Complexity secure EPL playoff berth over Cloud9

Complexity were ultimately comfortable across the series, with Cloud9's individuals struggling for impact.

floppy led the way for Complexity throughout the series

Complexity have secured their spot in the ESL Pro League playoffs thanks to a relatively comfortable 2-0 victory over Cloud9, taking wins on Anubis (16-13) and Ancient (16-6).

Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery was in excellent form throughout the series, providing much of the firepower needed to blow Cloud9 away, but the whole Complexity side played their part. Cloud9 seemed to struggle to find ideas on the T side, with their defaults in particular proving limp. Poor individual performances all around, bar a solid half each by Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov and Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, compounded the Russian side’s difficulties.

Complexity have now secured a playoff spot, and they progress to the upper bracket final to await the winner of G2 vs. Virtus.pro, where playoff seeding is on the line. Cloud9 head to the lower bracket, where they will take on Liquid.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
22/09/2023	Cloud919:30 Liquid	Match
24/09/2023	Complexity16:00 G2	Match

The series kicked off with Anubis, Complexity’s pick, and the American side were put on the back foot early. Cloud9 picked up a pistol win on the CT side and ran with it to a 7-2 lead, with sh1ro in particular firing on all cylinders. floppy came to Complexity’s rescue with some big impact late in the half, but could only rescue a 6-9 score for his team.

Facing an uphill battle, Complexity started to grind their way into the game, with the rest of the lineup stepping up to help floppy in the fragging department. Cloud9’s defaults became more and more toothless as the half wore on, which Complexity took full advantage of to secure a 16-13 win.

Cloud9’s weak defaulting continued into their map pick, Ancient, allowing Complexity to jump out to a 7-1 lead early doors. Cloud9 became braver in taking space and finding duels, helping them string some rounds together, but a strong showing from Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou ensured his side took a 9-6 lead into the second period.

Complexity came out with their foot firmly on the gas pedal on their offense, and never let up, racing to a 16-6 score to seal the series and their spot in the playoffs.

ESL Pro League Season 18Best of 3 Cloud9Matchpage 0 2 21st September 2023 Complexity 13Anubis 16 6Ancient 16

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	35 - 41	-6	83.2	0.98
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	33 - 37	-4	77.0	0.95
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	27 - 31	-4	51.8	0.89
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	28 - 37	-9	59.8	0.77
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	15 - 42	-27	43.9	0.52

Complexity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	49 - 28	+21	100.9	1.54
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	39 - 30	+9	92.7	1.25
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	34 - 25	+9	71.8	1.22
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	31 - 30	+1	72.9	1.09
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærlihallzerk	33 - 25	+8	55.1	1.00

Virtus.pro #11 Nikolay 'mir' BityukovEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevDzhami 'Jame' AliDavid 'n0rb3r7' DanielyanPetr 'fame' Bolyshev Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev Liquid #17 Keith 'NAF' MarkovicJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisAleks 'Rainwaker' PetrovRobert 'Patsi' Isyanov Damian 'daps' Steele Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 1056 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.54 Ricky 'floppy' Kemery Age: 23 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 997 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Cloud9 #7 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovDenis 'electroNic' SharipovSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner Complexity #25 Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliMichael 'Grim' Wince Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1118 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Age: 24 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 1245 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.68 G2 #3 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller