Cloud9 have secured a win in their opening series of the Roobet Cup, claiming a win over Complexity to kick off their GSL group with a victory and set up a match against the winner of Astralis versus Movistar Riders for a spot in the playoffs.

Complexity had Cloud9 on the backfoot early on in the series, leading on their own pick of Inferno and nearly closing out the map to take the lead. Cloud9 didn’t capitulate though and battled into overtime, where they managed to claim victory before easing through Dust2 to end the series in swift fashion.

The loss continues a dismal streak of results for Complexity, who have won just one of their last eight matchups, a narrow best-of-one victory over IHC at the Antwerp Major. Paytyn “⁠junior⁠” Johnson remains a pain point for the team as, despite wielding the primary AWP, he sits at the bottom of the pack recording a 0.79 rating in this series, the second-lowest above only in-game leader Johnny “⁠JT⁠” Theodosiou.

A pistol round win from Cloud9 to kick off Inferno was quickly responded to by the North American side, who won a force buy and converted the momentum of the victory into a 5-1 lead. Cloud9 stabilized and managed to respond thanks in part to a stellar showing from Dmitry “⁠sh1ro⁠” Sokolov, who helped his side keep themselves in the map and reduced the deficit to just a single round by halftime.

After the side swap, Complexity looked as if they would be able to close out their map in comfortable fashion, winning the pistol and keeping Cloud9 at bay en route to a13-8 lead. Even after suffering an upset loss to pistols, JT and company didn’t seem fazed, responding with a round win of their own to maintain control.

However, Cloud9 were unrelenting and continued to batter the Complexity defenses, with the North American side making it to match point only for the map to head to overtime, where Cloud9 reigned supreme with a flawless T-side to quickly secure victory.

Following the crushing loss, Complexity looked out of sorts on Dust2, unable to muster much of an opposition against the power duo of Abay “⁠HObbit⁠” Khasenov and sh1ro. The IEM Dallas victors were up 7-2 before there was an effort to fight back from Complexity, who managed to put up five rounds by the break but ultimately were unable to get much going in the second half, with Cloud9 not letting the win escape their grasp as they closed Dust2 out 16-7.