Complexity eliminate Cloud9 to set up Monte rematch for playoffs
In the final day of IEM Sydney's group stage, Complexity were matched up against the CIS superteam of Cloud9 in the middle of their route to playoffs. However, this superteam is anything but so far. After a BO1 MR12 loss to fnatic in the opening round, they successfully fended off Lynn Vision to set up this Complexity match. The vetoes went exactly as expected setting up a BO3 of Anubis, Ancient, and Inferno.
Anubis, a map Complexity has been looking more and more comfortably on lately, finally saw Grim step into the form we were promised. Complexity's T-side traded blows with Cloud9 after an initial 1-4 start setting up an even half. Complexity's CT-side has looked incredibly on point recently and almost kept Cloud9 completely out of the game. A pistol round turned into four consecutive, and while Cloud9 were able to string a few together, the tag-team of Michael "Grim" Wince and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski ensured the CIS side never got double digits.
In opposition to Anubis is Ancient, a map Complexity has looked worse and worse on lately. An infuriatingly dominant T-side was on the cards for Cloud9 with Complexity getting literally only a single round. Denis "electroNic" Sharipov, free from the IGL role, posted a 2.12 rating in the first half. Complexity showed signs of life in the second half, picking up five rounds, finishing the game with an almost respectable 6-13 scoreline. The T-rounds looked good from Col. If they had more to show on the CT-side, then perhaps we would see a closer map.
Complexity started on the CT-side of Inferno and looked utterly impeccable throughout. The team kept their composure and never let any of Cloud9's multiple breakthroughs end in multi-round streaks. Complexity were all over C9 with dominant map control leaving the CIS team very little to work with. Complexity finished their CT-side with 9 rounds to 3, the new 11-4 curse. But, ill fates and omens could not stop the hype train as Complexity finished off the map with little resistance. Complexity won Inferno in 35 minutes including half-time, freeze-time, and timeouts.
ComplexityCloud9| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
48 - 32 | +16 | 99.2 | 80.7% | 1.37 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
49 - 30 | +19 | 83.7 | 80.7% | 1.32 |
 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli |
42 - 33 | +9 | 77.8 | 75.4% | 1.16 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
36 - 38 | -2 | 67.1 | 78.9% | 1.00 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
33 - 34 | -1 | 60.2 | 71.9% | 0.98 |
| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
44 - 43 | +1 | 81.1 | 66.7% | 1.14 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
32 - 47 | -15 | 67.7 | 64.9% | 0.86 |
| Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy |
28 - 32 | -4 | 55.4 | 77.2% | 0.83 |
| Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov |
27 - 40 | -13 | 55.5 | 66.7% | 0.80 |
| Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov |
35 - 46 | -11 | 61.0 | 54.4% | 0.78 |
Only one team now stands in Complexity's way for playoffs, and it's a formidable foe: Monte. Liquid were able to defeat the Ukrainian side in the opening BO1 despite losing both pistols, but now, in BO3 territory and some official CS2 reps under their belt, Monte could look to pose a significant threat. This match will be the final game played tonight and decides the final IEM Sydney 2023 playoff participant.
