by Sören ‘Fantasy’ Vendsahm

Usually the Inn of Hearthstone opens its door for the fearless cardslingers to enter the battlegrounds for honor, glory and the prestige of winning a tournament. This weekend though, the Inn has a special event in store for the Hearthstone community, bringing smiles on the faces of several thousand kids worldwide. For the second time Kinguin is presenting it’s Charity Event, gathering funds and raising awareness for the Child’s Play initiative to support children in hospitals and domestic violence shelters all over the globe. As one of the most popular charities in the gaming community, the initiative has supported kid’s starting in the year 2003, raising over 33 million since then. This weekend the Hearthstone community can get involved in the race to the 40 million mark by supporting the stream, the organizers, the players and of course the charity directly.

16 of the most prolific Hearthstone players from North America and Europe followed the call of Kinguin to test their skills for the good cause. Of course some prize money is involved as well, as the card veterans fight for the lion’s share of $5,000 USD. For compLexity.Hearthstone David ‘Dog’ Caero will try to continue his positive streak from the last couple of weeks, in which he recorded positive results all around including second places at the ESL Legendary Series and Battle of the Best #2. For his first match he will have his hands full, meeting his friend and reigning World Champion Firebat from Team Archon.

Alongside those two representing North America, other top stars of the competitive scene will throw their hat and cards in the ring. Liquid sends their both standouts Savjz and Neirea, Archon backs up Firebat with Hosty and Amaz, Cloud 9 has Ek0p, Kolento and StrifeCro aiming for the title, as well as TempoStorm’s Gaara, Nihilum’s ThijsNL, Rdu and Lifecoach. Completing the list of top players to compete are Kaldi from fnatic, Powder from IHearthU and MaSsan from Team Solomid. With that much talent top notch Hearthstone should be coming your way the entire weekend. Dog’s debut at the Kinguin tournament is scheduled for 10 PM CET / 4 PM EST.

So tune in to twitch.tv/kinguin_net when Kinguin throws a big Hearthstone party at the local Inn – in the name of Charity. Guiding you through the matches and lending the event their voice are coL’s own Noxious and Liquid’s Monk. If you personally want to get involved beyond the support of being an observer of the stream and potential member of the Twitch chat, you can donate to the good cause here.

Additional Information

http://www.kinguin.net/blog/kinguin-for-charity-winter-edition-help/

by Sören ‘Fantasy’ Vendsahm

It took the Hearthstone scene a while to get back in shape and out of the holiday spirit. With most of the big tournaments, LAN events and competitions taking an extended break and planning their return for the later weeks of January, the ESL Legendary Series was the only thing going on for a while. Now this is about to change as the tournaments prepare to be stacked again.

Kicking things off this Monday is the HearthStats Challenger League. For the entire week the event will take center stage and grab the attention of the Hearthstone scene, as some of the best players in the world are fighting for their spot in the HearthStats Champions League. Until that goal is reached, 40 players have to grind their way through a grueling Swiss tournament for a spot in the Champions League qualifier.

For compLexity Gaming, talents are involved on both sides of the action. North American standout Dan ‘Alchemixt’ Walton will showcase his skill and talent on the table, while Kacem ‘Noxious’ Khilaji will talk the viewers through the plays alongside Lothar and Callum Leslie as his colleagues in the casting booth.

Alchemixt has his work cut out for him, as the NA star has to fight his way through known and unknown gems of the Hearthstone community for a return to the Champions League. Over the course of six days, the competition will rage on with a Swiss tournament slicing down the numbers from 40 to 24, until finally bringing it down to 16 to fill up the Champions League Qualification bracket. Along the way plenty of notable stars will join the journey, such as Hyped, Rdu, TiddlerCelestial, DTwo, ThijsNL, Faramir, Greensheep and Lifecoach. Right out of the gate Alchemixt will have to battle against Archon’s newest recruit XiXo, followed by a meeting with PsychoZA and Ryan. The first clash against the young German ladder star will not only kick off the tournament, but also the stream schedule. So tune in to twitch.tv/hearthstats to follow the action and support Alchemixt against XiXo.

Stream

Additional Info

http://league.hearthstats.net/

The compLexity Family would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Riley “Incontinentia” Unzelman as he turns 21 today!

