First dual IEM Sydney champion to be crowned tomorrow as Complexity, FaZe take wins

Not only will tomorrow’s IEM Sydney winner lift the first CS2 trophy, but we’ll be seeing the first two-time champion at the Australian event following wins to Complexity and FaZe in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Complexity decimated heavy favorites G2 2-0, including a scintillating 13-3 win on Ancient, all but silencing the pro-G2 crowd hoping to see hometown hero Justin “jks” Savage claim a win on the Sydney stage.

G2 was heavily favored to win after a solid group stage performance, while Complexity was made to work for their top-four spot, defeating Cloud9, Monte, and BetBoom to book the meeting. But from the outset, the North American squad wasn’t taking any prisoners.

Only Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov emerged with a positive kill differential for G2 as Complexity systematically dismantled Anubis, then all but shut the European-based squad out of Ancient. Ricky “floppy” Kemery, who has seen a resurgence after a slow start in Sydney, was ecstatic after leading his team to the win.

“This is my first S-tier stage event and to get this far, it’s an amazing feeling,” floppy said to Dot Esports moments after the win. He noted he had become more accustomed to conditions as the week drew on while also praising his team’s effort at pulling apart G2 after falling to them just days ago in the group stage.

Floppy posted a 1.59 HLTV rating in the devastating win over G2, with the American rifler adding the hardest part of the win was actually hearing his opponents on the server. Between the pumping crowd and the already-tough-to-decipher sounds in CS2, it wasn’t easy to hear basic footsteps or sound cues.

“One round, m0NESY molly’d me in CT on Ancient and he had no idea I ran through it,” floppy said. “I used the current state of the sound and the crowd noise to my advantage. It’s really hard to hear stuff in the game.”

Should Complexity claim victory tomorrow, it’ll be the first tier-one trophy win for a North American squad in nearly five years—and would more than certainly confirm their ascension to the top spot in the region if it isn’t already.

FaZe hold off resilient MOUZ to book third Sydney final

Complexity’s opponents tomorrow are in the midst of a CS2 resurgence of their own as FaZe Clan has stormed to another IEM Sydney grand final after their own 2-0 win over MOUZ.

Finn “karrigan” Andersen opted for a riskier map veto and it paid off, tearing apart MOUZ on Anubis a day after landing the first 13-0 in CS2 LAN history on the map against ENCE, then flipping their form on Vertigo on its head. The trio of Twistzz, ropz, and rain combined for a a remarkable 62 kills as the international lineup blitzed their way through MOUZ.

FaZe has only conceded 18 rounds in their four maps on the Sydney stage in 2023, an incredible bounce back after fighting their way through the group stage lower bracket.

Karrigan, rain, and Twistzz will be the first to win the Sydney event twice, should FaZe walk away winners tomorrow. If Complexity lifts The Dish, it’ll be EliGE who becomes the first two-time Sydney champion.

IEM Sydney’s grand final begins at 2:30am CT tomorrow morning.