During the sixth and final regular match for Day 11 of the North American region of the Apex Legends Global Series Pro League Split 1, Complexity, comprised of Ryan “Reptar” Boyd, Bowen “Monsoon” Fuller and Bryan “iShiny” McCarthy, went down early. They had to sit by and watch as everything came down to a slugfest between Team Liquid and Sentinels.
Though it looked as if Team Liquid might manage an absolutely wild clutch in the eventual 1v1 things came down to, ultimately, Sentinels were able to keep their vice grip on the top of the leaderboard with another win. What was meant to be a redemptive season for Complexity after their ultimately disappointing performance at the 2020-21 season North American ALGS Champions tournament culminated in a seventh place finish.
But, if nothing else, they had made it to LAN.
Cut to the new year, and that’s changed slightly. Due to the rise of the highly-contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19, the 2021 ALGS Split 1 Playoffs are no longer an in-person event. The highly anticipated meeting of international Apex Legends teams will have to wait a while longer, as each region is instead having its own online tournament to crown the best of the best from Split 1. While this is, of course, disappointing, iShiny and Complexity are still looking to take the win when the NA Playoffs kick off on Sunday.
“We approach the season as almost like a redemption,” iShiny said. “We were the most dominant team for like an entire year and then when push came to shove and it was for NA Champs, we fell short.”
This version of Complexity’s Apex squad are still hungry to prove themselves on the biggest stages the ALGS has to offer. iShiny joined the squad in September of 2020 and didn’t meet his teammates in person until they arrived at ALGS headquarters for the Champions tournament. Unfortunately, the team didn’t perform together as well as they had hoped for at Champs, placing 22nd.
Though their seventh place finish in this year’s season wasn’t exactly what they wanted either, iShiny feels good about Complexity’s performance.
“We honestly did well, a seventh is not like the finish that we were wanting,” iShiny said. “But we were in batting range of a top three finish. I’m really proud of what we ended up doing in the league because our approach was just to make LAN and prove to ourselves that we’re good.”
@OnsetMTH has a quick and informative chat with @MonsoonGG!
Really well done today 💪 @Complexity – 76 Points!#ALGS @ReptarRB @iShiny pic.twitter.com/rVWV2xonS1
— Apex Legends Esports (@PlayApexEsports) November 1, 2021
Complexity are good. While Sentinels may have stolen the show for the majority of this season (racking up 92 total points and over 50 total kills), top seven is nothing to sneeze at – the next highest placing team, Noble, came in at 58 total points for the season. The point gap between the teams who placed under Sentinels is much, much tighter.
Complexity previously took second in NA ALGS Autumn Circuit #1 and first in both the NA ALGS Autumn Circuit #4 and ALGS Autumn Circuit Playoffs. The squad held their own throughout the most recent season, and ramped up in the second half to show their competitors what they’re made of. What’s more, they were able to stay fairly consistent in terms of kills per game, where as some of their higher seeded competitors were a bit more erratic. With even two or three more kills per game, Complexity could be a real threat. It doesn’t hurt that iShiny’s teammate, Monsoon, is one of the best Wraiths in the game, even by iShiny’s estimation.
“Monsoon is arguably the best Wraith player to ever touch the game,” he said. This is what led to the current version of Complexity’s new playstyle. When iShiny first joined Complexity, the question of who between he and Monsoon would play Wraith hung between them. But ultimately, both players ended up learning and maining different Legends, with iShiny picking up Gibraltar and Monsoon going with Caustic.
iShiny describes their playstyle now as a combination between the way Complexity used to play with Trenton “Lou” Clements (now on Sentinels), and the way iShiny played with his former squad in Fnatic NA.
“We’ve actually transitioned pretty starkly from the original Complexity pre-Shiny,” iShiny said. “When they had Lou they were like the only Bloodhound outskirts team kind of slaying their way in every game. Then when I joined, what I brought to the table was less fragging power and like aping around on the outside and a little more strategy and center map and positioning and putting yourself in the right spot to convert on games.
And before I joined the team, they would really pump out high kill games. And the team I came from, we were the highest average placing team, so it was kind of a mesh of those two play styles and we became a team that balanced getting a lot of frags and also getting really high placement.”
With the addition of Valkyrie, along with iShiny’s Gibraltar and Monsoon’s Caustic, the squad feels comfortable with their comp. iShiny describes them as a “placement heavy, center map oriented team.”
Beyond that, Complexity are somewhat guarded about sharing their playstyle, even with their biggest supporters. The squad usually doesn’t stream their competitions, which has been a pain point with fans in the past. iShiny and the team are aware of that, but there’s a method to the perceived madness.
“I know it’s a pretty big grievance within our supporting group that we don’t stream our competitions,” he said. “It’s because we play a very niche style that we don’t really want to give away too much information because we think of ourselves as pretty smart as a team. I know the people that support our team understand that.”
iShiny appreciates those who have stood behind them so far, who understand their reasoning, and he and his team are looking to deliver for those fans.
“I just want to express my appreciation for all of those people that still support us and stand behind us and hope that we do well,” he said. We’re going to put our best foot forward and justify our lack of content with the humongous dub.”
