Mauisnake: "Complexity are Fall Final contenders"
Often playoff 'nearly-men' in CS:GO, Complexity started CS2 with their best showing since the formation of their roster at IEM Sydney.
Defeated finalists, their appearance in the final promised big things for Complexity in CS2, and they're ready to continue their strong start at BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023.
EliGE was their best player in Sydney with a 1.25 HLTV rating across the 15 maps he played, and Mauisnake says that his "veteran voice can finally be felt on the server."
GOAT of NA
Despite being signed to be the team's main rifle star, that isn't the only benefit to EliGE's presence in the team. Arguably the GOAT of NA Counter-Strike, his experience and winning mentality take Complexity to the next level as a team.
"The stability he has provided as an individual means his teammates can focus more on doing what they do best, which is murking their opponents," Mauisnake told BLAST.tv.
Photo: Michal KonkolThis is a sentiment echoed by hallzerk, who had nothing but positive words for EliGE in our interview with him:
"He's helped us so much. We didn't realise how much we needed someone like him before we came. We thought we were up there and we could win against any team in the world before he came, but when he came in and started helping us with the small mistakes we didn't realise we were making, it's helped us a lot.
We're a more well-rounded team and have answers for most things now. His presence and his work ethic in and out of the game is very impressive, which makes the rest of the team work harder because you don't want to be the guy slacking and not putting effort in. With his experience, everyone respects him a lot and listens to what he has to say," hallzerk told BLAST.tv.
The difference in the team now that EliGE has had time to become properly embedded is night and day.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenIn the past, Complexity would often panic and have difficulty in closing out games against other tier-one opposition, but that isn't the case anymore, and Mauisnake says he knows why:
"Great strategies along with better overall protocols means they're innovating while reacting to opponents' play with top-tier fluidity," Mauisnake told BLAST.tv.
Innovation is always important in Counter-Strike, but that has never been more true than in the current era where teams are still adapting to life with CS2.
So far, Complexity have been excellent at adaptation and innovation, and hallzerk says this is because they have "been working hard with the correct stuff and haven't used unnecessary time for unnecessary things."
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenWhen one team innovates, the rest typically follow them and copy it into their playbooks, and hallzerk says: "When we were in Sydney, for example, we brought a lot of new stuff that other people have now taken from us."
This is nothing new for top teams: Look back to 2018 when the entire Counter-Strike world adapted their play to be like Astralis.
Continuing to innovate and understanding how to defeat the meta you helped to write is a necessity, but hallzerk thinks Complexity's mentality alone will see them right:
"Other teams say they hate the game, that just brings their mental down and they won't enjoy playing; if you don't enjoy playing, you won't play well. I think it's a combination of a good mentality and also working hard on the correct stuff," hallzerk told BLAST.tv.
Mauisnake certainly agrees, and he goes as far as saying that "Complexity are definitely playoff contenders." In fact, he goes even further than that as he adds:
"The fight they took to FaZe at IEM Sydney makes you believe they just need five percent more to have a title shot. It might be there and this might be the tournament they prove it," Mauisnake told BLAST.tv.
It's definitely not outside the realms of possibility that Complexity win Fall Final. The team is in the best form they've ever been in, and extraordinary things can happen when the stars align.