“Vladimir Drinkman” the most Russian name I ever heard

I came here fully expecting to see the FBI just show up to this tournament and show everyone how to really play LoL.

I am from Hanover, the city where CeBiT (and therefore the IEM finals) were held. In 2012 I actually skipped school to go to IEM and watch the tournament live. During the final against Dignitas no one could believe what they were seeing when GoSu and Diamond pulled out their Alistar/Lee double roam strat, the crowd was so wild... Man I miss these times...

This is not a story, this is a legend. You only see such a twist in movies. Thank you for putting this video together!

Vladimir drinkman is the most Slavic name it’s possible to conceive

Stealing my red? Gotta steal your credit card then

I will always remember them for Darien's picks. This guy picked Warwick top, dominated with him, and forced his opponents to ban that champ the next game. Nobody played Warwick and he forced the enemy team to ban him. That is legendary.

Sad that M5 never got to face SKT.

I dont even play LoL and i sat through watching this

5 minutes in I forgot what it was about, I just thought I was watching the history of competitive LoL, not even complaining

Hit me right in the feels. I remember the days of M5 dominance...

I was so honored to play with Alex Ich. Dudes a monster, hard carried our team in HotS with one of the ballsiest plays I ever seen, he ended up hitting rank 1 in HotS too

"Playing CS and drinking vodka" - how to make friends in a Slavic country

5 men, 1 dream, 9 eyebrows ༼ ºل͟º༼ ºل͟º༼ ºل͟º( ͡° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °)ºل͟º ༽

Not the FBI but LCS killed them. I've always been an M5 fan, from the Empire Nunu moment on. Friends and I watched all of the European tournaments back then... It's been years since I stopped watching competitive LoL, but these moments really bring back some wonderful memories. It is important to mention that their coach (Groove, ex CS pro) was crucial for the growth and performance of M5/Gambit. His role was somewhat similar to those in Asian teams. None of the Westerners had coaches back then. If I remember correctly, they came to league from dota. Which also explains the depth of the approach. But I cannot imagine a story about this team without a legendary quote: see hero, keel hero...

I remember watching M5 and cheering for them. Their gameplay was so explosive, each game was unique, champions pool were unique. Now I know why, but then it was just amazing (not Anivia farming for 50 minutes).

why did i get emotional over a team ive never heard of from a game ive never played

Hats off to you Gbay, this is an amazing video. The title got me quick

I will never, NEVER forget that one teamfight with like 3 guardian angels and zilean that lasted something along the lines of 2 minutes. Nothing will ever come close to that ever again...

That was a good one. I actually watched the whole thing without skipping a second. That's hard to do^^ really well done.

Bruh I thought gbay had died lmao. Welcome back friend.

Manager of the best League of Legends team in the world, still finds time to defraud over 160 million credit card users on the side. Russians take not just League, but also the "side hustle" to a whole new level.

I was playing CS:GO semi-pro when this went down. None of the guys on my team were LoL players but we constantly talked about M5 because it was insane seeing them sweep every tourney. I remember the day this story popped up we were dumb-founded.

amazing documentary didn't feel the time at all

hold on. He's Russian and he's name is Vladimir Drinkman? Vladimir Drinkman What, Ivan Vodkanov was taken?

It's like we discovered Michael Jackson never died

Remember when each LoL tournament meant new strategies, team comps and playstyles? Now it's all just obeying the meta.

"It may not be fair to blame the FBI for the end of M5's dominance" Actually it is. After M5 fell, M5 players didnt have a gaming house to boot camp at. They would only practice online. Also M5 owner was very strict, thats why M5 performed so well, he would always push them

It's actually been 84 years.

GBAY WE WERE SO WORRIED

I love this team, they pick, how they innovated on the meta... Of course they never had problems with Koreans, Korean gameplay is aggressive, fast paced pressure with picks never seen. Exactly M5 style. They were the inspiration for Koreans. Remember how Insec spoke fondly of watching Diamondprox play.

