Gambit Youngsters Sign Hobbit Transitioning to a Six-Man Roster

• Gambit Youngsters sign former Gambit Esports player Abay "Hobbit" Khassenov.
• With this the Russian organization has transitioned into a six-player roster.
• It is not a permanent transition and is subjected to a trial over the next few months.

Gambit Youngsters have successfully transitioned into a six-player roster following the signing of the experienced rifler Abay "Hobbit" Khassenov. The 26-year-old Kazakh player will be joining the academy lineup of Gambit Esports as their in-game leader following which the organization has decided to field an extended roster and see how it works out for them.

Gambit Youngsters Sign Hobbit

Hobbit is an experienced rifler and a proficient in-game leader who is a one-time Major winning player having won the PGL Major Krakow 2017 under the banner of Gambit Esports. This will be his second stint with the Russian esports organization who plan on adding a bit of experience to their young talented lineup.

Without Hobbit, the current average age of Gambit Youngsters lineup is 18.6 years making them one of the youngest teams competing in the professional circuit. Despite the players being young and lacking experience, they have managed to break into the ‘HLTV Top-30 Global Rankings’ as they currently stand at the 28^th rank.

The Kazakh player will be bringing in more maturity to the lineup and hopefully see them improve upon their rank as the year goes on. The player had a few words to offer upon joining the majorly Russian lineup saying that “My quest to return home began as soon as I left Gambit in Autumn of 2018. Right now I need to get to know the guys better to develop synergy.”

Hobbit since leaving Gambit back in November 2018 has had short unsuccessful stints with both HellRaisers and Winstrike Team. He had announced earlier this month that he was a free agent and Gambit without missing a beat signed him to lead their young roster.

Transition To Six-Man Roster

The Russian organization has probably become the first CS:GO team from the CIS region within the top-thirty to adopt a six-player lineup. According to Gambit, they will be testing out the roster model over the period of the next few months.

[Also Read: Astralis Knocked Out of the Top 10 CS:GO Rankings After More Than 3 Years]

ENCE is another esports organization that is currently operating a six-man roster and it has actually worked out brilliantly for them in the past few months.

Apart from this Gambit is adamant on keeping the ‘Youngsters’ tag for now as they feel the lineup still needs to mature by attaining stability within the HLTV Top-30. The academy roster has surely been proving their worth since the main roster of the organization dissolved in December last year.