Complexity's close loss to BIG; what went wrong?

Complexity's strong run at IEM Katowice set high expectations for the team coming into their ESL Pro League group, with many even having them as favorites against the Florian "syrsoN" Rische-less BIG. Despite taking the first map, Complexity fell victim to a slow start on the second map of Nuke and were unable to convert a 9-6 lead on the decider Vertigo.

syrsoN who?

BIG have heavily relied on the star performances of their AWPer's for many a year, first with Owen "smooya" Butterfield and in recent times with syrsoN. The German sniper was the star of the team but has been questioned for his drop-off when it comes to LAN, as throughout 2022 he posted a 1.18 rating online compared to just a 1.07 rating on LAN.

After syrsoN decided to step down, it was widely expected the German team would struggle to find a replacement. Despite his drop off on LAN he was still a key member of the BIG gameplan and losing their star AWP was meant to be a catastrophic blow to the team, especially when it was decided academy player Marcel "hyped" Köhn would be the one to fill the star's shoes.

hyped showed no signs of slacking against Complexity though, and the NA side maybe wished it was the LAN version of syrsoN they were facing instead of the academy product. hyped led his team with a 1.25 rating, and joined at the top of the scoreboard by fellow BIG Academy prospect Krimbo, the young pair displayed the firepower that the German side have lacked in the past despite Josef "faveN" Baumann having a poor showing with just a 0.86 rating.

Ancient

BIG tried to punish Complexity by picking Ancient, a map that Col recently lost to MIBR on in the IEM Rio Closed qualifier. It backfired on the German team though as Complexity put on an impressive display on their defense, with Ricky "floppy" Kemery having a 103 ADR map followed closely by Canadian Justin "FaNg" Coakley with the young pair posting 1.42 and 1.32 ratings respectively.

Meanwhile, Krimbo was having a nightmare of a map; with just 11 kills on Ancient the German youngster proved his mental toughness by coming back into the game on maps two and three to really dominate the server alongside hyped. The German side got their CT half off to a good start as they picked up the pistol, but an immediate loss on the second round ruined any chance of them building up a strong enough bank to make the comeback.

TLDR:

• Krimbo couldn't get himself into the game

• Impenetrable defense saw Col rack up a 10-5 lead

• floppy 1.42 rating, FaNg 1.32 rating

• BIG losing 2nd round on CT ruined the chance to establish their economy

Nuke

Nuke started off great for the NA side, as they won pistol and converted the following rounds including the opening gun round to take a 4-0 lead. However, once BIG were able to get themselves some money in the bank and full utility the German side locked their North American opponents out of the half, with hyped in particular having a strong half, posting 128 ADR and a 2.07 rating on his CT side.

When the sides switched it looked like Complexity were finding their footing, and despite losing the pistol (3/4 pistols in the series so far they had lost) the team rallied back with another force buy victory and got a streak going to bring the scores to 12-12. However, Krimbo decided to turn into a menace on the T side as he took over hyped's first-half performance by posting his own 120 ADR half.

Ultimately, FaNg and Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli going missing cost the team Nuke as they just lacked the firepower to open BIG's CT side up and to hold off the Krimbo onslaught.

TLDR:

• hyped 1.43 rating, controlled the map on CT with AWP

• Krimbo monstrous 1.81 T half dragged BIG over the line

• hallzerk only 5 AWP kills compared to hyped's 21

• BIG 16 first kills, compared to Col's 12

Vertigo

Again it was the story of strong defenses as both teams won their T halves by quite some margin. Unfortunately for Complexity, the Germans won the extra round needed to take the win. BIG once again won both pistol rounds, taking the record in the series to 5/6 in the German's favor a massive advantage for the side. Especially as this time they converted both pistol rounds with the following round, something they had failed to do previously.

Complexity decided to take a risk on the T side, with a three-round advantage and having been very close to winning the pistol they decided to repeatedly force buy for the following rounds knowing that all they would need was one round to break the BIG economy. Unfortunately, this venture did not pay off, ultimately putting Complexity in an incredibly difficult position to come back economically.

The incredibly tight final map came down to some fine margins, and the fact that BIG won one more clutch, had two more opening kills, and most importantly won both pistols without dropping a follow-up gave the Germans the advantage. Despite bringing it back to 14-14, Complexity's comeback ran out of juice as they fell 14-16 at the final hurdle.

TLDR:

• BIG won both pistols and follow-ups

• Complexity risky force-buys didn't pay off

• tabseN's 5 opening kills helped BIG have man advantage more than Col

• Col better team rating 1.12 v. 1.06, proves it was the small margins that lost the game

What's next for Complexity?

Next up for Complexity is an incredibly weak Movistar Riders, with the Spanish side looking particularly frail since losing talisman Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia, and if Complexity play half as good as today they will walk through the series. Complexity will undoubtedly be worried about winning only one pistol round throughout the BIG series, however, this is a team they lost to at IEM Katowice Play-in and the close nature of the game should give them confidence for the rest of the group.