EliGE stars in debut as Complexity beat NIP

Complexity won the marathon series with new addition Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski topping the server.

Complexity have defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas in the opening round of BLAST Premier Fall Groups with a 2-1 scoreline to spoil Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser's return to LAN competition with NIP. The North American squad dropped the first map of Inferno in heartbreaking fashion (14-16) before coming back on Nuke (16-12) and Overpass (16-13).

The series was a high-octane battle between EliGE and Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke, with both players sitting on top of the board for their teams and dragging their teams across the line in some situations with entry kills and clutches. The North American player got the final laugh, however, as his 28 kills on the decider got Complexity a close series victory.

His IGL Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou was also full of praise for the 25-year-old. "He is a fantastic player, he adds a lot to the team in terms of the structure and system," he began during a post-match interview. "We have already made a lot of improvements in the last two weeks of playing together."

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EliGE: "[Complexity's goal] was just to make the Major; my expectations are going to be higher than that"

Complexity now move on to the upper bracket final against reigning Major champions Vitality, while Ninjas in Pyjamas will face off against Evil Geniuses.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023
15/07/2023	Vitality 16:15 Complexity	Match
15/07/2023	Evil Geniuses 18:25 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match

Complexity decided to pick Inferno in their first series of the fall season, a curious decision given it's their worst map according to their win rate in the last three months. Their start wasn't great as k0nfig shut down anything they had to offer, with the Ninjas soon finding themselves 5-1 up. JT then adapted his calling to the Ninjas in Pyjamas setups and Complexity started to find success, eventually tying up the scores at six. Just as it looked like they were going to win the half they faltered against an eco, though, which gave an 8-7 lead to Ninjas in Pyjamas.

hampus found impact after a quiet first half by getting a triple in the pistol before saving his team in the resulting anti-eco. Complexity didn't let up with their aggressive economic decisions and soon got on the board, equalizing the scores at 12-12 after a prolonged back-and-forth. Complexity then lost another eco in almost identical fashion to the first half, falling behind once again and allowing Ninjas in Pyjamas to reach map point. The North Americans had some life left in them and reached 14 after Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince's secondary AWP found four, but lost a 5vs3 against pistols to drop the map 14-16.

Nuke was Ninjas in Pyjamas's choice which meant they started on the less-favored T side, with the added difficulty of adjusting to a new IGL. hampus and company started slowly by going down 0-4, but k0nfig's 1vs3 clutch turned the tide of the game. The Dane's highlight moment put them within one round of their opponents, with another clutch, this time by Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner, keeping that deficit into the second half.

Complexity then found their second pistol round of the map to go up 11-7 with the following conversion, but k0nfig continued to find impact and dragged his team to a tie game at 11 rounds each. This time Complexity didn't drop another close map, though, as new signing EliGE topped the board with 25 kills to equalize the series for his team.

The decider was Overpass, which is something of a home map for Complexity. The North American combine have played the map the most times in the last three months (six) and started the final map on the CT side after securing the knife round. Ninjas in Pyjamas were confident out of the gates, though, going up 8-3 by only dropping rounds to some heroic plays by EliGE. His teammates joined the 25-year-old after that and ground back the round to another 7-8 first half.

Ninjas in Pyjamas' second-round forcebuy gave them a splendid start to the second half, one they converted to a 12-8 lead. The majority-Swedish squad looked in the driver's seat for victory but Complexity came back once again with an incredible streak, during which they won eight out of the last nine rounds to close out the map 16-13 and move on in the upper bracket.