Riley “Incontinentia” Unzelman is a resident of Arkansas and has played video-games at a competitive level since high-school. He took part in his first LAN at a University sponsored event for League of Legends, placing second. This competitive nature transferred over to his Smite career and he is now the captain of compLexity’s Smite team. Riley has had a presence in Smite esports for the past year, even switching roles from mid to support in order to further his team’s success. Known for securing kills, look for Riley to carry out of the support role.

Once again, we’d like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Riley “Incontinentia” Unzelman!

by Sören ‘Fantasy’ Vendsahm

New year, new luck. After a mediocre start for the compLexity organization, in which the program looked to be on the right path, but ended up just one game outside of every major LAN event, a fresh start begins. With the Dota 2 Asian Championships comes a huge opportunity to break the dry spell. The major event kicks off the new year with an impressive base prize pool of $250.000 USD and a compendium to  boost it above and beyond. The fanbase of Dota 2 came to the aid of the tournament, making it surpass the WCA 2014 for the largest and most lucrative event outside of The International. A stunning amount of $1,000,000 USD will be on the line with almost half of it going to the champions.

With that much on the line, the competition from all three regions of the Dota 2 world is on. North America, Europe, Asia are all trying to claim the coveted spots. 16 teams in total will go to the LAN event in China, scheduled to take place at the beginning of February. Until then, the eight open spots will be filled and coL.Dota is looking to use the energy of the new year to go East.

The competition in the entire tournament is top-notch and the North American qualifier is no different. compLexity will have to deal with Cloud 9, eHug and their rivals from Team Fire – adding another chapter to that ongoing slugfest for North American bragging rights. The grudge match will also start the action in the North American division in the Upper Bracket Semifinals. Swindle and his boys will have their hands full with the emerging team, that cost coL an opportunity to go to two LAN events in the past year. Starting this off with an act of revenge, claiming back some of the confidence would be vital for the squad.

Joining the battlefield next to Swindle, ZfreeK, Limmp and Moonmeander will be stand-in Biver, who had his debut with the team in the joinDota Masters last Friday already. With Waga still on vacation, the Swedish player will take over the responsibilities in the middle lane, which worked out in the first match already. With him in the mix, the squad will attempt to get past Fire, Cloud 9 and eHug to represent the black and red family on the first LAN event for the new coL.Dota initiative.

Support them and tune in to BeyondtheSummit at 10 PM CET / 4 PM EST / 1 PM PST and stay throughout the night as the Upper Bracket Finals and the first round of the Lower Bracket will also be played that day.

Stream

by Sören ‘Fantasy’ Vendsahm

After the long celebrations for Christmas and New Year the Inn of Hearthstone is back to invite the best players to the warm place at the fireside. ESL Legendary Series is the first one to host a tournament in 2015, extending the season of celebration for one of eight contestants. One of them is compLexity Gaming’s own SjoW, who earned his spot back on the program with a second place in the previous iteration of the cup. Only fellow Swedish countryman Darkwonyx stood between him and the direct ticket to the LAN Finals in Burbank, California – so now he is poised for the shot at redemption. Direct revenge can not occur though, since Wonyx punched his ticket already and so doesn’t need to compete for points anymore. So the three returning players from three continents are going to face three invited stars and two who fought their way through the Challenger cup for their moment to shine.

SjoW, TempoStorm’s newest member Magicamy and Zalae will have tough tasks at hand, if they want to make it to the Grand Finals and get the coveted direct spot for the Finals event. With Hyped two members of TempoStorm are set to compete, joining Root’s XiXo and TSM’s Trump as an invited player. Coming from the open bracket are FlyBird and Goobysenchou.

Once more the winner of this Week 6 showdown will get a secured spot in the Burbank Inn. The other three players to reach the Semifinals will get a chance to compete in Week 7 once more – a shot to make history. So far no one has made it to three appearances in the ESL Legendary Series.

Whatever happens, make sure to tune in to esltv_hearthstone to see the Week 6 action unfold as Gul’Dan, Garrosh and Co. take the table guided by eigth of the best cardslingers in the game.

The matches begin at 1PM EST!

Stream

On behalf of the compLexity Gaming family, we’d like to wish our very own Samuel “Midday” He a Happy Birthday as he turns 20 today.

