Complexity stun NAVI in BLAST Premier Spring Finals

Complexity reverse swept Natus Vincere in a series which featured three one-sided maps to secure a place in the upper bracket final of BLAST Premier Spring Europe Finals.

In the first upper bracket semi-final of the day, Complexity squared off against Natus Vincere in hopes of taking down the CIS team for the first time and building on their successful BLAST campaign, which included a 2-1 defeat to Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov’s men in the Spring Series earlier in the year.

The series looked as if it would see Natus Vincere emerge victorious after a rapid 16-5 scoreline on Complexity’s pick of Nuke, which saw Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev spearhead his side to a map one win off the back of a 4.33 KDR performance, but Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer’s troops hit straight back with a dominant Dust2 rebuttal to stake their claim on the series. The deciding map of Mirage was even more one-sided as a phenomenal Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke showing led Complexity to victory.

Natus Vincere stamped their authority on the series as Nuke began, with a s1mple triple on the CT pistol kicking off a dominant period for the CIS team on Complexity’s map pick. Five additional rounds went overwhelmingly in NAVI’s favour moving forward until a blameF 1v2 clutch posted his team’s first round on the board. Two unconventional no-scope kills from s1mple in the next briefly kept Natus Vincere in charge, but the blameF-led squad managed to secure four rounds in latter stages of the half to head into the break chasing a 5-10 deficit.

NAVI stepped it up a gear as they switched to the Terrorist side to end the map swiftly at 16-5 off the back of a six-round streak, with s1mple and Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev concluding their performances with 1.82 and 1.71 ratings, respectively.

Dust2 showcased a role reversal of Nuke as this time around Complexity took control of proceedings early on. Moving across the map as a pack, the North America-based squad found frequent success as they entered the bombsites, getting the bomb down in nearly all rounds won. At 8-1, Complexity looked as if they would extend their lead further for a commanding halftime advantage, but Natus Vincere found their footing to disrupt the one-sided affair.

Each subsequent round that the CIS side locked down added to their momentum as NAVI picked up all the remaining rounds, with a flamie 1v2 clutch bringing his team within one at the side switch.

Despite clawing the score difference back at the end of the first half, Natus Vincere deflated on the offence. Complexity, led by fantastic CT performances from Valentin "⁠poizon⁠" Vasilev and William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba, put on a stellar defensive display to close out the map 16-8 and force a decider.

A quad kill from the USP-S of blameF got the ball rolling for Complexity, who eclipsed their great start on the previous map with a 10-2 advantage on the CT side of Mirage. A Boombl4 double helped the CIS squad to a third round, but their tentative offence peaked there as the half soon reached its conclusion, with NAVI left facing a nine-round deficit and a potential drop to the lower bracket.

The European-American squad refused to slow down as they started the T side, with repeated fast-paced executes working out time and again. An ace followed up by a quad kill from k0nfig wrapped the map up swiftly 16-3, and the series 2-1, to lock down Complexity's place in the upper bracket final, where they will face the winner of FaZe-Vitality.