coldzera on Complexity and other offers: "I'm going to wait and see until the end of the year"

In an interview ahead of BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David discussed joining Complexity, role clashes in the team, and missing out on a spot at PGL Major Stockholm.

coldzera joined Complexity at the beginning of September, which marked an end to a three-month stint on FaZe's bench for the Brazilian star after he decided to step down and look for options elsewhere, replacing the injured Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke on the active roster.

Now, coldzera is heading into his third tournament with the Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer-led side at BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, hoping for a good result after the first two didn't go Complexity's way, as the team finished third in their BLAST group and exited IEM Fall Europe with just one win in five matches, missing out on a spot at PGL Major Stockholm.

In an interview ahead of the second stage of the BLAST Fall season, HLTV.org spoke to coldzera about his motivations to join Complexity and to find out how his future with the team looks now, after k0nfig officially cut ties with the organization amid reports of his move to Astralis.

The 26-year-old Brazilian also commented on missing out on a spot at the Major for the second consecutive time and spoke about the atmosphere among his new teammates following the difficult period they have been through in recent times, having to deal with constant roster issues.

You had been out of action for a while and you'd been dropping hints of joining a team leading up to the Complexity signing. Tell me about what drew you to them in the end and why you said yes.

I had a lot of teams, especially Brazilian teams, trying to speak with me to join them, but at the same time I wanted to try to play with Luis [peacemaker]. Since last year, at the end of last year, I was speaking a little bit with Luis to make something together, so I wanted to test and play with him a little bit. I think it was the option that I joined Complexity was because of Luis, for sure.

Why Luis, then, what made you want to work with him?

Luis is a pretty good coach. He's really smart, the way he deals with the players and teams is really smart as well. He's going to make sure everyone's going to be on point, everyone is feeling good playing, and he's a good coach. I like the way he analyzes demos as well, the way he coaches inside the games at the tournament or in practice. He makes sure everyone's going to give 100%, so that's why I chose him.

Have you had experience with him in the past?

I didn't, but I saw from behind the scenes because he was in one house, we were in another house, so I saw the way he was dealing with everything. In the past, it was a little bit stressed, a little bit harder (laughs), but I think he learned and grew as a better coach. From what I heard from him when he was in MAD Lions and when he was coaching Complexity at the beginning, I heard a lot of good things from him and I knew the way he works. My decision was interesting because of this. I wanted to try out Luis because I knew he would use me at my 100%.

The initial reaction to you joining Complexity was quite mixed. A lot of people pointed out the issue of role clashes between you, blameF, and jks, and that was a theme that kept being discussed as the team began to play. Was that a concern when you joined? How difficult was that to solve and how did it affect your role?

When I joined, Luis told me I would go to entry, and I was totally fine with that. That's what we've been trying out from the beginning, but for you to change your role takes a little bit of time, it's not like you're just going to go there and play your best game. We were trying out so many things for me to run first, and in the beginning there was a period of time that I needed to be able to adjust myself to do this kind of stuff. I don't have any problems with doing that. And towards the CT side, it was pretty fine. The role that k0nfig was playing was the same role that I was playing in every position on the map except Overpass and Ancient, because I had never played Ancient. At the end, I just changed my roles on the T side, and I like it as well, to go first, so that's pretty good and I feel comfortable. Right now, I think in this last LAN we played I did pretty well in my role, so I just need more time to be used to it and be able to do this at 100%.

How come you were comfortable with that? It's not necessarily a position that you had played before.

I want to try out different stuff. Since I joined FaZe I was feeling like it was the only role I didn't like to play. The anchor on the site is what I don't like to play too much because I cannot be active. But when you're an entry, you can do different stuff, it's not an entry just in strats, it's the first contact, the guy who's making plays, the guy who's going first and just trying to create space for the team. I'm pretty good in doing that, I'm a really smart player, so I know what I need to do. This fits me really well, way better than it fit on FaZe. On FaZe I was just sitting in a position, not having so much impact as an anchor, and I was anchoring on the CT side as well, so that's one thing I don't like either. I lose all my potential doing that. So I liked it when Luis came to me with this idea.

People saw it as a positive factor that Complexity would be getting a secondary voice in the team, because you've been known as that in your previous teams and as having a big voice. Have you been able to evolve into that role with Complexity too and give your input?

Most of the things I give input in is outside of the game, outside of the server, when we're not playing a tournament, for example. I always give good ideas, I always create good things as well, so I always say what we could do different or what we can add in the team. We are flexible in the team, everyone can say whatever they want for them to feel comfortable. We have a good mix, I don't think it's just me who is talking. blameF is the in-game leader, Luis has great ideas, jks as well, and poizon and es3tag as well, so we can mix it up together and create good things together.

