Criticism has been rampant towards Counter-Strike 2 leading up to IEM Sydney, the first competitive tournament for the sequel. However, Complexity’s Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski is finding enjoyment in one of the game’s biggest additions—the implementation of smokes. In particular, EliGE appreciates the interaction between HE grenades and volumetric smokes, believing it adds complexity and strategic depth to the game’s meta. Despite the negative feedback, many players, including EliGE, are intrigued by how teams are approaching the metagame, with the changes to smokes taking center stage.
EliGE expressed his excitement for the innovative strategies that both his team and their opponents will develop as they become more familiar with the new mechanics. He believes that these smoke discoveries are just the beginning of something greater, as the competitive scene will go through its usual adaptation cycle. EliGE looks forward to witnessing teams come up with fresh strategies, only to have them dissected and countered by their opponents.
Prior to IEM Sydney, Complexity had already begun experimenting with various concepts utilizing the HE-smoke combo that EliGE finds so appealing. This tactic proved successful during their lower bracket run to the main stage. EliGE explained that HE’ing a smoke introduces new timings and strategies, forcing teams to adapt and account for these changes.
Complexity faced tough challenges in their lower bracket matches against Cloud9 and their rivals Monte, but their utilization of new smoke strategies caught their opponents off-guard. EliGE mentioned that Complexity had the advantage of studying their opponents’ demos, while their opponents had no information on their CS2 gameplay. With the introduction of different maps in CS2, Complexity had to adjust their strategies from CS:GO, rendering their previous approaches irrelevant.
Ultimately, Complexity emerged victorious against BetBoom, eliminating the Russian squad with a score of 13-3. They followed this up with back-to-back overtime wins against Monte, securing their spot on the main stage. Armed with their HE-smoke combos and a solid understanding of Inferno, Complexity is now ready to compete in the Aware Super Theater and strive for the tournament trophy.
Currently, Complexity is facing off against BetBoom at IEM Sydney today.
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Source: DOTESPORTS
