JT: "We didn't really have an answer for [Cloud9's] aggression"
Although many were concerned when the news broke regarding Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli's inability to play IEM Dallas as a result of visa issues, Complexity still managed to show signs of life with the use of Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek as a stand-in for the squad. With the South African's support, Complexity bested domestic opponents Evil Geniuses in the first round of the lower bracket before bringing Cloud9 to the wire in the subsequent elimination match.
Despite the best efforts of Complexity, the team was unable to bring it over the line versus Cloud9, as the CIS squad smashed Complexity 16-2 on the deciding map of Overpass. Following the defeat, Complexity IGL Johnny "JT" Theodosiou sat down with Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore to discuss the Cloud9 game, the performance of Sonic in this event, and whether he might be used in the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, and the team's plans for preparing for the second half of the year.
Please note that the full interview can be found below on YouTube, while the transcript has some key snippets from their conversation.
You guys looked really good on the first two maps but fell apart on Overpass. Where did the game plan fail?
In the Overpass game they were playing super aggro toward Connector and Short. We were struggling to get any kills and they got every single entry, so we weren't really getting to the late part of the round with any of our numbers. Any game where you're just losing entries at the start of the round is just going to be hard to win. We didn't really have an answer for their aggression and it showed in the game.
One bright spot this event is the performance of Sonic. Considering his lengthy absence from pro play, were you impressed by his performance?
Definitely impressed by him, he played very well this tournament. He's a really good player, I knew that, and that's why we got him as a stand-in. We know that he's a great player and that he's able to play without a lot of practice. I'm happy that he played well and happy that he helped us out, so I want to thank him for that.
What are the goals and things you're going to focus on after the player break to start the second half of the year fresh?
Obviously we're gonna take a small break, and I think some of us are going to come back early and start grinding CS and making sure we're getting our individual level up. I think a lot of these games, a lot of these rounds, we lose sometimes because we're individually not as good as we should be. I'm not sure exactly, we haven't spoken about it properly, of when we're gonna come back and what we're gonna do, but I think most of us are just gonna try and put in as much work as we can towards the end of the player break.
