Outsiders edge past Complexity to secure final IEM Katowice playoff spot

Resilience from the Russian team on Inferno allowed them to narrowly prevail in a 2-1 series.

Outsiders are through to the Spodek Arena in Poland after ousting Complexity from IEM Katowice in the lower bracket final of Group B, narrowly defeating the North American team 2-1 following an intense Inferno decider that came down to the wire. The Russians started the series off on the right foot with a 19-15 victory on Anubis, but fumbled their own map pick of Overpass (13-16) before recovering from a substantial deficit on Inferno to secure the win. The team will start their playoff campaign in the quarter-final, where they will face off against Natus Vincere on Friday at 15:30 .

Complexity can walk away with their heads held high after putting up strong performances against two Major playoff teams, eliminating MOUZ and fnatic from the event in their earlier matches in the lower bracket. However, the team will also be disappointed and lament the loss against Outsiders, a match which they had in their hands but couldn't quite take over the line after dropping a 12-9 lead on Inferno.

Complexity won out an early battle for control on their pick of Anubis, multi-kill holds from Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli and Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince making up for a lost pistol round early on. The North American side climbed to a 6-2 lead off the back of that start before Outsiders began to stabilize, converting a 2vs4 situation and making up for a lost 5vs3 as they fought back to even the score, 7-7, before Complexity narrowly pulled ahead at the break.

A snappy quad kill from Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev allowed Outsiders to immediately tie up the score following the side swap, and the Russian team worked with that momentum to surge ahead and take the lead, 13-7. A rallying cry came through from Complexity, and hallzerk helped increase the volume of that roar by clutching a 1vs2 to deny Outsiders match point, but Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev won a 1vs2 of his own to push his team up to 15 rounds. Complexity found entry into bombsites to recover and force overtime, but entirely capitulated from there on, with Outsiders winning four straight to secure victory.

Overpass continued with Outsiders in control as they found success on the T side, going up 4-0 before Complexity put a halt to the streak. The North American hopefuls denied the Russian team's bombsite attacking attempts for most of their round wins in the half, but still only mustered seven rounds by the break as they swapped over to the T side.

It was there that Complexity established dominance, fantastic calling from Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou paired with multi-fragging from the trio of Grim, Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery, and hallzerk as the team regained composure. Despite saving the AWP and often having the sniper in his hands, Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali couldn't find much impact in the second half at all, and repeated B bombsite attacks led to Complexity running away with the momentum on their T-side as they secured a 16-13 victory.

JT and company maintained that level of control as Inferno got underway, making up for a 1-4 start with a strong defensive performance once they had rifles in hand. Grim was a key factor in that effort, finding numerous multi-kills to help Complexity win eight rounds in a row for a strong 9-4 lead. One of those rounds in particular was extremely frustrating for Outsiders as they lost it due to the bomb landing on the roof of porch, but they found their footing toward the end of the half and added two rounds to their tally, 9-6, heading into the break.

Three rounds from Outsiders immediately tied up the scoreline following the side swap, but repeated force-buys from Complexity kept the Russian team's economy in check even during that stint. Complexity then converted their third force-buy attempt to swing momentum into their favor, and they seemed to be set to run away with the map as they continued to pick apart Outsiders' defenses to add two more rounds to their tally, 12-9.

Excellent defenses of the B bombsite from Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin and superb calling from Jame put a halt to that run of form from Complexity, and the North American side began to flounder, unable to crack through the adjustments made by Outsiders. Just one more round went the way of Complexity as Outsiders successfully converted a handful of late-match situations to edge out victory, their veteran ability coming in clutch as they narrowly took the win, 16-13.