The round-of-12 series between reigning Major champions FaZe Clan and scrappy North American underdogs Complexity turned into a surpassingly thrilling series, taking place on day one of the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 16.
Complexity came out and stunned FaZe on Overpass to kick off the series. A closely battled first half turned into a blowout in the second half after Complexity switched to the CT side, with Grim coming alive in a major way. Some smart site stacks set him up for 16 second-half kills against only five deaths, and Complexity won eight straight rounds to close out map one 16-9.
As if that wasn’t stunning enough, Complexity looked poised to steal FaZe’s pick of Inferno too, after another impressive CT side this time in the first half. Again it was Grim leading the way, with 23 first-half kills and only six deaths, shutting down the FaZe executes again and again en route to a 10-5 lead at halftime. But the true FaZe resurfaced at the witching hour, led by the dangerous triumvirate of Twistzz, rain, and ropz. Down 14-11, FaZe rallied with five straight CT rounds thanks to their top trio, forcing the series to a map three.
On Nuke, FaZe finally got off to a strong start in the opening half, putting up 10 rounds on their CT side on the shoulders of another standout performance from the consistent rain. FaZe built up their lead immediately after switching to the T-side, despite some AWP heroics from Complexity’s hallzerk, and closed out close series decisively 16-8.
For Complexity, it’s a bittersweet defeat. On one hand, the underdogs held their own against the top-ranked team in the world, but they also squandered opportunities by losing all six pistol rounds of the series. For FaZe, they’ll take the win but they will need to sharpen up against their next opponent in the quarterfinals, Cloud9.
Published: Sep 27, 2022 04:32 pm