Complexity Gaming, formerly stylized as compLexity, is an American esports franchise headquartered in Frisco,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The franchise was founded in 2003 by Jason Lake and is co-owned by Lake, real estate investor John Goff, and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

owner

Jerry Jones Jerral Wayne Jones (born October 13, 1942) is an American businessman who has been the owner, president, and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) since February 1989. Early life Jones was born in Los Ange ...

. Complexity operates out of the Legion by Lenovo Esports Center, an esports training facility in The Star. The franchise competes in ''

Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a free-to-play battle royale-hero shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Nintendo Switch in March ...

'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' FIFA'', ''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to- ...

'', '' Hearthstone'', '' Madden'', '' Magic: The Gathering Arena'', ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. In June ...

'', and ''

Valorant ''Valorant'' is a free-to-play first-person tactical hero shooter developed and published by Riot Games, for Windows. Teased under the codename ''Project A'' in October 2019, the game began a closed beta period with limited access on April ...

''. Complexity formerly competed in several other games, including '' Call of Duty'', '' Dota 2'', ''

Heroes of the Storm ''Heroes of the Storm'' is a crossover multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released for Microsoft Windows and macOS on June 2, 2015. The game features various characters from Bl ...

'', and ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

''. In addition to competitive teams, Complexity also streams gaming sessions over

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

. Complexity formerly maintained Limit (stylized as Complexity Limit), a ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...

'' guild, until the end of their sponsorship deal with the guild in early 2022.

Founding and early years (1998-2007)

Complexity was started by Jason Lake as ''Counter Strike:1.3'' clan in 1998. The clan became professional in 2003 after Lake paid two gamers from his own pocket to form a team. Lake voluntarily removed himself from the roster in 2004 and shifted into an administrative and coaching role. The team was formed during the early days of esports in North America and Lake, then a real estate lawyer based in the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, area, paid his players' salaries and travel expenses out of his own pocket, totaling more than $400,000 dollars by 2007. Following wins at the 2006 Intel Summer Championships and the

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

Championship Gaming Invitational The Championship Gaming Series was an international esports league based in the United States, with teams from several other countries. The CGS was preceded by the 2006 Championship Gaming Invitational, a television pilot featuring several fut ...

, Lake sold the team to DirecTV for $100,000. Complexity was rebranded as Los Angeles Complexity and joined the Championship Gaming Series as part of the deal. Throughout the history of coL, numerous staff members worked to raise the organization above esports standards in the 2000s. Notable members include Kyle "kuniva" Shellhouse (frag movies, content), Jordan "p4t" Taylor(mIRC admin, recruitment), Rick "digx" Martinez(Graphics, Animation), Shane "exica" Bailey(Graphics, Animation) In 2007, Complexity's CS:Source team was crowned the champion of the CEVO Professional Division Season 4. In 2009, Complexity placed 3rd at

Dreamhack Winter 2009 DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's fa ...

and 2nd at the

IEM IV The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a series of international esports tournaments held in countries around the world. These Electronic Sports League (ESL) sanctioned events, sponsored by Intel, currently host events in '' Counter-Strike: Global ...

American Championship. They delved back into '' Quake'' with ''

Quake Live ''Quake Live'' is a first-person arena shooter video game by id Software. It is an updated version of ''Quake III Arena'' that was originally designed as a free-to-play game launched via a web browser plug-in. On September 17, 2014, the game wa ...

'' where they picked up

Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager Sander Kaasjager (; born 21 June 1985), who plays under the pseudonym Vo0 (pronunciation: ), is a Dutch professional player of the first-person shooter games ''Painkiller'', ''Quake II'', '' Quake III '', ''Quake 4'', ''Quake Live'' and '' Quak ...

and Brian "dkt" Flanders. They played ''

Madden NFL 2010 ''Madden NFL 10'' is an American football video game based on the National Football League that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. The 21st installment of the ''Madden NFL'' series, it is the first game to feature two players o ...

'', ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' mod for '' Quake'' and its 1999 remake, '' Team Fortress Classic''. The game was ...

