Complexity Withdraw from IEM Katowice

The North American organization Complexity Gaming has announced that their CS:GO roster will not participate in the upcoming IEM Katowice 2022. Several members of the team have been tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the squad’s departure to Poland, thus the team will not be able to compete at the event.

Complexity were supposed to play in the tournament’s Play-In stage. Now they will be replaced by a Spanish team Movistar Riders, who are next in line after COL in ESL Pro Tour ranking. In their first match, which is scheduled for February 15th, 12:30 PM UK time, they will face the German team of BIG.

Complexity just recently acquired this roster, which mainly consists of former Extra Salt players. Since the signing, the roster competed at Funspark ULTI 2021 and BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022, showing disappointing results at both of them – there they finished 7-8th and 10-12th respectively. Their absence at the $1,000,000 IEM Katowice is yet another big blow for the organization.

For Movistar Riders the event will be a great opportunity to show themselves against the top teams, a relatively rare occasion for the team. Recently they finished 5-6th at ESL Challenger 48, while earlier last year managed to qualify for PGL Major Stockholm 2021, where placed 17-19th.

Complexity is not the first team to withdraw from IEM Katowice – earlier this month the Chinese team TYLOO announced that they were unable to attend the event due to COVID-19 restrictions. They were replaced by a European team Sprout. On top of that, several teams will compete with replacements – such as FaZe Clan and MOUZ.