What to expect from Complexity versus fnatic

After an underwhelming performance at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where the Americans notched only a single BO3 victory, Complexity are now hoping to turn things around heading into the IEM Cologne Play-In. Slated to play a new-look fnatic in their opening BO1, it's time to evaluate the matchup ahead of the event's kickoff.

hallzerk yet to make his mark in new season

After being an integral component to Complexity's successes in the early portion of 2023, Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli has struggled to stick the landing since the conclusion of the player break, with the Norwegian AWPer averaging a middling 0.92 rating across 10 maps in the Fall Groups. Should hallzerk continue to struggle at the Play-In, Complexity's route to the main event will be made exponentially more difficult, particularly so in their opening matchup as a hallzerk underperformance would clear the path for Aurélien "afro" Drapier to take over the server versus the North Americans.

• hallzerk had only one series at Fall Groups with a positive rating (1.14 versus NIP)

• hallzerk's performance at the Fall Groups is his third negative event in a row

EliGE providing a glimmer of hope

Despite Complexity's lackluster showing at the Fall Groups, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski stuck out as a bright spot for the team, averaging a 1.10 rating across ten maps even though his team ultimately finished in last place at the event. If hallzerk and Michael "Grim" Wince continue to struggle, the newcomer to the squad will need to continue this star performance if Complexity want to be considered favorites to take the BO1 win over fnatic, let alone qualify for the main event.

• EliGE's 1.10 rating at BLAST beat out his teammates by a mile (0.98 was the second highest for Complexity)

• EliGE recovered nicely from a poor IEM Dallas, where he finished with a 0.97 rating

Previous matchups

The Complexity and fnatic cores have already faced off against one another once this year, in a lower-bracket BO3 elimination match at IEM Katowice. Here, the North Americans reigned supreme, with the Europeans notching only a single map while Complexity trounced fnatic on Inferno and Overpass. The squads have not faced off since their recent adjustments, with Complexity taking on ElIGE while fnatic has since acquired the services of afro and Christopher "dexter" Nong. With a new AWPer and IGL for fnatic, it will almost certainly be a far different matchup than their last meeting entailed.

Likely vetoes

Considering the fact that fnatic is utilizing two new members, it is truly difficult to ascertain the full scope of this potential veto, especially since the BO1 format allows for each squad to have three map bans in the series. While Complexity's preferences are somewhat fleshed out, fnatic's are just about entirely unknown at this stage. With that in mind, a potential veto could be:

• Complexity ban Ancient

• Complexity ban Anubis

• fnatic ban Mirage

• fnatic ban Inferno

• fnatic ban Vertigo

• Complexity ban Nuke

• Map is Overpass

Irrespective of what the final veto ends up being, Complexity and fnatic will square off in less than 24 hours, with their match scheduled to be played out at 09:45AM Wednesday morning.