Gbay.. this is a genius masterpiece! I literally watched this documentary for about 6 times now. I love the storytelling, the style and just to see nostalgic gameplay and the story of M5. Also listening to your voice since about season 3 or so ... love it

There was a team named "The Milfhunters" lol

I don't even play league of legends but this video (documentary?) is very well made! You had me hooked enough to watch the whole 36 minutes

35:15 The most Eastern European thing ever lol

What an exciting time it was. I've watched this multiple times within the last few years. Loved M5 and Gambit.

I forgot I was still subscribed to Gbay, I don't even play league anymore but this was still a cool video bro. Nice job

M5 showed me any champ can be played anywhere.

Your video formats are Amazing the way you make seemingly basic information interesting and engaging with clips, music, and formatting is astounding. Good Job.

`Unlike the rest of the west team gambit doesn't have a problem playing with Koreans`. I don't know why but this line is just so funny. 🤣😂

Golden age of League. Those meta shifts from Moscow Five were amazing. People don't remember how stale League was before them. Moscow Five introducing Galio, Ryze, Mordekaiser, AD Kennen, Shyvanna, Support Nunu, Udyr and so on... Champions which were unheard-of in pro scene. This was a time when i truly loved League, because Russians proved that you could play literally everything if you knew how to capitalize from those "hidden" stats with specific builds and play style.

I just fell in love with the M5. Didn't realize they were this great :O

This is truly a well edited video! Ups and downs, wins and losses. Doesnt matter since its so well proposed and composed! Well done, and thanks for the walk through memory lane!

Man M5 was my favourite team to follow. So explosive, so much fun to watch. It was a shame Gambit couldn't follow, but all good things come to an end eventually I guess. But damn that was a damn nice documentary. keep it up Gbay!

This was the only team who could get me excited watching league, im a season 1 old player I've seen all of this up to this day, only SKT was close, but M5 just made my day, you just knew they were gonna dumpster their opponents. it was fascinating to watch, they changed league play style forever. Thank you for such documentary

This video-no, documentary, -is fantastic! So glad it showed up on my feed so I was able to discover your channel. You have so many great videos here!

I looked at the comments and I was like "I'll give him 5 minutes to sell me..." and here I am 31 minutes and 55 seconds later lol

tl:dr; Their team manager/owner got arrest for credit-card frauds in US.

Darien with the golden renekton. Diamond inventing counter jungling. Alex Ich with his K6 resets. Genja bringing trinity force corki / kog'maw to the meta. Gosu Pepper as the thresh prince. Long live Moscow 5.

I have to say this was a superb job making a documentary. Nice job branching out and making different types of vids

How could you miss the most important contribution of M5. They were the pioneers of proper in game comms. There was a tournament where they first started showing the fans the in game comms, specially during fights. It was always the expectation that teams were shouting at each other. But in one instance of a messy teamfight, Gosu pepper was commandeering Darien to TP bot and their chat was mostly silent apart from 1 person making calls.

Dude, that just brought tears to my eyes. They made me enjoy LOL, and they teached me how to play, in each role, and how to be part of a team. The team was amazing, since you didn't know what to expect from them! Evelyn jungle? Or Nasus Jungle? Maybe KogMaw triforce? Ashe Manamue? Aatrox top? What about Nunu, that God dammit Nunu, on bot lane? They were the team that this game needs now: something that was amazing to watch, just for it's way of being who they are. They made me feel so old... it's been 6 years since my last match, even thought I tried LOL a couple of times. But, sorry, I can't feel the joyfulness playing a game like this anymore. I miss being a child, a fan, a fanatic. Thank you Moscow 5

This really brought back a lot of nostalgia. I had goosebumps all over my body listenening to Deman!

I don't play league and felt like I was in a college course when you start explaining the priority and jungler stuff haha, I feel like I should have a notebook out. I really enjoy stories like this, despite my ignorance. Great video!

Very well made my friend. Good work. Kept me interested till the end.

26:37 is the explanation of the FBI involvement. Although the rest of the video is a good watch too! I'd skip here if you're short on time.

I always like to support a new KZfaq channel

That was really well made and interesting, I learnt a lot of things! Thank you for all the work you put into this documentary.

