Choked leads and a stopped flop: Complexity vs Movistar Riders

Many pundits and fans would have expected Complexity to sweep aside Movistar Riders, writing off their opening-day loss to BIG as just a poor showing. The Spaniards had other plans however, with Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano powering the underdogs to a 2-0 win over the 11th-ranked team in the world. Being sent to the last chance stage in group B of ESL Pro League Season 17, we take a look at what went wrong for the Dallas-based organization.

Back to the drawing board on Vertigo

Since the new season, Complexity has found themselves on Vertigo five times, and they have lost four of those matchups. At 16-8, the loss is the heaviest defeat that they have endured in these last three months on the map. We expected Vertigo to be the first ban out of Movistar since it's not a map they prefer playing, however, they looked prepared and ready for Complexity's setups.

Individually, IGL Johnny "JT" Theodosiou was impressive when it came to the CT defense of A ramp which was not an area of concern. Sure Movistar found a couple of round wins on A, but at least two of them came off the back of the red-hot mopoz clutching 1v2. The real area of concern came toward the other side of the map, with B site being exploited through mid and stairs on multiple occasions.

floppy's woes

Despite an excellent showing on Vertigo against BIG, Ricky "floppy" Kemery really struggled and found himself the target of the Spaniard's offense on more than one occasion. As the mid-player on CT-side Vertigo, floppy failed to deal with the pressure being applied at guardian, which regularly resulted in Michael "Grim" Wince fighting on two fronts in an attempt to save B site.

On the T-side, floppy continued to struggle, being killed on the A-site twice with the bomb in hand as he struggled to find a foothold in the game. Alejandro "ALEX" Masanet Candela and Pere "⁠sausol⁠" Solsona Saumell was the main tormentors of floppy, with both killing him six times each, and only ALEX was killed once by floppy. An unfortunate situation considering floppy's talents and he is by no means the only reason Complexity lost Vertigo, but not enough of an adjustment was made on the side of Complexity to counteract this pressure on their struggling star.

Complexity's crumbling composure

After losing Vertigo, Ancient seemed to be pretty much a sure thing as far as Complexity was concerned. Storming out to 10-0 lead on the T-side, Complexity looked to have shut down the star of Vertigo as mopoz went 0-10 to open the game. Movistar mounted a small comeback to close the half 11-4, but it would be on the T-side that the Spanish team put on the pressure that we have witnessed Complexity's composure be exposed time and time again this season.

Methodical map control and exploiting weak mid setups found Movistar found their success on the T-side, with mopoz's aggressive style thriving as he finished the game 27-19 after his 0-10 start. At 13-12, Complexity found the opening pick in mid and did not over face during the 5v4 mid-round. As the clock whittled down, floppy gave the Riders an inlet into the round from cave, and with three more defenders fully armed on the B-site, none could find a single kill. Losing 16-13, this also marked the first time a team has lost on Ancient after being up 10-0 on the T-side, a further indicator of how much of a choke this map was from Complexity.

Complexity came very close to taking down NAVI at BLAST Spring Groups after being up and they had against FaZe last season at EPL season 16. That issue reared its head again here against Movistar. Mental resilience is clearly lacking in this team at times and this was reiterated that with players such as Grim being visually frustrated and tilted on the broadcast. Complexity needs to work on remaining calm and closing games from these advantageous positions they create for themselves.

What's next?

The loser of Imperial vs SAW awaits Complexity in the last chance stage, with JT's squad hoping to avoid having NA go two for two on finishing last at EPL. Hypothetically Complexity should be the favorite against either side, but that was also the case against Movistar. If Complexity is to continue at EPL, they need to quickly assess these issues to avoid further embarrassment and questions as to whether or not their IEM Katowice run was a fluke.