by in
The opening round of the Counter-strike: Global Offensive Group C fixture saw Complexity reverse sweep Astralis, as the American esports franchise commences their ESL Pro League campaign.
The 2-1 win was one of the team’s most significant victories with the North American roster since adding Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli to their lineup. Complexity were able to achieve the win due to the combined efforts of the entire squad and their ability to play effectively under the pressure of losing their first map pick.
Complexity had a hard time at the start of the year on European soil. However, the team started performing significantly better after hallzerk was added to their lineup. Since the player joined, Complexity have earned a map win against Natus Vincere and followed their win up with the team’s first series victory against an European opponent this year.
Astralis, on the other hand, enjoyed an upward trend towards the end of last season. Their wins peaked when they reached the top four during the IEM Cologne, but went downhill since then. They had to try four times to get a spot in the European RMRs. They, however, could not make it past the BLAST Premier Fall Groups and, most recently, suffered a disappointing defeat in the ESL Pro League.
The series between both teams kicked off on Inferno, Complexity’s map pick. The team, unfortunately, had a slow start and Astralis quickly gained the lead with a 3-0 scoreline. Big plays by Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander enabled the team to reach 10-5 halfway into the map.
Complexity picked up the pace in the second half and gave an impressive performance in a back-and-forth pistol round. Astralis were, however, able to close out the map with a 16-9 scoreline as a result of their player, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke’s amazing deagle headshots.
Astralis’ pick, Nuke, was the next map in the series. The match started with a pistol loss for Complexity, and Astralis soon began moving forward with a 1-4 score.
The NA team recovered and tied the score at 4-4, but could not carry on until their efforts built momentum. Halfway into the map, Astralis were in the lead with a 9-6 score.
The second half of the map saw the two teams go neck-to-neck until they tied once again at 15-15 and had to send the map into overtime. Astralis attained the 15 mark first, but the team misplayed three chances to deliver the final blow to Complexity. After the third overtime on the map, Complexity managed to slide past with a close 25-23 win.
The decider map, Dust 2, saw both teams dropping rounds in advantageous situations as well as against half buys or ecos. Astralis won the first half of the map with an 8-7 score, which served to strengthen Complexity’s onslaught in the next half. The NA team were able to put up an impressive defense and win the map with a 16-11 victory and the series with a 2-1 record.
Despite not winning the match, blameF, Astralis’ player, gave an impressive performance with just 58 deaths and 80 frags. Other players in the team, including Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, gla1ve, and Asger “Farlig” Jensen, notably produced positive K/D ratios.
The winner of the series, Complexity, had only one player, Michael “Grim” Wince, reach a positive K/D, and the rest of the teammates did not produce a lot of frags.
Complexity will go up against HEET in their next fixture, who suffered a sweep at the hands of ENCE. HEET are heavy underdogs with their odds to win the game set at +117 on the top Esport betting sites. Astralis will take on Mouz and will look to secure their first win of the group stage of the ESL Pro League Season 16.
