Sharks have scored a massive upset victory over Complexity to open up the North American BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, sending the Johnny “⁠JT⁠” Theodosiou-led side packing from the brutal single-elimination bracket in 2-0 fashion.

The defeat is a nightmare scenario for Complexity, who looked to be on the up after the addition of Håkon “⁠hallzerk⁠” Fjærli in July. Despite suffering an early exit during the BLAST Fall Groups, the North American side redeemed themselves at ESL Pro League Season 16 with a run to the playoffs, where they put up a competitive fight against a somewhat shaky-looking FaZe before ultimately suffering elimination.

The Pro League result offered hope to the potential of the team heading into the IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR, where they were a favorite to claim one of the six spots on offer at the Major. They kicked off the event in good form, winning their first two matchups, but ultimately faltered at the final hurdle following series losses to Liquid, 00NATION, and Imperial to miss out on a chance to play at the Brazil Major.

Entering the BLAST Showdown as the top seed, Complexity were one of the favorites to clinch a spot at the Fall Final alongside Evil Geniuses and 00NATION. Sharks quickly shut down those hopes though, kicking the series off with a dominant showing on Dust2 before edging out a win on the Nuke decider.

“We had limited days of practice because of the practice here,” Michael “⁠Grim⁠” Wince explained of the loss after the series. “hallzerk was flying in from Mexico so we had a rough travel day for him, and JT just came back from South Africa to try to renew his visa, so definitely the circumstances weren’t fully there for us, but obviously still no excuse. Still, we were confident going in and honestly we are probably all disappointed in ourselves.”

The former Liquid rifler didn’t leave the interview without crediting his opponents though, stating that they had a good game plan and strong reads against Complexity in the series. “They had some pretty good reads overall, we definitely could have played better but I just want to give some props to them because I think they played pretty well.”

Complexity currently have no events lined up for the remainder of the year, although they may receive invites to compete in smaller tournaments should they choose to spend some time in Europe for a bootcamp, which Grim stated was a possibility in the post-match interview.