The results haven't been great at BLAST and at IEM Fall. How did the team evolve during those first two tournaments and how did those results compare to your expectations?

The first tournament was BLAST and we did pretty well in the first match, and in the second match against NAVI, I think we had a great chance to beat them. But in the second match against FaZe it was a little tough. We weren't so comfortable and we didn't know our map pool. We practiced a lot of Mirage and Ancient because we knew both could be map picks for them, but at the same time we weren't so comfortable on Mirage back then, so it was kinda hard to choose between these two maps that were two of the best maps for them.

We adapted a lot of things during the first tournament, but in the second tournament we were a bit sloppy in the first three games. The first game we played Nuke, we had a good result, 13-11, and we let it slip through our hands, and the second game was fine. The third game, we did the same thing. I think it was a little bit of pressure to qualify for the Major and people were a little bit stressed to make it through. Results-wise of course it's hard not to be at the Major, but at the same time these results make us stronger, they make people start thinking more, trying not to feel the pressure, to work harder. At the end, not qualifying will make us better, for sure. Of course we wanted to be there, but we saw the team in different ways how we could do better at the next tournaments.

How difficult was it for you to miss out on a spot at the Major? It's been a while for everyone, but for you especially, as you also missed out on the StarLadder Major two years ago. How big of a disappointment was that?

To be honest, every tournament is a tournament for me. It doesn't matter if it's the Major or a DreamHack, StarLadder, for me it's just one more tournament. Of course I wanted to be at the Major, of course it's hard not to be sad not making it to the Major, but at the same time it's just a tournament. If we didn't go through, it's because we didn't deserve to be through. We didn't deserve to be there. The only thing we can do is to be better and better for the next tournaments.

This k0nfig situation and you coming in has been a continuation of Complexity's constant roster issues, having to field stand-ins on and off for such a long time. How has the atmosphere in the team been now that results haven't looked up to what the team was perhaps hoping for?

I think it has burned out the team a little bit. It's really hard, I had that happen in the past as well. It's really hard when you get a player, this player leaves, you get another player and this player leaves, and you get another player and this player leaves. You always need to give all the strats to new players, so the team starts to burn out a little bit. Everyone is doing everything again because of one player. This is hard sometimes, even for the in-game leader, he starts to get burned out because he needs to speak a lot during these times to give everything to the new players every time. I think they were a little bit burned out when I came because of that, and it was hard because they also lost one of their best players in k0nfig. He had a hard role in the team, the entry role, and they were playing around him, so I think because of that they shut down and at the same time they got burned out because they kept changing players all the time.

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k0nfig parts ways with Complexity amid reports of Astralis move

When you came into the team it was said that you'd be staying with Complexity until at least the end of the Major. How does your future with them look now? Now that k0nfig has officially left, is a permanent spot on the table?

Of course. If it works out I think they want to try to keep me. But at the same time, I'm just going to see at the end of the year if they like it or if they don't like it, because I already have new things. People are still talking with me if I want to join them, and even after the Major maybe there will be many roster changes. I still want to give a chance to Complexity, I've been enjoying playing with them, they are super nice guys and they work really hard. I'm just going to wait and see until the end of the year.

As you're heading into the BLAST Showdown now, how important is it for you to do well there after you've missed out on the Major and won't have much else to play until after that?

It's really important to be at BLAST. I think we have four tournaments, one we don't know if we're going to go through is the BLAST Final, the second one is IEM Winter, where we'll have to qualify I think next week, we have one DreamHack to play, and we have the BLAST Showdown. So of course it's going to be really important, especially because we didn't qualify for the Major. We're giving all that we can to play well at this tournament and qualify for the Finals.

How do you see your chances among a few other big names in there like Heroic and OG, who will be on your side of the bracket?

I think they're fine. If we just keep playing what we are playing in practice and don't feel so much pressure, I think we're going to do well. It's just up to us to be playing our game and not just be overthinking too much or putting so much pressure in our heads to be like 'oh, we need to qualify, we need to qualify.' It's up to us to deal with it. CS is about the mind, so if you feel pressure or if you feel uncomfortable playing and you think you're going to lose, you're going to lose. But if you enjoy it and have fun and just play your game, do whatever you do in practice, you're going to win.

Complexity's campaign in BLAST Premier Fall Showdown begins on Tuesday, with the team facing MIBR first in the single-elimination bracket at 18:30 . To qualify for the BLAST Fall Final taking place in Copenhagen's Royal Arena at the end of November, coldzera and company will be eyeing a top-two finish at the Showdown, where their side of the bracket features two big names in Heroic and OG.