hallzerk on Grim: "I spectate him & I say what the fuck. This is not normally, check his computer."

Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli's addition to Complexity was long-awaited, and his inclusion in the newest iteration of the North American roster has proven fruitful, with the team even making EPL playoffs before being defeated in a grueling affair with the world number one, FaZe Clan. Now though, they move onto slightly weaker competition, the Americas RMR. However, don't discount these South American teams who will fight tooth and nail for a chance to play in their home country's Major.

Complexity have already taken one name, defeating the international ATK in dominant 16-5 fashion, cementing themselves as one of the favorites in the tournament. After this game, Dust2us's Liam Slevo interview the Norwegian sniper for his take on the tournament and his team's recent success.

You just got your first win in the RMR, tell me how are you feeling after that game?

I think our team is really on point at the moment. We just came off a really good performance at EPL, so everyone has high confidence and as we've just shown in the server, everyone is playing their best right now.

The map went to vertigo for the best of one, and we haven't seen you guys play Vertigo just yet. Tell me about the decision to take it to Vertigo against ATK.

We didn't really prepare for Vertigo. We didn't think they will go there. I mean, we've been practicing Vertigo, we’ve been practicing a lot of maps, so we were confident, we were comfortable on the map, but we didn't watch any demos of them in particular. It was a bit surprising, but we knew about the team, so we were pretty confident.

Like you said there, you've been expanding the map pool. What's that preparation been like now that you’ve had a couple of months to settle into the team for this event?

It's been a lot of preparation, a lot of talking and getting everyone on the same page, including me, because I'm very new in the team. So to get me on the same page as everyone so we can play our best. It’s also been a lot of practice to just get the communication flowing for me as well, because it’s my first time playing in English on a team, so we’ve just been playing a lot of pracs.

Like you said there, your first time speaking English in a team, tell me a bit about that transition was it a tough one to make?

I mean, for me personally, talking in English was not a big problem. I wouldn’t say it's a big problem, but there it’s definitely a bit confusing. Their communication is so fast, there’s just so much talking. It's a bit weird from the EU and different from how we were speaking in Dignitas. So there was a weird two-week period there when sometimes I didn't quite get what everyone was saying, but right now it's going very well and it's just flowing well.

Whenever we talk to EU players who come over, they always try and say that they bring over something from the meta, because that's where you played. Have you been bringing ideas that you picked up from EU and your time in Dignitas?

I still have my plays that I used to do and I liked to do in my team. So I took from what I like and just tried to implement that into our game. But, our team is very structured and more EU playstyle than NA, I feel like. So it wasn't really a big difference from my previous team. Maybe a bit less structured, but it's not that big of a difference for me, really.

We've heard from a lot of the other players in the team that you get along great with everyone, that you settled into the culture pretty well. What's been like for you joining in that group of guys?

I think it's been really nice for me. I think I can like get along with more or less everyone, like everyone in the fucking world to be honest. There's been no troubles there at all. They’re some great guys, of course, so it's just been a pleasure so far and hopefully going to keep going that way.

One of those teammates is obviously Grim, who's been on a crazy run of form recently, as we saw at EPL. Tell me a bit about what it's been like to play with him as a player.

I mean his aim is absolutely insane. He’s just such a great player. I spectate him and I say what the fuck. This is not normally, check his computer. Honestly, he’s so good. I play beside him and try to keep him in a good mood. When he’s in a good mood, nobody can stop him.

That run at EPL, making playoffs, it was a huge thing for Complexity who haven’t done that since the roster was formed. Tell me a bit about that run and how you felt personally during it.

I felt that we played really well together and that when we first started getting in the game, we had some games where we started a bit slow, but no matter how far back were, we were always able to bring it back to a close game. The mentality was on top no matter how anyone was doing. I think the more we got into the game, the more games we played, the better the mentality became and we got more comfortable playing together in in that environment.

The expectations for this event, you guys are on the favorite side of it. For you as a team, what are the expectations? Has it been just to qualify?

We haven’t really talked about it as a team. I think all of us just expect to go through. I feel like we are one of the top teams here definitely, but we don't look at this as a easy task. These teams, ATK and stuff, they all qualified, so they’re all really good. We don't look at anyone as worse than anyone, we look at everyone and treat everyone with the same amount of respect. We’re going into every game just looking at ourselves and how we can play our best.

Coming over to NA, the NA fans have seemingly accepted you with open arms. Anything to say to the fans that love your mullet?

The fans are lovely man, absolutely great. NA has a great fan base and I love it. I love every second and I hope I can be here for a while.

Since this interview, Complexity have played and defeated their next competitor, paiN, 16-7. Sitting at 2-0, Complexity has three chances to win a best-of-three and obtain a seat at the Rio Major. If they win their next game against Liquid at 07:30AM tomorrow, they will not only have their Major slot, but also have the opportunity to play a seeding match against the other 3-0 American team for a Legends spot in Rio.