Complexity first North American team to make PGL Antwerp Major
On the third day of the Americas RMR in Romania, Complexity pulled off a 2-0 victory over Sao Caetano to grab their third win in the Swiss-style tournament, thus securing their place in the Major. They will move on to be Challengers in the Major, with the sole Legends spot in the RMR going to a 3-0 undefeated team, which Complexity's loss to FURIA makes them ineligible for.
This marks the organization's first Major appearance since Jason Lake's ill-fated "juggernaut" tweet following the North American team's dismal showing at the Starladder Berlin Major, going out 1-3 in that tournament's Swiss stage.
As many Counter-Strike fans will remember, this marked Complexity's departure from a majority North American roster as the organization proceeded to sign European talent to fill out their team, only keeping Owen "oBo" Schlatter from the Starladder Berlin roster.
Many fans will also remember the numerous issues that plagued the European roster, with frequent injuries forcing players to the sidelines and keeping the team in a perpetual state of uneasiness, having to field stand-ins in event after event. Eventually, the team started to show some promise, taking home first prize at BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Europe Finals.
However, things began to unravel after oBo's shock departure from the team in the middle of ESL Pro League Season 12. From then on out, the team was in a constant state of anguish, fiddling with replacement players and routinely showing up to tournaments with a different roster than the last event.
The whole mess was capped off with poor showings at Flashpoint 3 and IEM Fall, the two European RMR tournaments. Those results meant that Complexity was unable to attend the PGL Stockholm Major, the first Major since their inception as a European squad.
Jason Lake called out to build a juggernaut, yet the supposed superteam he assembled had worse Major results than his previous failed lineup, unable to even reach the crucial event. By all accounts, the trip across the Atlantic was unsuccessful, and soon after the Major, the whole European roster was disassembled with players going their separate ways.
After that expedition, Complexity went back to it's North American roots. In the post-Major shakeup following PGL Stockholm, they picked up the scraps that Liquid and EG looked over, absorbing the Extra Salt roster with Ricky "floppy" Kemery, Justin "FaNg" Coakley, IGL Johnny "JT" Theodosiou, and their coach Tiaan "T.c." Coertzen. To this lineup, they added former Liquid anchor and ECL star Michael "Grim" Wince as well as former Furia AWPer Paytyn "junior" Johnson.
Together, these six have only been together a few months, but have thoroughly impressed their North American competition. They even went through the inaugural awful performance at ESL Pro League. Complexity took the best possible North American seed up for grabs coming into the Americas RMR with a 16-14 stunner over Liquid in the final seeding match.
So, coming into the Americas RMR, it was known that Complexity were good and that they would most likely qualify for the PGL Antwerp Major, but all cynics were put to rest after two quick best-of-one victories over oNe and 00Nation. Those wins put them just one best-of-three from Major qualification in the first day. After an unfortunate but resilient loss to top-seeded Furia, Complexity were set up for today's matchup against Sao Caetano. The Brazilians proved no match for Complexity as the American lineup took dual 16-5 victories on Inferno and Overpass to secure their third win of the tournament.
With those three victories, Complexity have found their way back into the Major cycle. It's too early to say whether this team is the juggernaut that Lake envisioned, but it already has succeeded where the European roster failed, and in only a couple of months to boot. As the first North American team to make the Major, they've outpaced regional powerhouses Liquid and Evil Geniuses. Complexity have barely scratched the surface of their potential, and this performance is just a small taste of what they can hope to accomplish in the future. Nonetheless, this result is a great accomplishment for the organization; they must be relieved with their choice to return to the North American scene.
