Monte prevail over Complexity in delayed EPL series

Monte dropped Overpass, where both teams were forced to play on default loadouts after a 90-minute delay, but recovered on Anubis to earn a quarter-final spot.

Monte are through to the ESL Pro League Season 18 quarter-finals following a 2-1 win over Complexity. The Ukrainians drew first blood on Ancient (16-7), but lost Overpass (9-16) after returning to the server following a lengthy 90-minute delay due to CS:GO network issues and the impending release of Counter-Strike 2, and instead needed a visit to Anubis (16-12) to wrap things up and send Complexity packing from Pro League.

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Overpass was a particularly interesting watch. The two teams agreed to play the map with default loadouts to avoid postponing the match until Thursday, meaning USP-S and M4A1-S and skins were absent and unable to be selected.

Regardless, the victory is yet another in Monte's resurgent run during their time in Malta. The Ukrainian side were staring down the barrel of elimination after being sent down to the Group B Last Chance bracket, but have stabilized with key victories over HEROIC and MIBR in the groups and fnatic and Complexity in the playoffs as they continue their charge through the single-elimination portion of the $850,000 event.

The European squad will look to continue their run in Malta when they play Vitality in the quarter-finals. The two teams' fixture is scheduled for Thursday at 15:30 .

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
28/09/2023	Vitality 15:45 Monte	Match

As for Complexity, the North American's time at Pro League is over, and they subsequently head home in 9-12th place. Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and company showed promise by taking down Cloud9 and 9INE and taking a map off G2, but ultimately lacked the fuel in the tank needed to triumph over Monte and secure a top-eight finish at Pro League.

The series got started on Monte's pick of Ancient, and the Ukrainian-majority squad were quick to justify their choice as they build a 9-6 lead by the end of their T-side. This strong showing partly came as a result of their utter bullying of Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery, who was often picked off before having any impact in the server and only added two kills to his tally by the side swap.

Things only became more one-sided once Monte moved over to the CT-side, a 500-damage ace from Szymon "⁠kRaSnaL⁠" Mrozek marking the start of a near-flawless run from Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev and company on the defense. Monte conceded just one additional round throughout their map pick, not giving Complexity any chance to come back as they cruised to a 16-7 scoreline to send the series to Overpass.

It was at this point in the match that a 90-minute delay due to CS:GO network issues hit and, as aforementioned, the two teams opted to play on default loadouts on Overpass to avoid postponing the match.

Complexity were in cruise control for much of their map pick, however, hitting the ground running in their return from the intermission to post a commanding 13-2 lead by the end of their attacking phase. Monte did wake up once the side swap took place, winning seven in a row to remain in the map, but it didn't take long for Complexity to win the three rounds they needed to close things out, 16-9, and force the Anubis decider.

There, it was Alexander "⁠br0⁠" Bro and Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk who turned up to play for the Ukrainian-majority side. The two players combined for 34 kills to power a 9-6 advantage by the end of their CT-side, often viewed as the harder of the two sides on the Egypt-inspired map.

Complexity did, once again, show promise with a boost in form once on the defense, but it ultimately came too little, too late, to prevent Monte from winning the decider, 16-12, and earning a quarter-final berth in Malta.