Today compLexity is happy to announce our plans for the upcoming 2015 Season Expansion Tournament. After exploring all available options we arrived at one that allows all of our players a chance at qualifying for the NA LCS. Introducing the two halves of a whole – coL.Black and coL.White.

We previously announced the movement of pr0lly and ROBERTxLEE to our reserve roster, and we are now excited to move them back to starting positions on coL.Black. Additionally Bubbadub opted to join his former carry and mid, giving the squad the players necessary to fulfill the 3/5 requirement, and claim their pre-qualified position. Filling positions in the jungle and top lane are former XDG players Xmithie and I KeNNy u. The coL.Black roster assumes the compLexity pre-qualified spot, a first round bye, and the #1 overall seed for the Expansion Tournament. coL.Black’s first appearance will be the weekend of November 22nd.

Qualifying through Ranked 5s is the “new team” of coL.White. Formed around the solid and experienced LCS Veterans Kez and Westrice, the team also features the incredible potential of GoldenGlue in the middle lane. Joining his former coL.Red teammate on ADC is Impactful, and rounding out the roster is former LoLPro support Lohpally. The team already displayed their skill in a grind through the Ranked 5s ladder, finishing in 5th place. coL.White will take the 7th overall seed for the Expansion Tournament, and plays their first match the weekend of November 15th.

Please join us in welcoming the teams and players both new and old. We look forward to their upcoming matches and wish them the best of luck on the Rift!

coL.Black

• I KeNNy u
• Xmithie
• pr0lly
• Bubbadub
• ROBERTxLEE

coL.White

• Westrice
• Kez
• Goldenglue
• Impactful
• Lohpally

Today we are sad to announce a change in the coL.Dota roster, as Andrew ‘Riser’ Bronze steps down from his position as a starting support. Riser has been a critical piece of the coL.Dota roster since it’s inception, but chronic pain stemming from a back injury now requires that he limit his time at a computer. As an organization, we will always prioritize the well being of our players, and as such we immediately took steps to get Andrew home and into the hands of medical professionals. Riser will remain part of the compLexity Family and the coL.Dota team, helping his teammates with analysis, as well as contributing to the editorial section of our website. We hope that you will join us in wishing Andrew a speedy recovery from his injury.

Filling in for Riser will be Daniel ‘BloodyNine’ Foster, who arrived at the coL.Dota LA Bootcamp on Sunday. As a former HoN player, BloodyNine (a.k.a. WorstAtHoN) is a familiar face to many coL.Dota fans, and as a former teammate of MoonMeander’s he is a solid fit for the squad. BloodyNine will play a support position within the team, and you can see his first performance later today at 3PM EST | 2100 CET during coL vs C9 in the DreamLeague North American Division.

We thank you for your continuing support, and remind you to take care of your health. Just because we are gamers does not mean we are not exposed to potential injury. Prevention of these injuries is the best way to avoid serious complication. We encourage you to perform daily stretches to protect yourselves from common injuries to your neck, back, arms, and hands.

Here are some possible techniques to consider if you are experiencing similar pain or symptoms:

 

Today compLexity Gaming is proud to announce the opening of a new division, and the acquisition of a new team – coL.SMITE! The popular third person action MOBA has recently seen huge growth as an eSport, and we’re excited to get involved as the SMITE World Championships approaches. To give us the best shot of being at the World Championships, we have acquired an established and highly competitive roster, the players formerly known as Snipe Gaming.

Over the past year, Snipe has been a team at the forefront of North American SMITE. With multiple top 3 finishes in online events, and a recent 3/4th LAN finish at the SMITE Pro League kickoff event, the squad has the experience needed to succeed as championship contenders. Just as important, Snipe remained consistent throughout the recent SMITE Pro League, finishing in 3rd place with an important win over Dignitas in the final week of the event. With momentum in their favor, the squad is a favorite to place in the top two of the upcoming NA Regionals, and earn a berth to the massive SMITE World Championships featuring a prize pool of over 1.2 million dollars (USD).

