Complexity had the chance to take the series 2-0 but G2 showed impressive resilience when it mattered.

It took some time for G2 to come online in this series

G2 survived a serious scare at the hands of Complexity to secure a quarter-final berth at ESL Pro League, recovering from a loss on Anubis (8-16) by taking Inferno (19-16) and Ancient (16-4). Complexity had already earned a playoff spot, but will now enter the playoffs in the second round.

Having already impressed at EPL by securing a playoff spot, Complexity further reinforced Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince’s recent assertion that they are currently playing their best CS by giving G2 a real run for their money.

Not only have Complexity looked slick and well-coordinated as a team, they have not had to rely solely on Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, with Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery, Grim and Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou all posting stellar halves throughout this group. They lost their heads a tad after giving up multiple series points on Inferno, but Complexity can still rest assured they are on an upward trend.

Read more Grim: "We've been playing our best CS since we made the team"

G2 were out of sorts individually for the first two maps of this series, bar Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač. Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov came alive towards the end of the second map to help force the decider, and the entire squad turned up to play on Ancient. Because this match was a low-stakes seeding game, there won’t be too many alarms raised by G2’s very slow start to the series.

Turning to the series itself, G2 started well on their opponent’s map pick of Anubis, kicking off the favored T side with a 6-3 lead after losing the pistol. From here Complexity awoke, particularly EliGE, and began to grind their way back into the game, getting to a solid 9-6 score by halftime.

In the second half Complexity blew away G2 with an offense powered by a potent Grim, the rifler going 16-3 and racking up over 160 ADR as his team rolled over their opponents to secure a comfortable 16-8 scoreline.

G2’s pick of Inferno came next, but the European squad struggled early doors on the T side. Complexity carried across the momentum from Anubis and won a force-buy after losing the pistol, mounting a powerful defense off the backs of JT and floppy. G2 switched up their approach at 1-7 down by picking up the pace and decisiveness, which allowed them to build back into the map, eventually earning a respectable 7-8 score heading into the second period.

A brief force-buy war commenced the second half which Complexity won out, granting them firm economic control. The NA side’s monetary advantage was not challenged for a while as G2 could not string round wins together, and this allowed Complexity to climb up to 15. G2 got their act together toward the end of the half, trying some more aggressive defensive setups to activate m0NESY, and sent the map to overtime.

G2 had completely figured Complexity out by overtime, and the NA squad contributed to their own downfall with a lack of composure, with Grim mollying himself to death in the final round of play. G2 duly secured a 19-16 comeback win.

A totally different G2 turned up to play on Ancient, with the European squad battering their NA counterparts with apparent ease. Complexity seemed to be harboring leftover frustrations from giving up Inferno, judging from the player cams, and they never looked like getting into the map. G2 claimed an easy 16-4 win to secure the series victory.

ESL Pro League Season 18Best of 3 ComplexityMatchpage 1 2 24th September 2023 G2 16Anubis 8 16Inferno 19 4Ancient 16

Complexity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	64 - 53	+11	83.7	1.25
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	56 - 46	+10	81.5	1.24
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	45 - 54	-9	68.9	1.00
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærlihallzerk	45 - 56	-11	59.3	0.88
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	43 - 53	-10	57.9	0.80

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	70 - 44	+26	91.6	1.39
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipovm0NESY	59 - 51	+8	77.5	1.19
Rasmus 'HooXi' NielsenHooXi	43 - 48	-5	64.9	0.91
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	47 - 60	-13	70.2	0.89
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	42 - 50	-8	58.3	0.87

Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 26 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1791 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Ricky 'floppy' Kemery Age: 23 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1000 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Michael 'Grim' Wince Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1082 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 Complexity #25 Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliMichael 'Grim' Wince Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 26 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1787 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.66 Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov Age: 18 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 425 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.59 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Age: 24 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 1248 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.68 G2 #3 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller