Complexity take down Astralis in ESL Pro League S16 debut
Complexity kicked off their ESL Pro League Season 16 campaign in Group C against Astralis. After a two-week break, and with the BLAST Premier Fall Groups behind, the North American organization was looking to make things hard for the #4 team in the world. This is only the second tier one competition this roster is playing together, so there's still a lot of room for improvement despite the result at the end of this ESL Pro League iteration. Adding that to the recent two-week bootcamp in Norway, Complexity went to Malta hoping to surprise a lot of people, and that they did.
Map one was Inferno, picked by Complexity. Starting on the T-side is never easy and losing the pistol round worsens it. Astralis was able to string together two economic rounds from Complexity. The game for the North Americans really started in round four, with the first full-buy on the T-side. With a quick run to banana and a split to B from arches, Complexity got their first point on the board. Two more rounds were added to Complexity's score, but that was it for a while. After a timeout from Astralis, things turned around. The North Americans slowed down their pace and Astralis gained strength, scoring seven rounds in a row, despite some close rounds. Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli unlocked the last round of the half, which finished 10-5 for Astralis.
The second half started with a CT-side pistol win for Complexity after a 10-second defuse from Ricky "floppy" Kemery, and things were looking promising for the side. Force buy was the name of the game at the start of the half, with both teams winning one and Astralis getting one full-eco round dictating the pace for the rest of the game. Astralis T-side looked very strong and Complexity couldn't answer. The map ended 16-9 with Johnny "JT" Theodosiou being the top-fragger for the North Americans. Benjamin "blameF" Bremer put on an incredible performance for the Danes, with 27 kills and 102.3 ADR.
Nuke was the pick from Astralis. The Danes started it off very strongly, not losing any player on their T-side pistol. It was looking like a three-round win start for Astralis, but hallzerk made the A site his site and got a triple kill to hype up his teammates, as well as getting Complexity on the board. Just like Inferno second half, force buys played a huge part in Astralis' game, as they strung three rounds in a row, after converting one force buy. After making some bank, the NA team managed to go back to winning, replying with also three rounds straight. The Danes took control after that and only slipped twice in the next seven rounds. The half ended with a 9-6 score for Astralis.
The second half started with the Danes taking the pistol again, thanks to a 4k from Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander. Astralis converted the second round, but after that Complexity won five in a row, tying the game up 11-11. After that, it seemed like the Danes woke up and they put three rounds on the board without response. The game entered a "back and forth" stage with teams trading rounds. Ultimately Complexity pushed the game to overtime.
After a very close first overtime, with Astralis nearly taking the series, the teams needed two more overtimes. Complexity was able to come out of Nuke with a win, tying the series up 1-1.
Dust2 started off with Complexity on T-side and on a good note, with the pistol round win. After an economic round, Astralis was able to get a round on the board. The North Americans took a page from the Danes' book and won the force buy round. This set the pace for the first half, with both teams trading blows. The half ended 8-7 in favor of Astralis.
The second half started with four straight for America. After a good A-site take from Astralis, Complexity had to go a round without buying, making it two rounds in a row for Astralis. After that, with Michael "Grim" Wince on the helm, Complexity didn't look back, only dropping one round until the end of the game. The map ended 16-11 and Complexity took the series 2-1, after losing their Inferno pick and winning a triple overtime Nuke.
ComplexityAstralis| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Michael 'Grim' Wince |
75 - 67 | +8 | 80.6 | 74.0% | 1.13 |
 Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
71 - 72 | -1 | 72.8 | 70.0% | 1.03 |
 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli |
63 - 65 | -2 | 69.5 | 71.0% | 1.03 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
51 - 64 | -13 | 60.3 | 64.0% | 0.88 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
57 - 80 | -23 | 64.5 | 62.0% | 0.81 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer |
80 - 58 | +22 | 92.1 | 78.0% | 1.35 |
| Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander |
65 - 63 | +2 | 71.7 | 79.0% | 1.12 |
| Asger 'Farlig' Jensen |
66 - 59 | +7 | 68.8 | 78.0% | 1.11 |
| Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke |
74 - 70 | +4 | 79.9 | 69.0% | 1.06 |
| Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth |
63 - 68 | -5 | 64.2 | 71.0% | 1.01 |
A series against Astralis is never easy, but Complexity was able to come into this game with a lot of power and will to make this their game. The North Americans managed to control their emotions even though things weren't looking great until the very end of Nuke. Just like in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, the team seems to be having fun playing Counter-Strike, couple that with this result and things are looking very promising for Complexity.