“The guys from Snipe are their own unique beast; their passion for competition is matched only by a dedication to entertaining and educating the SMITE community.” said Kyle Bautista, General Manager of compLexity Gaming. “ I’m convinced this squad will be a great fit for compLexity, and I can’t wait to see them wearing our black and red at NA Regionals.”

coL.SMITE player Jeremy “coL.Jerbie” Branham had this to say. ”We’re happy to be provided an excellent opportunity by a tried and true team like compLexity, and look to step up our gameplay to a new level with the guidance and experience of a championship organization. We hope to prove worthy of the name, and carve our own path as we move forward into the future, toward the largest SMITE tournament to date.”

coL.SMITE

• Ismael ‘KikiOrNah’ Torres – Solo Lane
• Kurt ‘Weak3n’ Schray –  Jungle
• Jeremy ‘Jerbie’ Branham – Mid
• Riley ‘Incontinentia’ Unzelman – Support
• David ‘Allied’ Hance – Hunter/ADC

 

You can catch coL.SMITE at the NA Regionals live from Atlanta on November 21-23rd. Until then, be sure to check out all of the player’s Twitch and YouTube channels for entertaining and educational content each day!

SMITE is mythology themed 3D MOBA. SMITE is similar to DoTA gameplay but instead of being above the action you are IN the action. Close third-person camera instead of RTS view. Move with WASD instead of clicking on a map. Detailed graphics and visual effects. ACTION combat, dodging, and aiming. Everything is a skill-shot. Free-to-Play but not pay-to-win.

Less than a week ago the compLexity Gaming DOTA 2 division had great news to announce. In order to improve communication, team spirit and overall performance, coL.DOTA moved to the team house in Los Angeles, California. Before this weekend, all five members arrived from the East Coast, the Midwest, Canada and all the way from Sweden, gathering in the team facility in beautiful LA.

Early signs of success of this project are now already starting to come in, as compLexity Gaming managed to secure a spot in the ASUS ROG DreamLeague Season 2. compLexity didn’t just qualify, but they steamrolled through the qualifier without a single loss. The flawless run through the Upper Bracket was marked by victories over Not Today and Wheel on the final day of competition, closing out the tournament with a come-from-behind victory in the UB Finals.

This win now means stiff competition ahead for the black-red roster. In the North American division they will face off with Cloud 9 and Evil Geniuses, as well as either Sneaky Nyx Assassins or Wheel, with the final qualifier spot being decided today. With tough opponents ahead of the team, the practice and efforts have to intensify in order to make the improvements and adjustments necessary to compete with the star lineups of EG and C9. A week from now the group stage with the four North American teams will kick off. Within three days of tough competitions and repeated battles, only two will be left standing – with the reward in hand. Those two teams will move to Stockholm Sweden, for a week of in-studio competition, and a shot at DreamHack Winter 2014.

Until then, the busy schedule for the coL players continues. Kyle ‘swindlemelonzz’ Freedman and his squad have little to no time to enjoy the sunny weather or sightseeing attractions in Los Angeles. The reason for that is the resurgence of big competitions in the Dota 2 scene. The TI4 hangover period is over and the new season has started back up and is in full swing. DotaPit, The Summit Qualifier, WePlay competition, Synergy League, a new season of StarLadder,and Battle of America are all on the horizon. The young team has a chance to be present in several LAN events, bolstering their profile and building up some pedigree in the North American global scene.

Stay tuned for more coverage of coL Dota in their events, and during their 5 week LA bootcamp.

As Hearthstone continues to grow, so does compLexity Gaming’s involvement in the game. Our two current members, Dog and Noxious, already has a strong foundation in various parts of the community, and now we are proud to announce our third player – Jeffrey ‘SjoW’ Brusi.

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.

SjoW’s first public appearance as a member of the coL.Hearthstone family will take place today in Krefeld, Germany. With his stature in the community and in Hearthstone he was able to receive one of the coveted invites to the second iteration of the SeatStory Cup. With a tournament history of finishes only in the Top 4, we hope SjoW can continue this trend and foster his reputation as a premier Hearthstone competitor.

Be sure to follow SjoW’s stream for top-notch Hearthstone action, but also fun elements like Karaoke Night or miscellaneous stories. Also support the newest member of the red-black brand in Krefeld, as he takes on the toughest competition in the SeatStory Cup 2.

More Info

• Twitter: @sjowHS
• Twitch: twitch.tv/sjow

Beginning today, coL.Hearthstone begins their run through our first offline event as we are in Krefeld, Germany for SeatStory Cup II. David “Dog” Caero and the newest acquisition to coL.HS, Jeffrey “SjoW” Brusi are set to compete in the SeatStory Cup II, hosted by Dennis “TaKe” Gehlen from his studio apartment where the top Hearthstone competitors in the world will gather for their chance at $20,000 in prize money. Dog managed to qualify for the event via Qualifier #2 and will begin the event in Group G! SjoW on the other hand was invited to the event and will begin in Group H!

