Complexity's core beat FaZe for the first time

JT's side deservedly progress in ESL Pro League's playoffs.

Complexity have defeated FaZe for the first time since the core of Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou, Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery, and Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince were added to the roster in 2022.

The two sides have only faced each other five times in that spell, but FaZe won every single bout including meetings in IEM Sydney's grand final and, most recently, a 2-2 playoff decider at PGL Major Copenhagen.

"It didn't feel like FaZe did anything crazy, it felt like the MOUZ series," Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski reflected on the Pro League couch post-game. "On Anubis they didn't have an answer for what we were doing."

The going remains tough for Complexity, who now face Liquid with G2 awaiting the victor in the quarter-finals.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 20
18/09/2024	Liquid 20:00 Complexity	Match

FaZe's defeat represents another blow for a team that started 2024 so well, but have now exited five events in a row at the first stage of playoffs: quarters at Dallas, London, EWC, and Cologne, and the round of 16 here in Malta.

The squad had even gone on bootcamp in the week preceding playoffs. "It was our first bootcamp of the season," Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen told the stream pre-match. "We wanted something before but we also wanted to take care with the schedule. But now, we didn't care, we needed results."

But results, immediately at least, are not forthcoming. On Anubis, Complexity put together a run of seven T side rounds before FaZe answered back, and FaZe could not convert a fantastic fragging series from Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool (37-22, 83 ADR) into a map win let alone progression.

"It feels like they lack confidence," EliGE said on stream when asked if FaZe's macro play has fallen off. "They don't have that unpredictability of someone doing something crazy individually. ropz was on one, I felt his presence super hard, but aside from that they were kind of anchored into the timings we expected. Our prep was bang on. FaZe are usually so good at mixing things up."

What will be even more concerning for FaZe is that David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský and ropz both had their moments, most noticeably in back-to-back 1v4 and 1v3 clutches on Anubis, but it made little difference.

The spotlight instead, shone on Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants (23-31, 53 ADR) who had another disastrous showing after struggling heavily at IEM Cologne and the Esports World Cup. When you take into account the fact that the Latvian AWPer recorded 13 of those 23 kills in the first half of Anubis, the outcome is only more damning.

But you cannot take anything away from Complexity, who won not via an EliGE overperformance but by outplaying FaZe in all aspects. Grim was player of the map on Anubis, before fellow anchor floppy stood tallest on the B site of Dust2 to ensure the map — two players who were under scrutiny pre-event.

This was a different Complexity, one that did not break when the pressure was on them or after losing clutches or anti-ecos. FaZe are always a stern test for them considering their Vertigo ban and ability to win tilting rounds, but that threat was all but neutralized by JT and Tiaan "⁠T.c⁠" Coertzen's superior game plan.

"We've been a lot better recently [mentally]." Grim explained. "We play a lot better when people aren't tilted and that's what everyone is keeping in the back of their mind. It's been much better."