What to expect from Complexity v. Spirit

Day one of IEM Katowice's main stage went well for both Spirit and Complexity; both came away with victories in their openers against NAVI and Apeks respectively. It was a close three mapper for Spirit while Complexity finished theirs in just two, admittedly close, maps. Winner goes to the upper final of their group, where even a loss would secure a quarterfinal appearance in the Spodek. Loser must fight for the sole playoff spot available from the lower bracket. Safe to say, this is an extremely important match for both teams.

Complexity, time to rally

It's no secret that after their monumental run IEM Sydney, Complexity have been on a bit of a dry streak, utterly failing at ESL Challenger Atlanta and flunking out last at BLAST Spring Groups. The opening win against Apeks was a solid start, but they must rally the troops for a successful venture against Spirit.

• Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski has to play like the top CS2 rifler the stats say he is, sporting a 1.27 rating over the past three months.

• Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli has a tall task, matching the output of star CIS rifler Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov

• EliGE needs help. Even if he can match Danil "donk" Kryshkovets like hallzerk believes, the second, third, and fourth options of Spirit all outclass Complexity on paper. In what seems to be a contradiction of their very nature, all of Complexity need to show up for this match. EliGE and a friend will not be enough.

Spirit, all eyes on donk

donk. donk. donk. I could say more about him but enough has already been said. Instead, let's take a moment to shine a light on the rest of Spirit, specifically, sh1ro and Myroslav "zont1x" Plakhotia, who have filled in the gaps on the rare occasion donk cannot win rounds on his lonesome.

• donk needs to keep up his bulletproof nature, but honestly, that's not looking like an issue

• I dunno let's have another bullet point for donk, I think he deserves it

• sh1ro and zont1x step up in important moments. Given the playoff-qualifying nature of this game, every round is an important moment.

Previous Matchups

Complexity and Spirit played each other once prior, at Thunderpick World Championship 2023. Spirit won in quick 2-0 fashion with donk nearly dropping 1.70 and zont1x with a quiet 1.42. sh1ro wasn't even on Spirit at this point in time.

Likely Vetoes

• Spirit ban Inferno

• Complexity ban Mirage

• Spirit pick Anubis

• Complexity pick Overpass

• Decider Nuke