Complexity beat MAD Lions in ESL One Cologne opening round

Complexity demolished MAD Lions on Overpass (16-3) before edging past the Majority-Danish squad after several overtimes on Nuke (22-20) to secure a spot in the next round of upper bracket play.

MAD Lions started their season with a dismal 7-8th place finish at their first event since signing Paweł "⁠innocent⁠" Mocek, DreamHack Open Summer, while Complexity finished the tournament in 3-4th place after a semi-final loss to HEROIC.

In their opening ESL One Cologne match, Complexity were able to get the best of MAD Lions, winning a one-sided Overpass before closing the series out on a hard-fought Nuke, leaving the Danes in the sticky situation of facing the possibility of another last-place tournament exit.

Four kills by Valentin "⁠poizon⁠" Vasilev defending the B site of Overpass put Complexity ahead early on. The Bulgarian player then went on a rampage in the first five rounds with 13 kills as MAD Lions struggled to find an opening. It wasn’t until the ninth round that the majority-Danish squad were able to get on the board off the back of a triple by Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck, which they then followed up before going under again until the last round of the half, making it 3-12 at the switch.

Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke opened up the A site with two quick kills in the second pistol round, which Complexity were able to defend after planting the bomb to go up 13-3. The American-European combine won the second round with another play towards the A site after which poizon found two kills as the last survivor of a B-site afterplant situation to hit match point. Complexity then converted it on the following round to win MAD Lions’s map pick 16-3.

MAD Lions got off to a better start winning the first pistol round on the CT side of Nuke, but were immediately on the back foot as they could not stop Complexity’s forcebuy, going down 1-3. With guns in play MAD Lions brought it to a 5-5 after ten rounds before Asger "⁠AcilioN⁠" Larsen and Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen won a 2vs2 afterplant situation to regain the lead, going on to take the half 9-6.

Complexity won a crucial 1vs2 retake on the B site in the second pistol round, and although MAD Lions won a forcebuy of their own on the second round to remain ahead, Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and company were able to retaliate, bringing it to a 10-10 tie. The two teams then won back-and-forth rounds until Owen "⁠oBo⁠" Schlatter secured a 1vs1 against Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand to hit match point, 15-13, but the Dane then won a clutch of his own against blameF to bring the map to 30 rounds. With their economy broken, Complexity gave up the last round of regulation.

MAD Lions won the first round of OT, but were unable to take the lead at the half. Complexity then got on match point immediately after switching to the attacking side, but weren't able to convert as innocent and AcilioN won a 2vs3 retake to keep the match alive. A second overtime then ensued, which Complexity were once again able to lead at the half, hitting match point after the switch and going on to win the map and series, 22-20, to proceed through the upper bracket.