'', '' Dota 2'', and ''

FIFA 10 ''FIFA 10'' (titled ''FIFA Soccer 10'' in North America) is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on 2 October 2009 in Europe, 1 October i ...

''. On April 11, 2013, Complexity was the winner of the '' Call of Duty: Black Ops II'' championship at ESWC 2013. On April 6, 2014, they sold their ''Call of Duty'' team to

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', '' Fortn ...

. On March 22, 2015, Complexity announced that they had acquired the ''

'' team Barrel Boys, with a roster of Stafford "McIntyre" McIntyre, Alexei "Blinks" Bazhenov, Drew "Trummel" Trummel, Aaron "Erho" Kappes, and Edward "TigerJK" Hong. Complexity's ''Dota 2'' team was not invited to

The International 2015 The International 2015 (TI5) was the fifth edition of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' esports championship tournament, which took place at the KeyArena in Seattle. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament began in May with t ...

but qualified in the regional qualifying tournament. Complexity's ''Dota'' team is based in a gaming house near

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Sale to Jerry Jones

Complexity continued to operate after the CGS folded in 2008, fielding teams in ''CS:GO'', '' Call of Duty: Black Ops II'', and '' Dota 2'', among others. In 2017, the team was purchased by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and real estate investor John Goff and relocated to Frisco, Texas. Lake remained CEO of the team as part of the deal, while fellow cofounder Jason Bass sold his stake in the team. In 2019, GameStop sponsored a new headquarters and training facility in The Star, a complex that also acts as the training center for the Dallas Cowboys NFL team. Complexity was a member of the G7 Teams, a group that promoted esports in the late 2000s. They were removed from the group and re-added in 2009. On March 1, 2018, Complexity added the ''

'' team of Metsanauris, Mognus, and al0t (formerly members of the esports team Method). In October 2019, they collaborated with Luke Millanta to create a collection of Complexity-branded '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' weapon skins.

Rosters

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Rocket League

Valorant

Former divisions

''League of Legends''

2011

On April 29, 2011, Complexity acquired Epic Charmanders, with a roster consisting of Atlanta, FitterHappier, Gynsingg, Nubbypoohbear, RicePanda, and Shales. The team qualified for the

League of Legends Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional ''League of Legends'' in the United States and Canada. The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided i ...

in its inaugural Spring 2013 split, which began in April. During the regular season, it finished in last place with a 9–19 record, eliminating it from the Spring Playoffs. Complexity's last-place finish relegated it to the Challenger League instead of playing the LCS Summer Split. Complexity finished season one of the Challenger League with a 19–7 record in the Ancient Golem Conference, earning a bye to the playoff semifinals. In the playoffs, it defeated

Team Curse Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired by Curse Inc. i ...

but then lost to

Team Coast Team Bianchi was a makeshift team that was put together from the remnants of the Coast team in time for the 2003 Tour de France. Team Coast had been unable to pay the salaries of their riders and Bianchi took over the team and the role of tit ...

to finish second in the CS. In August, Yuhn, IWillDominate, and Hao joined the team. Atlanta and FitterHappier left. On November 29, Patoy and DontMashMe joined. Yuhn, Shales, and Gynsingg left.

2012

On January 1, IWillDominate transferred to

Team Dignitas Dignitas, formerly known as Team Dignitas, is a professional esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey, founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell on 9 September 2003 as a merger of two top ''Battlefield 1942'' clans. Dignitas was acquired by the P ...

. On January 12, RicePanda, Nubbypoohbear, Hao, DontMashMe, and Patoy left the team. Although Complexity spent the rest of 2012 without a primary League of Legends roster, they were able to expand their trainee roster by adding six players to their compLexity Academy League of Legends (CA.LoL) program.

2013

On February 2, Complexity acquired the roster of The Brunch Club, Nickwu, Lautemortis, Chuuper, MeyeA, Brunch Ü, and Bischu. February, Meteos joins. On March 14, the team received a sponsorship from Newegg. April 2, PR0LLY joins. Chuuper moves to sub. April 20, Brunch U retires, Chuuper moves to AD. On June 17 Nickwu left. On June 18 MegaZero joined. In September, Aniratak joined. On October 3, Lautemortis stepped down from the starter and captain position. On November 23, PR0LLY left the team.

