After eliminating Complexity from IEM Katowice in the lower bracket final of Group B with a razor-thin 2-1 victory against the North American squad in the Inferno decider, Outsiders have advanced to the Spodek Arena in Poland. The Russians got the series off well with a 19-15 victory on Anubis, but they struggled on their own choice of Overpass (13-16) and had to come back from a large deficit on Inferno to win. The team’s playoff run will get off on Friday at 15:30 when they take on Natus Vincere in the quarterfinal.

Complexity can depart with pride, after putting up great perfomances against two significant playoff teams and eliminating MOUZ and Fnatic from the competition in their earlier matches in the lower bracket. The squad will be disappointed and saddened by the defeat to Outsiders, a game they had in hand but couldn’t finish after blowing a 12-9 lead on Inferno.

Game opening

Complexity triumphed in an early struggle for dominance of their choice of Anubis, with multi-kill holds from Hakon #hallzerk Fjaerli and Michael #Grim Wince making up for an early pistol round loss. Off of that strong start, the North American team jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Outsiders started to settle down and battled back to tie the game at 7-7 until Complexity just barely took the lead going into halftime. Outsiders converted a 2v4 circumstance and made up for a missed 5v3 situation.

Alexey #Qikert Golubev executed a quick quad kill, enabling Outsiders to equalize the score right away. The Russian team then used this momentum to push ahead and seize the lead, 13-7. Complexity issued a rallying cry, and #hallzerk contributed to increasing it by holding onto a 1v2 to deny Outsiders match point. However, Petr #fame Bolyshev won a 1v2 of his own to advance his team to 15 rounds. Complexity managed to rebound and force OT, but completely capitulated after that allowing Outsiders to win four straight games to claim the victory.

Outsiders maintained control of Overpass as they had success on the T side, going up 4-0 until Complexity ended the run. The North American contenders mostly won rounds in the first half by blocking the Russian team’s bombsite attacks, but they had only won seven rounds overall as they switched to the T side.

As the squad recovered composure, Complexity seized control thanks to outstanding calling from Johnny #JT Theodosiou and multi-fragging from the trio of Grim, Ricky #floppy Kemery, and hallzerk. Dzhami #Jame Ali couldn’t make much of an impact in the second half despite saving the AWP and frequently holding the sniper in his hands. As a result, Complexity ran away with the momentum on their T-side and won 16-13.

As Inferno started, JT and company remained in charge, making up for a 1-4 start with a great defensive display once they had weapons in hand. Grim played a significant role in that attempt, scoring many multi-kills to help Complexity win eight consecutive games to take the 9-4 lead. However, they recovered their footing near the end of the half and added two rounds to their total, making 9-6 heading into the break. Following the side switch, Outsiders instantly tied the game with three rounds, but Complexity continued to force-buys the Russian team’s economy under control during that time. After Complexity successfully completed their third-force-buy attempt, the wind began to turn in their favor, and they appeared ready to take control of the map as they continued to destroy Outsiders’ defenses to win the game 12-9.

KaiR0N’s clinic

Aleksandr #KaiR0N Anashkin provided the B bombsite with excellent protection. Complexity’s streak of success came to an end thanks to Anashkin and some excellent calling from Jame, and the North American side started to struggle as a result of their inability to overcome Outsiders’ modifications. Only one more round was won by Complexity as Outsiders narrowly prevailed, winning 16-13.