IEM Sydney quarter-finals live updates and highlights

The high-octane bout between FaZe vs. ENCE is just 10 minutes away. The two teams last met in the semi-final of IEM Dallas, where ENCE closed out a 2-1 win with a 31-28 victory on the final map.

This time around, the series will get underway on FaZe's pick of Nuke, while ENCE went for Anubis. Ancient will be the decider if needed.

1. FaZe removed Vertigo
2. ENCE removed Inferno
3. FaZe picked Nuke
4. ENCE picked Anubis
5. FaZe removed Mirage
6. ENCE removed Overpass
7. Ancient was left over

Complexity's coach, Tiaan "⁠T.c⁠" Coertzen, was full of praise for Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery, who has had a great recovery from a slow start to the tournament.

The 23-year-old starred in their wins against Cloud9, Monte, and now BetBoom, and was the joint-highest-rated player of the team across the three series:

Complexity	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	128 - 105	+2.82%	84.2	81.0%	1.27
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	122 - 100	+1.19%	85.4	80.4%	1.27
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	127 - 96	+2.12%	83.0	77.2%	1.25
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærlihallzerk	114 - 100	+0.72%	72.3	76.6%	1.16
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	78 - 97	-1.34%	56.3	70.9%	0.93

BetBoom's coach, Viacheslav "⁠innersh1ne⁠" Britvin, on the broadcast after the quarter-final loss:

"It's been a great run. We took down the No. 1 team on the road, Vitality, and we made it to the playoffs, so it's been a nice experience. I feel we could have taken more from this event, but it is how it is. It is the first arena time as a coach for me and for some players, also. We were here for experience and we took more than everyone expected from us."

Complexity 13-11 BetBoom

Complexity breathed a sigh of relief as Pavel "⁠S1ren⁠" Ogloblin nearly converted a 1vs5 that could have swung momentum completely, but Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski saved the 1vs1. From there on out the international squad put on a pacey few rounds to overwhelm their Russian counterparts and run away with the 2-0 victory.

Up next for Complexity will be the might G2, who are yet to lose a map at the debut Counter-Strike 2 Big Event in Sydney.

Date	Matches
IEM Sydney 2023
21/10/2023	G2 07:30 Complexity	Match

Complexity 3-6 BetBoom

BetBoom's Danil "⁠danistzz⁠" Roslyakov once again showed his prowess in the clutch to keep his team firmly in the lead, taking out Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli and Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou in a 1vs2 afterplant situation on the A site.

Complexity 2-5 BetBoom

Complexity won the first pistol round of Ancient, but BetBoom hit right back with a successful second-round forcebuy onto the A site. The two teams were at a stalemate after four, but Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov, with a triple, got his team ahead on the fifth while crucially pushing the CTs on a forcebuy to start running away.

Complexity 13-6 BetBoom

Complexity didn't fret and closed out their Anubis pick with ease. Their 9-3 lead after the first half was more than enough of a buffer going onto the harder CT side, which ended seven rounds in.

BetBoom, who needed heroics just to get on the board in the opening map of the series, will now have a chance to show a better side on their own map pick, Ancient.

Complexity 10-4 BetBoom

It took another heroic effort, this time by Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov, to get BetBoom on the board in the second half. The Russian in-game leader downed three on the B site to stop Complexity from running away with the half.

Complexity 9-3 BetBoom

Complexity were swift on the attack, taking full advantage of starting on their map pick's preferred side, and landed one short of double digits at the half with in-game leader Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou leading the way on the board. The time between maps was been extended due to a tech issue, but the series is now back underway.

Complexity 7-1 BetBoom

Complexity showed that their Anubis T-side is nothing to play around with, going on a 6-0 tear to open. It took nothing less than a 1vs3 clutch by Danil "⁠danistzz⁠" Roslyakov to put BetBoom on the board.

Complexity 0-0 BetBoom

The games haven't even started and we already had our two first shoeys courtesy of two FaZe-clad fans.

Anubis, Ancient, and Vertigo are the maps that survived the veto between BetBoom and Complexity.

The majority-North American squad went with their trusty Anubis, where they have an 83% win rate in 12 maps played, while Ancient was picked as the home map by their Russian counterparts. Vertigo, if needed, will decide the series.

The veto was:

1. Complexity removed Mirage
2. BetBoom removed Inferno
3. Complexity picked Anubis
4. BetBoom picked Ancient
5. Complexity removed Nuke
6. BetBoom removed Overpass
7. Vertigo was left over

The day has come for IEM Sydney to move from the studio to the Aware Super Theatre, where four teams will be fighting for the chance to slot up against G2 and MOUZ — the group stage winners — in the semi-finals.

The first series will pit Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov and his BetBoom teammates up against Complexity. The Russian squad has been one of the surprise teams of the tournament, beating Vitality, GamerLegion, and taking a map off of MOUZ in the group stage.

Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and his crew were no slouches in the group stage. they lost to a red hot G2 but beat Monte twice and Cloud9 to secure a spot in front of the Australian crowd.

The second series of the day pits two storied international sides, the highly successful FaZe and the burgeoning ENCE, in what should be a thriller.

FaZe started their run in Sydney with an overtime loss to GamerLegion in the best-of-one opener, but then survived the lower bracket gauntlet leaving Vitality, Natus Vincere and GamerLegion in their wake growing as the tournament went on.

ENCE had an easier start, dispatching of Lynn Vision and then taking on fnatic in the upper bracket before falling to the undefeated G2 in the Group B upper bracket final.

Date	Matches
IEM Sydney 2023
20/10/2023	BetBoom 07:30 Complexity	Match
20/10/2023	ENCE 10:30 FaZe	Match