2014

On January 9, Complexity released the year's roster. MegaZero, Chuuper, and MeyeA left the team. On April 29, compLexity.Black became Complexity Gaming. On June 5, Brokenshard replaced by Kez as starting jungler due to visa complications. On October 4,

goldenglue Greyson Gregory Gilmer (born November 23, 1996), better known by his in-game name Goldenglue, is an American ''League of Legends'' coach and former professional player. He is currently the head coach of 100 Thieves Academy. Early life Gilme ...

joined the team as starter while ROBERTxLEE and Pr0lly moved to the sub position. On November 23, Kubz left the team. On December 23, Westrice left and later joined

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

''Dota 2''

On February 17, 2012, Complexity signed the North American squad Team Fire. Under the COL banner, the team earned an invite to

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

's second iteration of ''The International''. The team finished in 9th-12th-place. Jio "Jeyo" Madayag left the team to join Evil Geniuses in October 2012. Complexity then sold their squad to

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team Li ...

in December. On August 27, 2014, COL returned to the Dota 2 scene with the former Heroes of Newerth roster stayGreen. Led by Kyle "swindlemelonzz" Freedman, the squad went through multiple roster changes in the first few months. The team added Tal "Fly" Aizik and qualified for

, placing third in its group. In the playoffs, Complexity lost to both Evil Geniuses and Virtus.pro, ending the team's run at the event. Following the tournament's conclusion, Complexity had to rebuild their roster as both MoonMeander and Fly left to build Monkey Business, which would later become OG. The two were replaced by Peter "wayto" Nguyen and Michael "mjw" Nguyen in September 2015. Both players left the team a month later. In November 2015, Complexity picked up the Swedish trio of Linus "Limmp" Blomdin, Rasmus "Chessie" Blomdin and Simon "Handsken" Haag. Together with swindlemelonzz and his brother, Zakari "Zfreek" Freedman, Complexity qualified for several events in early 2016, including the Shanghai Major 2016. COL placed last in their group but earned a direct invite to the

Manila Major The Manila Major, also known as the Spring Major, was a professional '' Dota 2'' esport tournament that took place in Manila, Philippines. The main event was held at the Mall of Asia Arena from June 7–12, 2016. Participating teams ;Direct invi ...

. Following the

Shanghai Major The Shanghai Major was a '' Dota 2'' tournament that took place in Shanghai from March 2–6, 2016, and was the second Major of the 2015-2016 professional '' Dota 2'' season. 16 teams competed in the tournament; eight were given direct invitations ...

, the team beat North American rivals Evil Geniuses at Epicenter 2016 to earn a top-4 finish. Their performance declined after that and the team lost multiple qualifiers and placed 9th-12th at the Manila Major. Their season ended after losing in qualifiers for

The International 2016 The International 2016 (TI6) was the sixth iteration of The International, an annual '' Dota 2'' esports championship tournament. Hosted by Valve Corporation, the game's developer, the tournament began in June 2016 with the qualifier phase and ...

. The 2016–2017 season began with another roster change. Limmp, Chessie and Handsken parted ways with the team to return to Sweden. On September 15, 2016, COL added Mihai "canceL^^" Antonio, David "Moo" Hull and Justin "jk" Rosselle. Before the team attended their first LAN event however, jk left COL. Former Team Archon player and Moo teammate Jaron "monkeys-forever" Clinton was added and played with the team at the Northern Arena BEAT Invitational and the

Boston Major The Boston Major was a professional '' Dota 2'' esports tournament that took place in Boston in the United States. The main event was played live at the Wang Theatre from December 7–10, 2016. Like other tournaments in the ''Dota 2'' Major Champ ...

