Complexity oust fnatic from Flashpoint 3

Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's team has escaped early elimination from the first Regional Major Ranking event.

Complexity have advanced to the second round of the Flashpoint 3 lower bracket after securing a 2-0 victory over fnatic, who have exited the tournament in joint-last place. The European mixture now await their next opponent, the loser of the upper-bracket quarter-final match between G2 and HEROIC, whom they will face on Friday.

After the match, the cameras in fnatic's facility told the story of the Swedish team's struggles as of late, showing the players sitting motionless, staring into nothing or with their faces in their hands. The last-place finish at the first European RMR event came as yet another tough blow to the squad, who are now ranked only 25th in the world following a series of early exits at 2021's biggest tournaments.

"We play a lot against [fnatic], and last year at the beginning of the year we struggled a lot against them in a couple of matches, so we definitely had our problems with them," blameF said about facing fnatic. "I feel like they were a little bit more on point individually back then, and I also know they do a lot of the same stuff, so maybe they're not adding a lot of new stuff — I'm not sure, honestly. I do know they play fairly similar, but I also see that they've changed up positions lately, so maybe they're trying to do something about that."

Complexity came out of the gates swinging on the T side of Mirage. A forcebuy win kickstarted a massive run for the European mixture, with Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke finding entries across the map to put his team in early advantages time and time again and spearhead a convincing performance in the first half.

There was little hope for fnatic when they switched over to the offense down 4-11, but the Swedish side rallied against the odds with an unanswered eight-round run to take their first lead in the match since they won the opening pistol. It all came crashing down once they ran into a saved weapon in the hands of William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba, however, with the American's quad-kill breathing life back into Complexity as they claimed the opener 16-12 from then on.

Another solid start from blameF & co. put the pressure on fnatic and the Swedes crumbled, unable to find any momentum as they went down 4-11 once again. A comeback wasn't on the cards for Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim's team this time, with Complexity closing the map before things got sweaty at 16-10.