Liquid triumph over Complexity in IEM Katowice 2025
Liquid knocked Complexity out of IEM Katowice 2025 Stage 1 this Friday, January 28th. This result sees Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken's troops stay alive in the tournament and have a chance to qualify for Stage 2 at the end of the day.
The series kicked off on Inferno and the map showed how Liquid are looking far more cohesive than Complexity at the moment. Liquid ran over their fellow NA rivals thanks to good defaults on the T-side and to capitalizing on good reads in mid-round situations
Although Complexity did play well on their own T-side, the 9-3 disadvantage was too much to handle, and Liquid eventually closed the map before it got out of hand.
Curiously, Complexity put up more of a fight on Ancient, which was Liquid's map pick. Complexity had some good rounds on the T-side, but the duo of Guy "NertZ" Iluz and Justin "jks" Savage helped Liquid to win the first half by 7-5 as they combined for 26 kills.
A good start on the CT-side put Complexity ahead on the scoreboard, but as the game neared the end, Liquid's experience made the difference as they prevailed in decisive rounds and broke Complexity's economy to run away with a narrow 13-11 victory on Ancient.
ComplexityLiquid| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli |
30 - 31 | -1 | 76.2 | 73.3% | 1.04 |
 Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
25 - 34 | -9 | 67.7 | 71.1% | 0.91 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
26 - 33 | -7 | 73.0 | 64.4% | 0.89 |
| Nick 'nicx' Lee |
25 - 33 | -8 | 71.1 | 66.7% | 0.85 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
26 - 30 | -4 | 57.6 | 71.1% | 0.83 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Guy 'NertZ' Iluz |
44 - 24 | +20 | 94.6 | 77.8% | 1.49 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
32 - 27 | +5 | 87.7 | 77.8% | 1.31 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
33 - 26 | +7 | 90.9 | 80.0% | 1.24 |
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
25 - 28 | -3 | 60.9 | 77.8% | 0.98 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
24 - 28 | -4 | 55.8 | 68.9% | 0.83 |
Liquid will face Wildcard later today to try to advance to IEM Katowice Stage 2. Complexity, on the other hand, will focus on preparing for PGL Cluj-Napoca in February in order to try to win their first match in 2025.
