Grim and Complexity are loving life on Train as they continue their IEM Melb. lower bracket charge.
Michael "Grim" Wince and Complexity have bounced back from their day one defeat to keep the lower bracket run alive at IEM Melbourne. The 2-0 (13-2, 13-6) win over paiN came with the biggest win for a team at the tournament so far on the Train opener, and with it, Complexity racked up their 10th straight victory on the map.
It's been a low-key rise to dominance on Train for the North American squad, who have beaten the likes of FURIA, Falcons, and Aurora on the map. For Grim, who esports.gg caught up with after the win, he credits captain Johnny "JT" Theodosiou as the chief reason why Complexity have dominated on Train.
Grim on Complexity's Train streak: "We all just love T-side Train!"
An early day wrapped up with today’s win over paiN. Talk me through the series and your approach to the match especially when there’s the unique factor of a stand-in against you.
"I mean honestly we expected to win just because they have a coach subbing in for arguably their most important player and IGL in biguzera.
"They're at a big disadvantage so I kind of expected the game to go how it was today. We can't treat anything lightly in the lower bracket, and we’ve just got to continue the momentum for tomorrow's game."
You guys are on an absolute tear on Train. That's 10 wins in a row on the map, and your only loss came in overtime in your map debut against a hot Eternal Fire way back in January. You guys are really enjoying the map. Talk me through how you've gone about adding Train to the pool.
"One of our strengths is that Complexity has historically always been a strong starter of new things. When Vertigo came out again, we were like the best team on it for a while. We wanted to mirror this for Train, and a lot of that comes out thanks to JT.
"I think JT does a lot of really smart, innovative work whenever a new map releases, but particularly Train. We like playing the new maps because we get a head start on all the other teams if they're not playing it as well.
"Sure, a lot of it comes down to JT, but honestly I think that we're all just feeling really good on Train and it's definitely a strong map for us right now."
How have you found the map develop over time? We saw when it first launched how far those forward spawns were up for T where they often beat half the CT’s out onto Yard and A. How have you felt the map has kind of changed and developed
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"I'd say when the first time I played the map, I was like “this map sucks!” I thought it was so T-sided because we kept getting zero rounds on CT in scrims, but I think it just comes down to getting more reps, getting more time with the map, and as the meta develops, it gets a lot easier to understand.
"I'd say right now I feel like it's kind of mixed. I don't know if it's CT or T-sided, honestly. At least for us, we're really good on both sides, so for us it doesn't matter. I'd say a lot of smokes out of spawn have been developed over the past few months. I think those are creating the meta a lot, like a lot of site fakes and stuff like that. I personally prefer the T-side of the map."
You guys are currently at over 58% win rate on the T-side of Train, while the average squad wins just 46% of rounds on that side. Is that a testament to your effort on practicing and playing the map, or does it say more about your successful T-sides as a whole right now?
"It’s little to do with Train. I feel our T-sides on every map right now are just really, really good and it comes out a lot of just how well we're playing our T-side together and also JT's calling. We're a T-side team for sure, but the map doesn’t play into it too much — we all just love T-side Train!"
Elaborate a little on the addition of new maps and how you guys approach learning them. A lot of teams these days just perma-ban a new map for a month and work on it in the downtime before incorporating it into their pools, which gives you a bit of advantage, no?
"I'd say especially for a new map it comes down to just making your own ideas. I remember when Train came out, there were no matches on it for a while so we had to come up with our own stuff.
"When you scrim other teams, they might have a flash you might need for an idea you had that you can steal, or like a strat that you were thinking of and seeing how they execute it helps, then you can use that stuff to make your own strats.
"When it comes down to new maps we watch a lot of demos, even if it’s a team that isn’t really good or one we might not respect. We just watch it and see what they’re doing, because they can have new ideas we haven’t thought of yet. It all comes back to JT again, he’s really smart about that stuff and our work on studying a new map."
Again on the topic of new maps: when a Major rolls around, the idea of a new season pops up and with it a fresh map pool. Are you for the idea of a rotating map pool each Major cycle?
"I honestly wouldn’t mind. I like a rotating map pool because I feel like CS can get stale especially at the pro level. For a bit it feels like everyone's playing the same map, and the meta can only be developed so much.
"Mirage, our permaban: I feel like it's been played the same for so long now because it's been in the pool since CS basically came out, so I think new maps are good.
"A changing map pool keeps people on their toes and not just doing the same stuff over and over again. I'm definitely an advocate for new maps for sure. Just not immediately when they come out, I think a Vertigo change happened literally two days before IEM Dallas last year and that kind of screwed everyone. As long as there's a little break before it, I'm for it."
Grim and Complexity charge through to day three at IEM Melbourne where they'll have to win back-to-back best-of-three's to make the Rod Laver Arena stage. For more CS2 news stay tuned to esports.gg.