I had played League at that time (seasons 1 and 2) and it was so amazing! Crazy strategies, strange picks/bans, map control... I was really amazed by how Darien had played Top lane. Starting that moment I played just solo lanes. Thank you for video! It was really cool and have brought a lot of old nice memories:)

16:26 Very family friendly chat banter

I dont play league of legends but still watched this and found it very interesting. Thanks for making this

Man this makes me nostalgic. I started the game when they made the Shyvana meta and she was my first main/one trick.

Awesome documentary! So much lost and finally recovered memories of m5 and me watching them being in 10th grade. Feels like im 15 again

God I loved Them. League has not been the same after their days. R.I.P. Never Forgotten!

Exclusive shots of me farming 9:30

I usually never watch videos longer than 5 or 10 minutes cause I get bored, but man was this good. Great documentary bro!

Gbay I think that was one of the best videos I've ever seen from you. The first league video I've watched in months. Excellently done.

Lol I remember Genja used to build Tear on Varus, probably during season 3, and commentators were laughing their ass off that, as in that's a garbage buy. What do you know, Tear Varus became meta a few years later. The team was so ahead of the time in many ways. I miss these days.

m5 singlehandedly made competitive lol interesting to watch. the good old days...

I still wear my 2014 GMB icon because of this.

Moscow 5 was my favorite team in EU since Season 2 and after I stopped playing for a couple years I never really knew what happened to them. Thank you so much for this documentary, it really helped me live through the nostalgia a bit and I feel really enlightened about what I've learned

"Vladimir Drinkman" That's the most Russian name I've ever seen

This was really cool! Props on your creation @Gbay99

You make me care about the competitive scene of LoL when I haven’t cared about it since season 2. Nicely done as always goldbae99.

I dont like LOL, but that was a beautifull documentary bro, well made.

All this nostalgia. Thank you Gbay. Now I really want Vanilla LoL to happen

I really liked your documentary. I Just started playing League Back Then, and certainly did not remember all of this. Thanks for this amazing video. It really cleared up the history for me, thanks for your hours and hours of work.

They are legends indeed. The editor as well. This was made well.

What killed M5/GMB was the actual League schedule. Constantly playing week after week made their innovative gimmicks less impactful even though we did occasionally still see them(I remember that Thresh/Voli stuff and Kog during that one Worlds). Also, they had to travel to the LCS studio every week from Russia which put strain on them personally as well as their training time.

23:07 LOL QTPIE LOOKS LIKE A CAVEMAN

man ur so good at telling a story i never expected to watch the whole 36 min :D good job it shows that ur really worked hard on this subject keep the good work man much love

That awkward moment when you wonder if an opposing team had a Dad in the FBI...

Ah memories. Only regret that I have is not getting an m5 icon back in s2.

While I liked the video, several points should be corrected. First of all, the major one- FBI had almost no impact on this team destiny. Yes, arrest of Smelyanets resulted in a couple of months of uncertainty, but guys just registered a new brand Gambit Gaming with the same management. Groove (Konstantin Pikiner) was the manager of this team, Smelyanets never affected them in any way except paying salaries and flight/hotels bills (and they had enough money themselves by the time he was arrested). Gameplay problems later in their careers were mostly due to personal conflicts inside the team (girlfriend problems etc), but what really broke them- is the Seasoned League system. All M5 members were from different cities, they lived thousands kilometers away from eachother. So in early days of LoL they lived in their homes, and gathered just for a week or two before a major LAN event on a bootcamp, then separated until next event. And such events were about couple of months apart from each other. So it was all fine. Guys could practice online and just polish strats right before event. When Seasoned League was introduced for EU, it created a major problem: Russia is not a member of EU, and Russia citizens can stay in EU for 180 days per year maximum and no more than 90 days per 6 months. So this team could not live in Germany as every other EU LCS team and they had to fly every week from Russia to Germany. That effectively meant that they had 1, maximum 2 days per week to practice. As every team in the region and world overall was getting better and better, learning from M5/Gambit, these guys themselves got weaker and weaker due to travelling fatigue (sometimes they had to play just a hour or two after landing) and inability to practice effectively (Edward had to fly two planes to reach Germany for example, spending about 12 hours to do so). They had to lose points during season just because they couldn't attend regular games in certain weeks to not break visa rules etc. So, they were more and more inconsistent and exhausted. Their innovative strats were able to win them games still, but they were losing more and more due to lack of practice as they couldn't execute properly. It was a tailspin that resulted in roster changes and broken synergy, that resulted in even worse results. But thanks anyway for this video, it was a good time and M5/Gambit made a lot for a LoL as a competitive game.

