FaZe and Complexity to face off in the IEM Sydney Grand Finals

FaZe Clan and Complexity have won their respective semifinal matches to set up a spectacular Grand Finals. The IEM Sydney audience is in for a treat after watching Complexity march their way through the playoffs to the finals. Here’s all you need to know about the two teams’ journey through the event.

IEM Sydney 2023 is a $250,000 CS2 event and has some of the best teams in action down under. The tournament started with 16  teams and is now down to the final two. 

FaZe Clan didn’t have a perfect start to the event. They lost in overtime to GamerLegion, a bo1 loss that sent them down to the lower bracket of the group stage. AT risk of a potential elimination frmo the event, the team had to pull out all stops to ensure they were able to make it to the playoffs. With victories over Vitality and NAVI, they went up against GamerLEgion, the team of their first defeat. The 2-1 victory over GamerLegion was sort of a redemption arc for FaZe Clan.

The team remains undefeated in the playoffs, after a 2-0 victory over ENCE and against MOUZ. The 2-0 MOUZ victory was particularly impressive considering MOUZ are on a roll recently. With MOUZ failing to reach ten rounds on each of the two maps, it was pretty obvious that FaZe Clan’s performance was too dominant for MOUZ.

Ropz ended the first map with 19 frags to his name, followed by broky at 15. The FaZe roster was extremely aggressive on the T-side, never allowing MOUZ to settle down and find their groove. A 116.4 ADR is difficult to compete against and MOUZ folded against FaZe with just four rounds to their name.

The team had a significantly better performance on Vertigo, falling short by four rounds. However, for the most part, MOUZ were unable to handle the FaZe aggression on T-side, although they did try to counter it with some aggression of their own.

With a team roster as it has, IEM Sydney fans did not probably expect Complexity to make it to the Grand Finals. But Complexity has repeatedly proven critics wrong and has found its way through to the Grand Finals.

Complexity has had a bit of luck in addition to some excellent raw skill and firepower. After falling to G2 in the group stage, they had to face off against Cloud9 and then Team Monte. With both of their opponents not up to mark, Complexity secured the playoffs spot. 

While their group-stage performance could have been attributed to their relatively out-of-form opponents, the team stepped up in the playoffs. Their first series saw them go up against BetBoom esports where they had a strong performance. They limited BetBoom to six rounds and then eleven in the second map. 

The next match was always going to be the important one as it was against G2 esports. Complexity picked Anubis, one of their more comfortable maps. Monesy stepped up for G2 esports with 21 frags to his name. With the new MR12 format, mONESY’s 21 frags were extremely impressive.

However, Complexity’s JT and Floppy were also brewing a part of their own. The duo was able to wreak havoc on multiple areas of the map often putting G2 short of resources and time. Ultimately, G2’s economy was simply not enough to ensure they have the necessary firepower and sometimes, armor to win the rounds on a more comfortable basis.

Any momentum G2 had vanished completely through the second map. They managed just three rounds on Ancient. 

With the two teams clashing in the upcoming Grand Final, it is going to be an exciting series for the fans. IEM Sydney is the first tier 1 event featuring CS2. While there has been some valid criticism of the new game mode, it is also an opportunity for teams to etch their name in history. 

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