Complexity Gaming stuns Vitality, wins BLAST Premier Spring

By Nick Johnson

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Jun 22, 2020

Reading time: 4 min

After spending nearly the entire year stuck in Europe, Complexity Gaming defeated Europe’s Team Vitality 2-1 after losing the first map by 14 rounds.

Complexity blew away Vitality today in one of the most exciting comebacks CSGO has seen in some time, but it didn’t seem like the grand finals of BLAST Premier Spring was going to be a lengthy one at first. Vitality quickly took control on Vertigo’s T side, winning seven in a row before Complexity finally got their first round on the board via defusal. The teams would trade rounds again before Vitality clamped down even harder, putting up five elimination round victories to end the first half 13-2. Complexity looked completely unprepared for Vitality’s map pick. 

Vitality own Complexity on Vertigo 14-2 at BLAST Premier

Vitality’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut was an absolute monster on Vertigo, putting up a massive 20-9 scoreline and 112.2 ADR. If teams learned anything about Vitality from today’s match, it’s that they should steer well away from Vertigo against the French team.

Both ZywOo and Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier both had a 94.4% KAST, meaning that their success on the double-decker map was the key to Vitality’s victory. The stat illustrates the percentage of rounds a player got a kill, an assist, survived the round, or was traded by a teammate, and is an excellent indication of the overall impact a player had on a game. While most players average around a 75% KAST, the dual 94.4% statistics for ZywOo and misutaaa set a record for the map.

ZywOo was especially on point on Vertigo, turning a three versus five into a round win even without his signature AWP.

Vertigo was over almost as soon as it started. While Complexity’s in-game leader Benjamin “blameF” Bremer tried his best to tighten up the North American’s CT side, there was little he could do to stop Vitality. blameF would end Vertigo with an 11-11 kill to death ratio that led his team.

Complexity’s Mirage turns into overtime thriller

If Complexity thought it would be any easier on their own map pick, ZywOo and company quickly showed them that wasn’t the case. Complexity came out strong with the opening three rounds on their T side before the first half of Mirage devolved into trade of streaks that ended in a 9-6 half in their favor. Things looked even better for Complexity as they won the second pistol round, going up 13-7 on Vitality before the Europeans strung together six rounds in a row before they brought the score to 15-14 and forced Complexity to fight for overtime.

Complexity did just that, winning all three of its overtime’s CT rounds and the final round on T side to take their map pick 19-16. Vitality’s stunning comeback was once again led by ZywOo, but this time no one else on Vitality stepped up with him. He finished Mirage with a 106.9 ADR, nearly 47 points higher than anyone else on his team. 

On the other side, the North Americans looked solid and stable across the board with the exception of ELEAGUE Boston Major winner Will “RUSH” Wierzba, who ended Mirage with a 82.9% KAST serving as Complexity’s B site anchor. Complexity won Mirage as a team, with all of its players going positive and a KD spread of only seven between the mixed roster.

Complexity take Nuke to win BLAST Premier Spring

While Nuke started with the same intensity as Mirage did, the third map of the BLAST Premier Spring grand finals ended much more like Vertigo. The first half once again saw Complexity start on the T side, but this time they put up an impressive seven rounds on the more difficult side of Nuke. Complexity rode a winning streak of four rounds into halftime before winning six in a row to win complete the reverse sweep and take home first place at BLAST Premier.

Unlike on Vertigo, blameF’s heroics were on full display, including an anti-eco ace and a 101.6 ADR that led both his team and the server. Even more important than blameF was that Complexity managed to win four out of five clutch rounds, tipping Nuke in their favor and helping them take home the BLAST trophy. COL AWPer Valentin “poizon” Vasilev made it look easy during a one versus two in Nuke’s first half.

After the match, BLAST’s cams caught the celebration live, and Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat threw the feed to blameF who explained just how hard Complexity has been working during their time in Europe.

“Every single day we go through three hours of new stuff…We train at least six days a week,” blameF said after sealing the win.

Complexity found itself stuck in Europe as events moved from LAN venues to online competitions, deciding to compete in the European region instead of traveling back to its home base in Dallas, Texas. Despite many analysts predicting that the team would struggle against the stiffer competition on the other side of the Atlantic, Complexity has found a foothold and thrived in the competitive scene.

Next up for Complexity is the regional qualifier for Valve’s upcoming Regional Ranking tournament, CS Summit 6. They face off against Japaleno at 9:00 a.m. EDT, June 22.