Format

• Group Stage #1 (Round of 32): Dual Tournament, ALL-Kill format.
  • Best-of-five.
  • The 4 players of each group are split into two pairs and play each other.
  • The winners of these matches will then face each other in the Winner’s match.
    • The victor places first in the group and advances to the Playoffs.
  • The losers of the initial matches face each other in the Loser’s match.
    • The loser places third and fourth in the group will be eliminated.
  • The loser of the Winner’s match and the winner of the Loser’s match will face each other in a fifth match.
    • The winner gets second place in the group and advances to the Playoffs.
    • The loser places third and fourth in the group will be eliminated.
• Group Stage #2 (Round of 16): Dual Tournament, ALL-Kill format.
  • The 4 players of each group in Round of 16 will face off similar to Round of 32.
• Playoffs: Single-elimination, All-Kill format
• Best-of-seven

Results

coL.SjoW	1	VS	3	Theude
Group 2-A

coL.SjoW	3	VS	1	Lothar
Group 2-A

coL.SjoW	0	VS	3	Savjz
Group 2-A

coL.SjoW	3	VS	2	Silhan
Group H

coL.SjoW	0	VS	0	Seeker
Group H

coL.SjoW	1	VS	3	Silhan
Group H

coL.Dog	2	VS	3	Cabrix
Group G

coL.Dog	3	VS	1	Yogg
Group G

coL.Dog	1	VS	3	Powder
Group G

Stream

by Sören ‘Fantasy’ Vendsahm

The eyes of the Hearthstone world will be directed upon Krefeld, Germany this weekend. The small city in close proximity to Cologne and Dusseldorf might not be the center of the world, but it turns into the center of eSports every so often. The reason for that is the passion project Dennis ‘Take’ Gehlen has founded in Krefeld – TakeTV. Starting with the HomeStory Cup in 2010, the living room of Take has turned into one of the greatest places for an eSports tournament.

Since then a lot has changed, the production has become more professional, the equipment got upgraded and a different flat was turned into a studio apartment. With all that change one constant remains to this day – the tournaments in Krefeld, Germany are happening in a comfortable and unique environment.

That is also the staple of the entire tournament series, the fact that no one tries to fake anything. What you see on stream is what you get. The raw happenings of a large gathering of professional players. That includes a great amount of casting changes, a fun environment, occasionally people running through camera shots – all of that is what makes SeatStory Cup and HomeStory Cup authentic and a fan favorite.

This time all the attention will be focused on the cardslingers of Hearthstone, who get a standalone tournament in Take’s domicile for the first time. The first iteration of the SeatStory Cup was the first journey of TakeTV into the new game, but it was still bundled with a StarCraft 2 tournament as well. now the spotlight is on the virtual card table and 32 of the best players in the world followed the call to Krefeld.

Making their way over to represent compLexity.Hearthstone is Dog. As a lone wolf he had time to scout the opposition on Day 1 of the festivities, get used to the venue and shake off the jetlag. Tomorrow he will take part of the action in Group G. As one of the new players on the Hearthstone scene he will be one of the main attractions on that day, fighting to advance in the group with Cabrix, Powder and Yogg. On October, 17th at 3 PM CET the party in black and red will start with Dog and his first match in the GSL-style group stage. The road will then continue on Saturday with the second group stage and eventually come to a conclusion late at night on Sunday, October, 19th. On that day the remaining eight top players of the tournament will not only fight for the Lion’s share of the prize pool, but also for the ultimate honor to be named the second SeatStory Cup champion.

Not only will everyone in the world be watching the stream, but TakeTV is also offering a Fireside Gathering in the spirit of Hearthstone. The old Irish Pub just downstairs will host the gathered eSports crowd and give everyone a chance to not only see the tournament in a warm atmosphere, you will also get a chance to see the players and interact with them.

If you can’t make it to Krefeld to enjoy the stream with some Irish beer, you can still become a part of this by using twitter. Tweet us your support @compLexityLive and use #coLHS. To show your support for TakeTV and the SeatStory Cup be sure to tweet your opinions @TakeTV and use #SSCII and #TakeTV throughout the weekend.

