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William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman's squad has been eliminated from the Polish LAN following back-to-back defeats in Group B.

Complexity are just one step away from potentially securing a spot in IEM Katowice 2023 playoffs after their 2-1 win over fnatic. The latest victory means the North Americans will challenge Outsiders later on Tuesday at 19:30 for the last available spot in the knockout stage.

Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou's men rode the lower bracket in the play-in to qualify for the group stage, and they are in a good position to repeat their feat in the event's second phase. Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli has so far excelled for the Noth Americans and currently boats a 1.26 rating in Poland, his highest LAN score with Complexity.

The Europeans also began their journey in the play-in and advanced with victories over Evil Geniuses and MIBR, which they followed up with a win over Outsiders in Group B. fnatic almost brought Vitality to their knees, but were unable to deal the finishing blow and where relegated to the lower bracket after a close 2-1 series.

Read more Vitality break Katowice curse and secure playoff spot over fnatic hallzerk crushed fnatic on Overpass with a 1.57 rating

Complexity blew fnatic out of the water in the first half of Inferno with an extremely aggressive T side. The North Americans pushed through smokes and forced the Europeans into uncomfortable fights, which Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley, hallzerk, and Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince seemingly won every time. The Canadian rifler, in particular, won several crucial duels for Complexity, which turned rounds in their favor and helped them secure a one-sided 12-3 scoreline before the break. mezii not only failed to adapt his team's defensive setups to the T aggression, he also struggled to find impact on the server and left the first half with a 0.41 rating.

JT and company claimed the second pistol round and extended their lead to 14-3 before fnatic were able to get on the board again. The European squad looked more focused on the T side and claimed five rounds on the bounce, but the deficit was too large to overcome. Complexity quickly shut down any hopes of a comeback with a dominant B site hold to close their map pick 16-8.

Vertigo began with a slow fnatic offensive, which only found sporadic success on the A bombsite. It took a while for the Europeans' T side to warm up, but they began to threaten Complexity's defenses with a three-round winning streak once they stabilized their economy. mezii was in much better form after the first map, and led the line for his team during their 9-6 offensive success while Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson found impact with several important frags and an ace in the twelfth round.

fnatic stole the second pistol round of the map thanks to a Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen triple on the B site retake, and despite a short resurgence from Complexity following a force buy, the European squad cruised to a 16-9 victory. Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi had a fantastic CT side with a 1.66 rating, which was followed by mezii's 1.64 score.

Complexity bounced back immediately on Overpass and truly dominated fnatic from the first round. FaNg powered the North Americans to an early 6-1 lead as mezii and his squad seemed lost on the T side, especially as FASHR struggled to find impact. The rest of the half was then taken over by hallzerk and Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery as the duo bullied fnatic all the way to a 12-3 half.

The Europeans' situation only worsened after the break as Complexity doubled down in pistol rounds on the map before sailing unchallenged through their T side. fnatic's could only watch as FaNg and Grim tore through their defense to close the map 16-3 and the series 2-1.

IEM Katowice 2023Best of 3 fnaticMatchpage 1 2 7th February 2023 Complexity 8Inferno 16 16Vertigo 9 3Overpass 16

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidinicoodoz	47 - 38	+9	73.2	1.17
William 'mezii' Merrimanmezii	49 - 47	+2	81.5	1.11
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	45 - 47	-2	75.5	1.07
Fredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenroeJ	46 - 46	0	68.6	1.00
Dion 'FASHR' DerksenFASHR	32 - 51	-19	61.5	0.79

Complexity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	50 - 40	+10	80.6	1.18
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærlihallzerk	48 - 38	+10	77.7	1.14
Justin 'FaNg' CoakleyFaNg	46 - 42	+4	74.8	1.13
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	42 - 51	-9	73.6	1.01
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	39 - 49	-10	59.9	0.82

fnatic #11 William 'mezii' MerrimanFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' Jørgensen Jamie 'keita' Hall Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 807 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.61 Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Age: 28 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1858 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.64 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 838 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Ricky 'floppy' Kemery Age: 23 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 905 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.66 Michael 'Grim' Wince Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 987 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 Evil Geniuses #23 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJerric 'wiz' JiangJadan 'HexT' Postma Daniel 'Vorborg' Vorborg Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Age: 23 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 1153 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.68 Outsiders #5 Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliAleksandr 'KaiR0N-' AnashkinPetr 'fame' Bolyshev Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev Vitality #7 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Dion 'FASHR' Derksen Age: 27 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 811 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.68 MIBR #25 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesRaphael 'exit' LacerdaMatheus 'Tuurtle' AnhaiaBreno 'brnz4n' PolettoFelipe 'insani' Yuji Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima Complexity #18 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliMichael 'Grim' WinceJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Justin 'FaNg' Coakley Age: 20 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 743 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 William 'mezii' Merriman Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 602 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone