Complexity trounce ENCE to reach Katowice main stage
Complexity have completed their lower-bracket run in the IEM Katowice Play-In with a 2-1 victory over European side ENCE, securing the squad an appearance in the main stage of the event. A close loss to BIG to start their run has quickly been made up for with yesterday's 2-0 win over Permitta, as well as with this statement win over ENCE.
The all-important series kicked off with Complexity's choice of Anubis, with the North American side taking an early lead thanks to a pistol round win. ENCE quickly rallied to match Complexity's scoreline 3-3, and the half soon devolved into a back-and-forth slugfest. Complexity eventually put together a streak of three rounds towards the end of their T-side, allowing them to narrowly take the lead at the half 8-7.
Things took a turn for the worse in the second half, however, as ENCE marched ahead to a 12-9 scoreline after they secured five of the first six rounds on the offense. Being backed into a corner, Complexity fought back with a phenomenal defense, allowing ENCE to take only one more round as Johnny "JT" Theodosiou's men claimed a 16-13 victory on their map pick.
After collecting Anubis for themselves, Complexity were now on the hunt for ENCE's pick of Vertigo. ENCE snatched the first pistol round on their T-side, but Complexity would be the ones to find the early lead, stringing together five rounds straight to post a 5-2 scoreline. Unfortunately, Complexity were unable to post as strong of a defense as they had showcased on Anubis, with their only additional round coming from a full 10-second defuse from Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli in a 1v1 clutch, leaving them down 6-9 at halftime.
The second pistol round would end up going the way of Complexity, allowing the squad to begin to shrink their opponent's lead. Despite Complexity's best efforts, ENCE held firm and did not drop their lead, keeping the North American side's advances at bay. Although Complexity would go on to crack double-digit rounds on their T-side, they were unable to contend with Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia and Paweł "dycha" Dycha, whose 1.49 and 1.45 respective CT-side ratings propelled ENCE to a 16-11 win on their map pick.
The series would ultimately be decided on Inferno, a map where Complexity would undoubtedly be confident considering their recent 16-11 victory over NAVI on the very same map. That confidence showed early on, as hallzerk and Michael "Grim" Wince put up stellar showings on the A site and B site defenses, respectively. Thanks to the phenomenal numbers from these two, Complexity carved out a strong 11-4 lead for themselves heading into their T-side.
Although one would expect ENCE to be thoroughly broken after Complexity's dominance in the first half, they European side still showed signs of life. Although Complexity snatched the second pistol round to push their lead to thirteen rounds, ENCE answered with three rounds of their own in an effort to keep their run in Poland alive. The two sides began trading rounds, but with Complexity's already strong lead, there was little ENCE could do as Complexity finished off Inferno with a 16-8 scoreline.
ENCEComplexity| ENCE |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Álvaro 'SunPayus' García |
51 - 45 | +6 | 67.9 | 72.5% | 1.08 |
 Pavle 'Maden' Bošković |
52 - 60 | -8 | 76.3 | 65.0% | 1.01 |
 Paweł 'dycha' Dycha |
53 - 51 | +2 | 69.9 | 68.8% | 1.00 |
 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså |
51 - 48 | +3 | 65.2 | 65.0% | 1.00 |
| Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer |
46 - 55 | -9 | 69.2 | 70.0% | 0.97 |
| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli |
67 - 45 | +22 | 81.8 | 76.2% | 1.27 |
 Michael 'Grim' Wince |
68 - 51 | +17 | 84.7 | 72.5% | 1.25 |
 Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
50 - 53 | -3 | 74.5 | 77.5% | 1.07 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
44 - 55 | -11 | 65.5 | 65.0% | 0.93 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
29 - 51 | -22 | 49.1 | 60.0% | 0.67 |
Complexity will now need to wait for the remainder of the Play-In to conclude in order to figure out their first opponent in the main stage, which includes IEM Rio Major champions Outsiders, current world number one Heroic, European combine FaZe, or fellow countrymen Liquid.
