Complexity’s AWPer Valentin “poizon” Vasilev will have to sit out of the IEM Global Challenge, coL’s next and last CS:GO event of 2020, because of health issues.
The 22-year-old has been hospitalized for an emergency surgery, according to Jason Lake, Complexity’s CEO. “We expect him to fully recover and ask you to send your love and support,” Lake said on Twitter. The North American organization will try out different players over the next few days to stand-in for poizon and assist Complexity in finishing the CS:GO season.
The IEM Global Challenge is the last big CS:GO event of the year and is set to run from Dec. 15 to 20. Complexity was invited based on the ESL Pro Tour ranking. Poizon joined Complexity in January and quickly became one of their stars, averaging a 1.10 rating with Complexity this year, according to HLTV’s statistics.
This will mark the second time that Complexity has had to play an event with a last-minute stand-in, although the reasons are different. Complexity’s former talent Owen “oBo” Schlatter left the team and traveled back to his home in the U.S. in September ahead of the ESL Pro League season 12 playoffs.
Depending on poizon’s medical condition, we may see Complexity pursue a sixth player to expand its current roster. This approach has already been taken this year by other top-tier CS:GO teams, such as Astralis and, most recently, Vitality.
Complexity have been placed in IEM Global Challenge’s Group A alongside Astralis, Vitality, and BIG. They’ll play against Astralis first on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 8:30am CT.