The grand final with Complexity and FaZe Clan at IEM Sydney 2023 sent the live-audience into hysteria. The first international LAN for CS2 was a close best of 3 which ended in double overtime on the tiebreaker map, Ancient. This cast aside any doubts that people had as to whether or not Counter-Strike 2 could rival its predecessor CSGO. MR12 was noticeably shorter, although with all maps going the distance it rounds it just did not matter at all. On top of this, the Australian fans delivered and seemed in awe of the ESL esports production.
Who won IEM Sydney 2023?
FaZe Clan won 2-1 versus Complexity in the grand final of IEM Sydney. Twistzz, karrigan, ropz, broky and rain played as the core members and had beautiful coaching from the legendary NEO. The maps were:
- Map 1: Overpass (FaZe 11 – 13 COL)
- Map 2: Nuke (FaZe 13 – 10 COL)
- Map 3: Ancient (FaZe 19 – 16 COL)
The final bracket above shows how the teams got to the grand final. With FaZe Clan’s win over Complexity, they have won $100,000 as well as automatic qualification to IEM Katowice in 2024. Complexity will be going home with $42,000 USD in prize money.
The Future of FaZe Clan after IEM Sydney
After recently being acquired by GameSquare, FaZe briefly touched on some uncertainties about the team’s future. GameSquare is the same parent company that owns Complexity. They have confirmed a definitive purchase of FaZe for approximately $16,000,000 USD. This could mean that the team will be going through a total reshuffle at some point, the future is certainly unclear.
Despite this, fans will be overjoyed by the team’s performance. There was doubt in the final map Ancient, where Complexity made an enormous comeback to bring it to overtime. But FaZe managed to write history the way they wanted by stringing together several rounds in the 2nd overtime for victory.
Here at EsportsCompare.net we are excited at what this means for Counter-Strike. This has proven that it still has the right recipe for success in esports. It is still inspiring fans and providing amazing highlights. The smoke mechanic in combination with HE grenades has added some extra spice to strategy as well.
Certainly for betting fans there are going to be some new changes to get used to. Very few people expected team Complexity to get top 2 of IEM Sydney. At some points it certainly looked like they could win the whole tournament. The order of teams is likely going to change more over the coming months. The teams the get used to CS2 the fastest are going to be, ultimately, favoured in the world rankings.
