What to expect from Complexity v. BIG

Complexity are now 11th in the world, slightly sliding down from their peak of 10th just last week, but that should not deter the American men as they look to begin their ESL Pro League Season 17 campaign tomorrow against BIG. For the North American squad, they are coming off of their best tournament performance ever at IEM Katowice where they finished in the Top 8 and just one map away from closing it out against the reigning Major champs. BIG, on the other hand, are struggling. Despite beating Complexity and FURIA in Katowice, they finished in 13th-16th place. Additionally, with some recent roster moves, the squad is, unfortunately, looking weaker than it has in months prior.

Bring me the damn AWPs

If there is anything to say about this team it's that Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli has completely changed the way this squad performs and has propelled them to be consistently in the top fifteen teams in the world. Top 8 in Katowice and a 3-0 performance in the Closed Qualifier of the RMR are highlights, but a poor showing at BLAST Spring Groups and failed qualification for IEM Rio are harsh reminders that this team still has a ways to go before they can be consistently feared on the international stage. All that said, they're riding high after weeks of success.

• Grim is playing lights out with a 1.22 Rating in the last three months

• hallzerk had ten successful clutches at IEM Katowice

• FaNg performing below career average with 1.04 Rating, 0.97 Impact, and 71.5% KAST.

• JT's flash success remains incredibly high at 71%.

Is this still the big bad BIG?

Well, things aren't going totally the way of BIG as of late, except for when it comes to American teams. They beat Liquid 2-0 in BLAST, but fell to 7th-9th place. They beat Complexity and FURIA in IEM Katowice, but then lost to G2 and Spirit and finished 13th-16th. They are coming off a successful BLAST.tv Paris Major European RMR Closed Qualifier where they made it to the RMR, but they have now had Florian "syrson" Rische bench himself causing the team to call up Marcel "hyped" Köhn from their Academy team. The team is a little topsy-turvy and might be unpredictable in their debut as a new roster.

• This will be the first LAN match with BIG's new roster

• hyped has a 1.10 Rating against Top 50 teams in the last three months

• BIG coming off IEM Rio qualification and RMR success

Previous Matchups

Complexity and BIG have played twice with the same core, but really we should only look at their recent matchup at the IEM Katowice play-in. There, BIG and Complexity duked it out on Anubis, where Justin "FaNg" Coakly infamously died as Ricky "floppy" Kemery's PC crashed before any damage was taken in the game. BIG would go on to win that game 16-12.

Likely Vetoes

With Dust2 out of the map pool, BIG has been experimenting with almost every map to find a new home. The last time these two played, they played on Anubis. However, since then, both teams have proven less than adequate on the new map. Both BIG and Complexity will come carrying a 4-map loss streak on Anubis, making it unlikely that either are confident enough to pull it out again.

• BIG ban Vertigo; Usually First Ban

• Complexity ban Mirage; Permaban

• BIG pick Ancient; Recently picked, Complexity not too strong

• Complexity pick Overpass; 5 map win streak

• Inferno decider; Both played >10 times in last 6 months

Extras

Complexity and BIG are seeded fourth and fifth coming into Group B, meaning this first round is all-important for both teams if they want to clinch a playoff berth, which is only provided to the top four teams. Bookmakers are slightly favoring BIG in this match-up, but its still a very close affair. Betting sites are offering ~1.6:1 odds on BIG and ~2.1:1 odds on Complexity, on average.