lacking in that department.
Many fans are thinking that Hobbit would be a great addition to fellow CIS team, Natus Vincere. He would be replacing underperforming member Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev, who has been a weak point of the team in multiple tournaments. In fact, in the FACEIT London Major, Edward has not been able to contribute much during their matches. He has the worst Kill/Death Ratio of the team with 0.76 and an abysmal HLTV rating of 0.81. Throughout 2018, he also skirts the bottom of his team with a 0.92 HLTV rating. It could have been even lower if Na’Vi was not having a great year.
HellRaisers?
If Hobbit would join Natus Vincere, it would give Zeus a former teammate back and another player with great potential. There is barely any downside for Natus Vincere to acquire Hobbit, but there may be other teams interested in the 24-year-old rifler. Fellow CIS team HellRaisers could try to add more firepower into the lineup with Hobbit, by replacing Bence “DeadFox” Böröcz. A trio of Issa “ISSAA” Murad, Özgür “woxic” Eker and Hobbit could be dangerous in big-time tournaments. It also gives HellRaisers another player to fall back to if ISSAA or woxic begin to lose form.
What do you think of Gambit Esports opening transfer talks for Hobbit? Let us know what team he should transfer to! If you want more Counter-Strike content, check us out here!
