JT: "Making the Major is still going to be very challenging for everyone"

The South African IGL says the improvement in the region balances out the two additional Major spots.

Complexity are widely expected to make it through the Americas RMR as the third-highest-ranked team in the tournament.

Their up-and-down form could prove to be a stumbling block, however, as the squad beat FaZe, MOUZ, and Astralis at EPL only to follow that up with a 9-12th-place exit at IEM Rio.

Complexity's opening match will come against an in-form BESTIA side, and Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou is wary of the upset potential in the best-of-one. "We're obviously expected to win, but shit can happen in the best-of-ones," he told HLTV in Shanghai.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Americas RMR
12/11/2024	Complexity 06:55 BESTIA	Match

The South African also touched on Complexity's recent form, their mindset coming into the tournament, and their continued love for Vertigo.

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You come into the RMR as the third-highest-ranked team. What's the mindset of the team coming into the event?

The mindset is just to win. We're one of the highest-ranked teams here and we expect to make it to the Major, so the mindset is just to complete the job.

A big change this time is that there are seven spots. Does that take some pressure off your shoulders?

I would say so, there's probably less pressure for this RMR because of the spots, but I also think the teams are a lot better this time around. So I think making the Major is still going to be very challenging for everyone.

There are seven top 20 teams here, according to the HLTV rankings. How do you feel about the strength of the region currently?

It's definitely better than previous years. I think a lot of the teams have gotten a lot better and have been showing that even on the international stage. I think it's pretty good.

You're one of the few North American teams. Which North American roster do you think has a chance to upset?

I mean, there are only like four NA teams here at the RMR? Us, M80, Nouns and BOSS. So I'd say we and M80 should be able to make the Major, and I think Nouns and BOSS also play pretty well. I wouldn't be surprised if all four teams would make it, I don't think it's necessarily impossible.

How do you feel about your form coming into this? Because at EPL, you got to the playoffs, you beat FaZe, MOUZ, and Astralis. But then in Rio, it probably didn't go to plan.

Those results are obviously disappointing, but we had about a month of practice after that. We're playing completely differently, and I'd say like we've been playing really well in practice, it's probably the best we've felt all year. As long as everything goes well in the matches, we should be good to go.

And what's the biggest thing you focused on during this month?

We've been a team for a very long time, so we pretty much focus on everything at this point. We just focus on improving whatever we're struggling with, I can't really say more than that.

You're one of the few teams that play Vertigo. What do you think makes you good on the map and how much of a difficulty is the fact you don't get to play it often because so many teams ban it?

Especially before the changes to Vertigo, I thought it was like an easy map for us to learn. It just seemed to click with us. Now, after the changes, I think every team is avoiding it because it's kind of random. In my opinion, the changes were really bad. But I think we're one of the only teams that put any focus on it, so that's why we're good on it.

If other teams had maybe put the same amount of focus on it, they would be good at it too. Besides that, I don't know. I just feel like we're just good at the map, and [a big reason is that] we've been playing and focusing on it.

You're facing BESTIA in your opening best-of-one. What do you expect from that game?

It's a best-of-one. I think they're a good team, but we just know that we're playing best-of-ones and anything can happen. We just need to be focused from round one and see how it goes. We're obviously expected to win, we expect to win, but shit can happen in the best-of-ones.