What to expect from M80 v. Complexity

Day one of the Esports World Cup 2024 did not go NA's way, as Complexity and M80 both fell short in fairly compressive losses to Virtus.pro and Vitality, respectively. To make matters worse, the two teams have been drawn against each other in the play-in stage of the bracket, which features a head-scratching transition into Bo1 matches despite the opening matches being Bo3.

With this, one of our teams will be sent packing from their long journey to Riyadh after only playing three maps, so let's discuss who's going home early.

Troubled Return

After finishing last season on a solid note, Complexity looked like a completely different team in their return to action against Virtus.pro today. The team couldn't get anything going, and a majority of the roster had performances in "nightmare" territory, for lack of a better word. While M80 may be a favorable Bo1 engagement, if they don't show up tomorrow, twelve rounds can go by really quickly.

• Grim and floppy had a nightmare series against VP, with 0.54 and 0.49 ratings, respectively

• JT was the only player who went positive which is not a recipe for success

• Complexity never lose to NA teams and have good matchups against them

Tough Debut

Vitality was always going to be a tough team to take on for M80, especially as Mason "Lake" Sanderson had to make his international debut against them. The team had some decent performances on Vertigo, but really struggled on Dust2. While they definitely performed better than Complexity it will be a tough matchup against NA's best squad.

• slaxz- put in decent work for his team against ZywOo

• Lake has a rough debut his will likely continue against Complexity

• With malbs gone, the team will need to get more out of Swisher and reck, something we didn't see today

Previous Matchups

Surprisingly, these two teams have never faced each other.

Likely Vetoes

As a reminder, the play-in stage of EWC 2024 is all Bo1, for some reason, meaning the veto will be slightly different here as both teams aim for a fairly neutral map as they look to stay alive on a razor's edge. As the higher-seeded team, we will proceed under the impression Complexity choose to ban last.

• M80 ban Nuke (Permaban)

• COL ban Mirage (Permaban)

• COL ban Ancient (61% Winrate Δ, M80's Best Map)

• M80 ban Dust2 (25% Winrate, 4 Maps Played)

• M80 ban Vertigo (COL has a 100% Winrate on the Map)

• COL ban Inferno (50% Winrate, M80 Plays it More)

• Anubis will be played

Analysis: Should Anubis be selected, it is a fairly neutral map for both teams, although it has a 19% higher win rate on the map against stronger opposition. This slightly favors Complexity, however I see M80 as fairly stuck in terms of what maps they must get rid of, although they may risk floating Dust2 as Complexity are unlikely to pick it. There is a universe in which Inferno ends up being played, but with that map being miserable right now, I don't think Complexity would ever risk stumbling on it in a best-of-one.

M80 and Complexity will fight for survival tomorrow at 07:55AM.