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S1mple Announces Break from Competitive Play

Sports Writer

Publish Date: 27/10/2023

Fact checked by: James Leeland

eSports News

The competitive Counter-Strike scene was shocked today following the announcement from Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev. The Ukrainian star, known for his top-notch gameplay and amazing highlights, confirmed that he would be taking a break from the competitive scene.

Tweet Peek

In a tweet, s1mple cited personal reasons, emphasizing the need "to fix documents and take care of other people in my life." He also hinted at the possibility of returning to a different role, considering a switch from his AWP position, stating, "Never thought about it but would be interesting to see offers, maybe on rifle since AWP a bit not impactful in new game."

The announcement came amidst rumors of Natus Vincere (NaVi) closing in on the signing of Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov from Sprout. Was he avoiding something? We can’t be sure.

S1mple’s Career

Throughout his seven-year tenure with NaVi, s1mple has achieved incredible feats, including winning 17 notable trophies. Notably, his achievements include the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 victory, an Intel Grand Slam, and being crowned the top player on the HLTV's top 20 list three times.

However, signs of s1mple considering a break were apparent last year during an HLTV interview ahead of the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022, a tournament NaVi later won. He mentioned,

"Maybe I will take a break because I need to do things in life... when you have a tournament after tournament you just have no time."

This is an issue for a lot of players, as the non-stop traveling usually takes a toll on the players.

Impact of Counter-Strike 2

The professional scene has undergone significant changes recently, with the introduction of CS2, to which s1mple has been a vocal critic. His absence from the first CS2 LAN event, IEM Sydney, sparked numerous speculations, with reports later suggesting his absence was due to EU residency paper issues.

NaVi's Potential Lineup

Role	Player
Player	Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen
Player	Mihai "iM" Ivan
Player	Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy
Player	Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius
Player	Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov
Coach	Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy
Benched	Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev

Recent Performances

s1mple's recent performances, even as 2023 has unfolded, show a player at the peak of his game. Let's delve into a statistical analysis of his last games:

Date	Opponent	Map	K - D	+/-	Rating 2.0
1/10/23	MOUZ	Mirage	29 - 26	+3	1.11
1/10/23	MOUZ	Overpass	16 - 18	-2	0.87
1/10/23	MOUZ	Inferno	18 - 20	-2	0.97
30/9/23	Monte	Mirage	15 - 17	-2	0.97
30/9/23	Monte	Anubis	22 - 16	+6	1.11
28/9/23	Eternal Fire	Nuke	27 - 17	+10	1.58

Takeaway

This announcement caught most Counter-Strike fans by surprise, especially since CS2 carried the promise of a new and improved style of play to be seen from stars like s1mple himself. On second thought, this might also have impacted his decision, as a new game requires some changes to be made. What 's next? Well, for us fans, we can only sit and wait for the next chapter and hope that s1mple finds his path.