Samuel “Midday” He is a Canadian/Chinese Grandmaster Zerg, and is a graduate of the compLexity Gaming Academy. He is a consistent top contender in Canadian tournaments and LANs, and has been featured on CTV’s Gamer’s Den.

Once again we’d like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Midday!

On behalf of the compLexity Gaming family, we’d like to wish our very own Jeffrey “SjoW” Brusi a Happy Birthday as he turns 28 today.

Coming to you from Sweden, SjoW has made a name for himself in StarCraft 2 before Hearthstone came out. The Terran player was known across the world as a fierce and calculating competitor. In his time he had many good showings, like a great run through the DreamHack Summer of 2013 on his home turf. After his StarCraft 2 career ran it’s course, SjoW decided to exchange Marines, Tanks, and SCVs for Grommash, Gorehowl, and Ragnaros. The transition to a card game wasn’t too hard for him, as the Swede has a background in other popular TCG titles like Magic: The Gathering. With that knowledge and an easy learning curve, he quickly became one of the top ladder players and top streamers on Twitch. Just last season he held the #1 Legendary spot in North America and Europe for a while, a feat not many Hearthstone players have accomplished thus far.

Once again we’d like to wish a very Happy Birthday to SjoW!

by Sören ‘Fantasy’ Vendsahm

For the first time in the history of the young coL.Hearthstone squad, all four members are on active duty this weekend. In one of the busiest weekends in Hearthstone’s history – three different online competitions are taking place – the red and black brand will be present in all three of them.

Starting off the events is David ‘Dog’ Caero, who will try to improve on his second place finish last weekend. This time he won’t compete in the ESL Legendary Series though, but rather take his talents to the second edition of the Battle of the Best event. Originally the event was scheduled to take place right after DreamHack Winter, but the organizers pushed it back and acquired a star-studded field once more. Not only will IHU’s own Dtwo try to defend his title, but also featured will be the two Ukrainian superstars Kolento and Neirea, as well as Archon’s own Hosty and DreamHack Bucharest Champion Gaara. Dog will have his hands full with these competitions, as he also faces the tough task of going up against the DreamHack Winter 2014 Champion Kolento to start his run.

The tournament will have one compLexity Gaming star on the field and one in the booth as Noxious is lending his voice to the tournament in order to cast the event. He and Lothar will take over that duty, trying to bring you the best insight of what’s going on in the virtual card game. Follow Dog tonight at battleofthebest as the entirety of the Winner Bracket will be played, with the Lower Bracket and the Grand Finals being scheduled for Saturday.

From this two-day event to a possible three-day event in Tavern Takeover. The community beloved series established big production value in it’s first two editions and boasted caster Admirable to a complete fan favorite. All those ingredients are not changed in the third edition that is once more filled with all the stars and a tasty prize pool of $3.000 USD. That nice little christmas purse is well in Dan ‘Alchemixt’ Dalton’s sights, who will step into the Tavern for compLexity Gaming. After his appearance in the ESL Legendary Series Week 1, this will be the second official outing for the newest member of the coL.HS roster. In his way are all the big names competitive Hearthstone has to offer with XiXo, Faramir, ek0p, Kolento, StrifeCro and Neirea all making their presence felt in this one. The opening bout against Spanish player and SeatStory Cup #2 revelation PiniAwesome is scheduled for 3 PM EST / 9 PM CET and will be once more brought to you by the PVP Live crew on production plus Azael and Admirable manning the casting booth. To follow that spectacle head over to pvplive.

Last but not least, the Warrior king himself Jeffrey ‘SjoW’ Brusi will also be in action this weekend, bringing his armor to the ESL playground. As the fourth and final member to compete in the ESL circuit, SjoW has his sights set on the first direct invite to the LAN finals in Burbank, California – a prize handed out this week for the first time. Before that the winner would “only” receive valuable points and a re-invite to the next event, now the stakes are even higher. The winner and only the winner will automatically be able to plan his trip to California where $20.000 USD will be up for grabs. Grommash’s favorite son will try to punch that ticket straight away, giving him enough time to defend his ladder #1 ladder spot on EU and NA, without worrying over standings. To follow that event make sure to tune into esl_hearthstone on Saturday evening starting at 7 PM CET – casted once more by Frodan and Azmoqt.