. The team finished last at both events. Complexity and cancel^^ parted ways in February 2017. COL added Eric "747" Dong to replace cancel^^, another former Team Archon player. The team did not perform well and made a final roster change going into the last portion of the season. On May 23, 2017, COL added European pubstar Feras "Feero" Hroob and North American veteran Jimmy "Demon" Ho to its roster. The team continued to struggle and failed to qualify for

The International 2017 The International 2017 (TI7) was the seventh iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' esports world championship tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament began with the online qualifier phase in June 2017, a ...

, ending its season. On September 6, 2017, Swedish brothers Limmp and Chessie returned to Complexity to replace Feero and Demon. The new roster qualified for several

Dota Professional Circuit ''Dota'' is a series of strategy video games by Valve. The series began in 2003 with the release of ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a fan-developed multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game '' Warcraft III: Reign o ...

events and finished fifth at the StarLadder i-League Invitational 4, its best placing of the season . On March 16, 2018, internal conflicts within the team led to the removal of captain Kyle, aka swindlemelonzz. Complexity also removed Chessie and added former COL player MoonMeander, as well as Southeast Asia veteran Adam "343" Shah. The team failed to qualify for

The International 2018 The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying po ...

, leading to another roster change.

''Call of Duty''

On April 11, 2013, Complexity was the winner of '' Call of Duty: Black Ops II'' at ESWC 2013. On April 6, 2014, COL sold their ''Call of Duty'' team to

. On January 12, 2018, Complexity returned to competitive ''Call of Duty'' after acquiring Christopher "Parasite" Duarte, Tyler "FeLo" Johnson, Jared "Nagafen" Harrell, and Jeremy "StuDyy" Astacio. Nagafen on was replaced eight days later on January 20 with former Enigma6 player Brandon "Dashy" Otell. The team performed poorly and Parasite, FeLo, and Nagefen were replaced with Doug "Censor" Martin, Rasim "Blazt" Ogresevic and former COL player Ricky "Ricky" Stacy. The new group secured a spot at the

2018 CWL Pro League The 2018 CWL Pro League was a '' Call of Duty: WWII'' tournament on PlayStation 4 that occurred on January 23-July 29, 2018. Format The 2018 CWL Global Pro League consisted of 2 Stages, with 16 teams from North America, Europe and the APAC regio ...

Partnerships

On June 15, 2018, Complexity announced a new partnership with apparel brand H4X. On November 13, 2018,

WinStar World Casino WinStar World Casino and Resort is an American tribal casino and hotel located in Thackerville, Oklahoma, near the Oklahoma–Texas state line. It is owned and operated by the Chickasaw Nation. The casino opened as the WinStar Casinos in 2004, ...

was announced as Complexity's third partner. On January 14, 2019, Complexity partnered with Panini America to produce original content, on-site activations, and

trading cards A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

. On January 16, 2019, Complexity partnered with HyperX on

peripherals A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

. On April 29, 2019, COL partnered with MSI on hardware. GameStop announced its the sponsorship of COL's headquarters, the GameStop Performance Center, on March 27, 2019. Miller Lite started sponsoring Complexity Gaming on May 15, 2019. Part of the sponsorship includes the naming rights to the Miller Lite Player Lounge inside the GameStop Performance Center. On October 7, 2019, Complexity partnered with

Extra Life In video games, a life is a play-turn that a player character has, defined as the period between start and end of play. Lives refer to a finite number of tries before the game ends with a game over. It is sometimes called a chance, a try, rest ...

to support

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) (French: Réseau Enfants-Santé (RES)) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Donations support the health of 10 million children each ...

. On March 2, 2021, Complexity partnered with Dairy Max to create an educational cooking series.

References

{{Texas sports 2003 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Esports teams established in 2003 Counter-Strike teams Call of Duty teams Dota teams Esports teams based in the United States Heroes of the Storm teams Hearthstone teams StarCraft II teams Smite (video game) teams Heroes of Newerth teams Warcraft III teams Defunct and inactive Overwatch teams Rocket League teams Defunct and inactive fighting game player sponsors Former North American League of Legends Championship Series teams Valorant teams