yooo gbay I love your content in particular because... well ... narrative... Ive watched this 3 times, and I just realized, although I know it would be INSANELY hard if not impossible from your end, I would love to see more of those defining moments for players and teams in these kind of hero arc type videos. Anyways man, best of luck with your wrist, I'm a bass player and I know all about the anxiety of having your body question your ambitions early in life and I really wish you all the best. much love

really well made and a great homage for 5 of the greatest esports players. Many sadly don't even know them anymore now that we are in a whole different era, but that remidned me of good old times in my youth^^

M5 was, and will always stay for me, the best team in League and the one most enjoyable to watch! I remember season 2 when the worlds avatars came out, I was so happy with the red logo! Their games were amazing! No matter how crazy, they always had plan and not just good, they made the game look fun! It doesn't matter if it was Alex Malph mid, Darien with merlonomicon on Renekton, or Gosu on Nunu sup when none had an idea how to play it, they were just amazing! Sad that it came to an end, I would love me some Genja-Alex-Darien games right now! We will show them what DOMOI means!

My comment will get burrowed Down but whatever. It was the new LCS system that beat them the most. Having to travel back to Russia and to cologne again every week is really frustrating. Also they were known for preparing really hard for big tournaments by boot camping for couple of weeks or so, creating new tactics, picks and stuff. But in the time between they've been inconsistent. But with new league system when you have to play every week there is no room for something new because you have to just go for standard consistent playstyle. So ye I think the stress was rising up quickly in their team and they just begin arguing with each other all the time and eventually team got destroyed

@Gbay99 I've been watching your videos for years now, I literally watched this one 4 years ago when it came out and watched it today just to reminisce. Just wanted to say you are so damn good at what you do. Keep going brother, your videos have always had some magic to them. They remind of the way a movie builds up to the finale at the end.

Good job with this docu Gbay, informative comprehensive, and entertaining all through out :)

Dude, I don't even play League and couldn't stop watching. Extremely well done piece of cinematography.

no one I play with now knows about M5 or Gambit Gaming. It's kinda sad that they fell off and disappeared, they were my favorite team, and they were dank af.

I've been playing since 2013 and this just made me appreciate everything about league and M5/GMG. Thank you for this documentary

Actually a fun watch from back in the day. I completely forgot about M5 and I was a little tournament nerd back in the day. This movie just helped me realize how long I've been on League and now I want to go touch an electrical socket with my tongue. Got my sub.

This channel still exists.. by God how long has it been? Last time I saw an upload was on July of 1978...

S2 was definitely the highest point of watching Competitive LoL. Sure it was sometimes inconvenient finding the right site to watch on. Having to dedicate an entire weekend to a tournament was a pain, and the quality of casting and things wasn't always the best, but because big tournaments were so infrequent, you didn't really know the teams or how the compared to one another. You didn't know their pocket picks, you didn't know how the meta had changed, and it led to a situation where you'd want to watch every single game that happened that weekend because you never knew what was going to happen next. The fact M5 was a big deal back then was just icing on the cake. I'm happy League has continued to grow and evolve, but with weekly matches that mystery and excitement is just gone and that makes me sad. I don't know how you could possibly recapture that energy in a weekly format, but I hope they one day find a way to do it, because that'd be amazing.

Good work on making this doc

This video is pure nostalgia. I watched all this shit live and it was amazing. All the personalities all the drama. I remember all the names and games. It was a niche thing back then. Thank you fir bringing back the memories. M5 really shock up everything back in the day.

All I truly remember from M5 was the AP yi game.