Complexity eliminate Imperial from EPL after marathon series

Complexity fight on in the last-chance bracket, requiring two more victories to qualify for the playoffs.

ESL Pro League Season 17's penultimate day of Group B began with Complexity eliminating Imperial from the tournament after a 2-1 victory. The Brazilians started the series with an electrifying performance on Inferno (16-1) before Complexity came back on Ancient (16-14). The decider was Overpass, where the North Americans needed triple overtime and a timely Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou 1v4 clutch to close out the map, 25-23.

The game was a rematch of their battle at the IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMR in October when Complexity suffered a gut-wrenching overtime loss on the same decider, Overpass, to miss out on a spot at the Rio Major. This time around, the North Americans claimed vindication after an overtime win of their own and condemned the Brazilians to a last-place exit.

Complexity now move on to the 6th-7th place decider game against the loser of the match between FURIA and BIG, which will be played on Sunday at 12:30 .

Complexity started Inferno with an aggressive play down Middle that failed to work out, losing them the pistol and following conversion rounds. That round set the tone for the entire half as Imperial dominated their opponents, winning an incredible twelve rounds in a row before the North Americans posted their first. That was all they got, however, as Jhonatan "⁠JOTA⁠" Willian and Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo converted a 2vs3 post-plant situation to get them back to winning ways and set the half-time score at 14-1. A second-half pistol loss condemned Complexity to an embarrassing 1-16 loss and moved the series to their map pick of Ancient.

Ancient began with more worrying signs for the NA squad as they allowed Imperial to pull off a 2vs3 retake in the pistol round, giving them the head start once again. Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince, who had an abysmal first map, got Complexity back into the game with a clutch against ex-teammate FalleN, but his team still found themselves 2-6 down. That was when Complexity finally woke up in the series and started playing at their usual level, winning five in a row to take their first lead of the series and going into their defensive half one round ahead.

Complexity took their momentum into the second half, streaking four rounds in a row to start their defense. FalleN then found a quad-kill on the AWP to post his team's first round of the half, which disrupted Complexity and allowed the Brazilians to tie up the scores at 13-13. The North Americans played a much more proactive CT side than against Movistar Riders, where they lost the map after an 11-4 T half. That proactiveness allowed them to make some correct reads and reach 15, giving themselves two map points. They dropped the first before Grim's Famas found three kills on the A defense closed out the map 16-14 and moved the series onto the decider.

Overpass was the third map, the same map that Imperial beat Complexity in double overtime to eliminate them from the Americas RMR in October. Complexity started strong with a rush in the pistol before the team engaged in a back-and-forth affair for the remainder of the half. Imperial tied up the scores at 5-5 after getting their economy under control, and the scrappy nature of the game continued. Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli put his team in pole position to win the half after winning a 1vs1 against fellow AWPer FalleN, breaking Imperial's money in the process. Complexity finished the half with a three-round streak to go into the second half ahead by the slimmest of margins, 8-7.

hallzerk secured the second pistol round for his team with a Dual Beretta triple, allowing Complexity to extend their lead to 11-7. Imperial made the most of their experience to put together a six-round streak and retook the lead after some wonderful calling by FalleN. Complexity came back into the game but Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass stopped them with a 1vs2 clutch, something that gave the Brazilians two match points that they weren't able to capitalize on.

The match then reached overtime, and the teams needed three overtimes to be separated after some astonishingly close rounds that came down to clutches, the biggest being a JT 1v4 that forced the game to reach the second overtime, one heartbreaking AWP tag, and more individual brilliance. In the final OT, Complexity won a 2vs5 to reach match point and they made the most out of the chance, closing out the map 25-23 to keep themselves alive in the tournament.