Stream

Today compLexity is excited to announce that coL.DOTA will be traveling later this week for a five week boot camp in sunny Los Angeles. The team will fly from around the world to train in person, participating in online events like The Summit 2, DreamLeague Season 2, WePlay Season 3, Dota Pit Season 2, and more! We had a chance to talk with coL.DOTA captain Kyle “swindlemelonzz” Freedman about the move.

Hey Kyle, thanks once more for taking the time to answer a few questions, especially in these busy times. The news is out, coL.DOTA is going to move into a team house. How excited are you about that?

Pretty psyched. Honestly, as awesome as LA is at first I wasn’t even thinking about the benefits of the area, I was so pre-occupied with how much this would help us as a team. Having players in four time zones really makes aligning scrim/sleep schedules difficult, not to mention major ping disadvantages. A team house was the catalyst for our first real success in HoN; with luck we’ll have the same result in Dota.

Your history and appreciation for these team projects is well documented in HoN, now you attempt it in Dota. How long was the move to a team house in the planning phase?

Umm probably a couple of hours. Most of the major changes in my life have happened at the drop of a hat, so I’m not surprised this decision was so abrupt. One afternoon during scrims Beef talked with me about the idea. We liked it, everyone else confirmed they’d be down by the end of the day, and within 24 hours we had flights booked.

With everything happening so quick, do you already have some sort of plan what the practice schedule or general schedule will look like?

Eat. Gym. Dota. More Dota. Team-building exercises. Sleep.

Fair enough, let’s get back to the benefits of the team house. You’ve experienced it in HoN already. What are the areas in which a team house has the biggest impact?

Discipline for sure. Even though we might spend 8-10 hours a day on “Dota” we might only glean 4-5 hours of real practice. In a team house you spend less time on the computer but more time actually improving. Specific to us, I’m sure Moon will be happy to wake up at a normal time versus 7-8 am, and Limmp won’t miss his 3am matches. I’m personally thrilled to (almost) never need to play on EU.

Speaking of the different players, despite having already had a team house, only one of the players you’ve roomed with in that instance is returning. How do you think the different personalities and characters will mesh in the house?

I honestly think it’ll be a stark improvement. Unlike my last team house, each teammate will be perfectly comfortable completing tasks some might call simple, such as doing laundry, washing a dish, eating steak no more cooked than medium, etc. Again that doesn’t seem difficult, but you’d be surprised what some gamers are incapable of.  Much bigger house too so I don’t think we’ll be sharing bedrooms as we did previously.

You say it’s a big house. What other impressions do you have of the venue thus far?

It looks fantastic! I’ve lived in each of the big 3 in the US (sans LA), so I’m really excited to check out the west coast. Heard many good things about the W’s, and the move has been part of my recipe for success for quite a while, so all that’s left to do is play Dota and see if it helps us as much as I think it will!

When is the whole squad going to arrive at the house?

We arrive on Wednesday and we will be in LA for about five weeks.

Alright. Awesome to hear. To close this interview, what tournaments in the near future is your focus on? And is the short time in the house enough to tip the scale in your favor?

The Summit 2 and DreamLeague for sure. Both will be VERY hard to qualify for, but with luck this decision can be a butcher’s thumb on our side of the measure. Personally I want to go to DreamHack above all, but that’s going to be VERY difficult. Not only is that event awesome, but this magical place named Trouw closes down January 5th FOREVER, and I’ll never make it back unless I hit Sweden first.

Then I wish you the best of luck for another trip to Sweden. Any final shoutouts before I let you go to explore the new environment?

Shoutout to all the family and fans that have followed me for so long, to compLexity and our sponsors for making this move possible, and the team for being awesome.

Photo by MARK L. STEPHENSON / CORBIS

On behalf of everyone here in the compLexity Family, we would like to wish coL.SC2’s Kevin “QXC” Riley a very happy birthday today as he turns 25.

Kevin first joined compLexity back in November of 2011 via a player transfer with FXO. Kevin is an American Terran who is known for donning a bandana. His accolades include an all-kill on one of the most successful teams of all time in the Korean GSTL, where he took out Incredible Miracle. His other notable achievements include wins in the CSL and various tournaments in North America. His philosophy of innovating his gameplay and unique insight to the game would lead him to appearing on many StarCraft 2 shows and playing the role of an analyst in tournaments.

Once again, we’d like to wish Kevin a very happy birthday. Post your birthday wishes here!

compLexity Founder & CEO Jason “1” Lake was recently a guest on The Richard Lewis Esports Podcast where he discusses his eSports history, rise to fame, the CGS, recent events in the organization and much more.