Counter-Strike 2
Complexity's dire 2025 continues after 11-3 collapse leads to elimination by SAW
Complexity's new lineup have sunk to new lows after elimination at the hands of dead team walking SAW from PGL Cluj-Napoca.
Johnny "JT" Theodosiou and company led 11-3 on map one before running out of ideas on T side, losing in overtime, and going on a 5-26 run that ended with a miserable 4-13 showing on Complexity's map pick of Inferno.
The uninspiring finish leaves coL at number 6 on the Americas Regional Standings with time running out to keep them in the all-important top five placings that will secure a direct invite to June's Austin Major on home soil.
Mental fragility was a feature of the team even last year, where Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski's raw firepower could only cover so many cracks, and it was damning how poorly Complexity deal with SAW's João "story" Vieira-led comeback on Ancient.
Fumbling the 11-3 lead was one thing, but the inability to reset for overtime or for map two was what truly put the final nail in the coffin.
Grim and hallzerk are leaving EliGE's boots empty
Life was always going to be hard for Danny "Cxzi" Strzelczyk and Nick "nicx" Lee stepping into tier one LANs with Complexity.
What will disappoint Jason Lake and the team's backroom staff more is that experienced fraggers Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli and Michael "Grim" Wince have not stepped up more in EliGE's absence. His shoes may have been hard to fill but currently, they are empty and getting dusty in the cupboard.
Both players sit below the 1.00 rating mark in 2025 after 14 maps.
When Complexity were in control on Ancient it was thanks to JT in Middle, with the South African even popping up with a 1v2 clutch.
Grim has retained most of his difficult anchor-lurker positions and has showed some good moments, finding some key openers on Ancient to help JT, but the star we were promised from his time in Triumph has never arrived.
hallzerk, meanwhile, was able to be an inconsistent x-factor and clutch king last year but in a 2025 roster lacking firepower he now needs to evolve into a stable star AWPer that impacts games far more often.
story inspires another fightback to extend SAW's Last Dance
"I would feel bad if rmn goes out with a really bad result," story told HLTV yesterday.
It looked like we were headed that way, and Ricardo "roman" Oliveira even left a mark on his mousepad after hitting his mouse in a moment of fury that left the mouse on the studio floor.
But, inspired by a 21-6 showing on CT side from AWPer story, SAW were able to come back into the game.
Add that to a good showing versus FlyQuest yesterday and story is the one firing SAW's unlikely run through the Swiss gauntlet.
The star sniper — the last remnant of the youthful firepower trio that fired SAW to the heights of IEM Cologne's semi-final in 2024 — now needs to do the same against 3DMAX to secure a fairytale ending for roman in Cluj's arena.
Johnny "JT" Theodosiou and company led 11-3 on map one before running out of ideas on T side, losing in overtime, and going on a 5-26 run that ended with a miserable 4-13 showing on Complexity's map pick of Inferno.
The uninspiring finish leaves coL at number 6 on the Americas Regional Standings with time running out to keep them in the all-important top five placings that will secure a direct invite to June's Austin Major on home soil.
Mental fragility was a feature of the team even last year, where Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski's raw firepower could only cover so many cracks, and it was damning how poorly Complexity deal with SAW's João "story" Vieira-led comeback on Ancient.
Fumbling the 11-3 lead was one thing, but the inability to reset for overtime or for map two was what truly put the final nail in the coffin.
Grim and hallzerk are leaving EliGE's boots empty
Life was always going to be hard for Danny "Cxzi" Strzelczyk and Nick "nicx" Lee stepping into tier one LANs with Complexity.
What will disappoint Jason Lake and the team's backroom staff more is that experienced fraggers Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli and Michael "Grim" Wince have not stepped up more in EliGE's absence. His shoes may have been hard to fill but currently, they are empty and getting dusty in the cupboard.
Both players sit below the 1.00 rating mark in 2025 after 14 maps.
When Complexity were in control on Ancient it was thanks to JT in Middle, with the South African even popping up with a 1v2 clutch.
Grim has retained most of his difficult anchor-lurker positions and has showed some good moments, finding some key openers on Ancient to help JT, but the star we were promised from his time in Triumph has never arrived.
hallzerk, meanwhile, was able to be an inconsistent x-factor and clutch king last year but in a 2025 roster lacking firepower he now needs to evolve into a stable star AWPer that impacts games far more often.
story inspires another fightback to extend SAW's Last Dance
"I would feel bad if rmn goes out with a really bad result," story told HLTV yesterday.
It looked like we were headed that way, and Ricardo "roman" Oliveira even left a mark on his mousepad after hitting his mouse in a moment of fury that left the mouse on the studio floor.
But, inspired by a 21-6 showing on CT side from AWPer story, SAW were able to come back into the game.
Add that to a good showing versus FlyQuest yesterday and story is the one firing SAW's unlikely run through the Swiss gauntlet.
The star sniper — the last remnant of the youthful firepower trio that fired SAW to the heights of IEM Cologne's semi-final in 2024 — now needs to do the same against 3DMAX to secure a fairytale ending for roman in Cluj's arena.
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