 

This weekend compLexity Gaming’s cardslinger David ‘Dog’ Caero is back in action. Ever since the DreamHack Winter 2014 journey, the American has been on a short break from the tournament scene to focus on studies. Now the finals are in the books, so the popular player returns to an explosively changed Inn to compete.

This time it is the ESL Legendary Series Week 4, as the third compLexity Gaming player to enter that competition. Thus far the track record of the team isn’t as great with Alchemixt and Noxious losing in the Quarterfinals, both with 3-1 against their opposition. Now it’s Dog’s turn to enter the stacked tournament and try to achieve greatness and earn valuable points towards the Grand Finals event hosted in Burbank, California.

Trying to block the popular streamer from achieving his goals is a stacked array of known professionals from North America and Europe. Alongside Dog three other DreamHack Winter 2014 veterans got the invite with Team Liquid’s newest member Neirea, IHU’s own Powder and Forsen himself. For North America, Backspace will get the nod, this being his first tournament as an official member of Team Archon. This totals an invite count of five, which is unusual, but became necessary after Week 3 runner-up Brian Kibler had to decline his return due to an important MtG event in Las Vegas, Nevada. So only SilentStorm, the winner of Week 3, will have any experience with the format, while the two Challenger player Fr0zen and Weifu gathered momentum through the open tournament.

So gather round and support Dog, when he goes into the competition poised to validate his great impression he left by eliminating TidesofTime, Savjz and Reynad in Sweden. Raise your FrankerZ’s on http://www.twitch.tv/esltv_hearthstone today at 10 PM CET / 4 PM EST.

More Info

Official Website

Today compLexity is announcing changes to our League of Legends division. With the Expansion Tournament quickly approaching its conclusion, we are making preparations for the 2015 Season. The highly competitive nature of LoL eSports means setbacks are inevitable, but we are committed to maintaining a presence in the thriving League of Legends community, and are in the process of building a team for the 2015 Challenger Series. In addition, we have been working with all of our players to ensure they are moving in the direction of their choosing, whether that be in or out of LoL eSports.

Looking forward our 2015 Challenger Series roster will be centered around the core of compLexity White – Goldenglue, Impactful (MabreyBABY), and Lohpally. These talented, young players are among the most recent additions to the compLexity Family, but we have faith that with continued growth they will be able to compete with the best that North America has to offer. Tryouts for the top and jungle positions are ongoing.

Our remaining personnel will be moving in separate directions in accordance with each of their goals and desires for the immediate and long-term future.

Robert ‘ROBERTxLEE’ Lee – Following nearly three years of competition, Robert will be retiring from LoL eSports to pursue his goals as a full-time entertainer. With his entertaining personality, and propensity for appearing at the top of /r/LeagueofLegends, Robert will be topping the Twitch charts in no time!

Neil ‘pr0lly’ Hammad –  Following his participation in the Expansion Tournament, Neil requested to be released from his contract to pursue other options in LoL eSports. While we are sad to see him go, we are sure that Neil will find success as either a player or a coach.

Jonathan ‘Westrice’ Nguyen – Though he will be stepping back from competition for now, West will remain part of compLexity in a roll as a full-time streamer. For the time being West will also be subbing as a top laner for the new compLexity Challenger roster.

Royce ‘Bubbadub’ Newcomb – After achieving one of his dreams and playing in the LCS, Royce is returning to the ‘real world.’ We’re extremely proud to have been a part of something so special as Bubba’s story, and hope that it inspired fans as much as it inspired us.

Kevin ‘Kez’ Jeon – Going into the Expansion Tournament, Kez had decided that it was likely his last shot at continuing as a professional League player. Looking forward Kevin will be retiring from competition, and allocating some of that time to planning his wedding! We wish the  best of luck to both Kevin and his bride-to-be.

While we are sad to say goodbye to our friends, we hope that they find success in each of their individual paths. We’re proud to call each of you part of the compLexity Family.

For compLexity League of Legends, it has been a memorable year. A story of triumph in the face of less than favorable odds, of adversity overcome by sheer force of will, and blue shells followed by more blue shells. We look forward to creating more memories in the year to come.

compLexity League of Legends

• Greyson ‘Goldenglue’ Gilmer
• Josh ‘MabreyBABY’ Mabrey
• Derek ‘Lohpally’ Abrams