







Earlier this year in late September, Gambit Esports made a statement announcing that they were open to offers for star rifler Abay “Hobbit” Khassenov starting October 1st. The announcement came after a rather disappointing year for the CIS team, specifically after the loss of their in-game leader Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko, who was able to shape them into a major winning team towards the middle of 2017.





In a statement made by the organization, they and the team agreed that “he should gain an opportunity to prove himself in another team” and Konstantin Pikiner (Chief Gaming Officer of MTS, a sponsor of the organization) himself praised the young star for his hard work and talent, stating “Abay contributed significantly to results of our team… We are glad that we managed to notice him two years ago, presented him with an opportunity to grow as a member of an experienced line up and prove his talent” ( GambitGambit ).





Hobbit is a name that many people would not have brought into the conversation as one of the best in the CIS region until his big time debut in Gambit. Being somewhat of an unknown entity upon joining the veterans of the CIS team, Hobbit looked to prove his worth at the top level and the decision to pick him up paid off in spades. Now, after just over a month of looking for a new team, the 24 year old Kazakhstani may have finally found himself a home.









According to sources close to Rush B Media, HellRaisers have been in talks with Abay and are looking to use him in place of Vladyslav “bondik” Nechyporchuk. The potential move seems to be a result of the HellRaisers team being unable to take their already strong lineup to the next level. They have proven themselves as an inconsistent LAN contender, with results like their most recent 9-11th place finish at StarSeries Season 6 and a 5-8th place finish at EPICENTER.





While bondik has not looked “bad” by any means, he has once again proven unable to contribute a consistent enough level of play to warrant his place in the team. This will be the second time that the HellRaisers organization has decided to move bondik to the bench, the first being in August of 2017 where we soon saw him take the opportunity to play alongside the Asian core of TYLOO.





Outside of primarily Özgür “woxic” Eker and Issa "ISSAA" Murad, the HellRaisers roster has struggled to find a consistent pattern of successful strategy and teamwork to keep them in the discussion for top international contention. It seems to be that, for the most part, the team relies too heavily on their primary AWP player woxic to carry, which has proven to be an ineffective way of going about the game. Hobbit will be looking to provide some much needed backup and reinforce the team’s slight lack in firepower.