s1mple
Oleksandr Kostyliev (Ukrainian: Олександр Костильєв; born 2 October 1997), better known as s1mple, is an Ukrainian professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for Natus Vincere.[1] He is considered to be one of the best players in Global Offensive history.[2][3]
s1mple | |
---|---|
Олександр Костылєв (Oleksandr Kostyliev) | |
Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev | |
Personal information | |
Born | 2 October 1997 |
Hometown | Kyiv, Ukraine |
Nationality | Ukrainian |
Nickname(s) | s1, s1mple |
Career information | |
Status | Active |
Current team | Natus Vincere |
Games | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive |
Role | AWPer, Rifler |
Career history | |
2014-2015 | Hellraisers |
2015 | Flipsid3 Tactics |
2016 | Team Liquid |
2016–present | Natus Vincere |
Early life
S1mple was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. He started playing Counter-Strike at four years old at the recommendation of his older brother. S1mple picked up Counter-Strike: Global Offensive shortly after its release in 2012, joining his first professional team a year later.[4]
Career
2014
S1mple's first team was a team called LAN DODGERS, but he was soon signed by Courage Gaming. Around September 2014, s1mple was signed by a large organisation known as Hellraisers.[5] There, he joined ANGE1, Dosia, Kucher, and Markeloff, who s1mple considers his idol.[6]
2015
In January 2015, s1mple was soon removed from Hellraisers due to his inflammatory comments about Germans, and an ESL wire ban for cheating.[7] This ban was also extended to 2016 due to ban evasion.[8] S1mple himself says that the ban was from cheating in Counter-Strike 1.6.[9] The global offensive community has however raised doubts about the ban being from CS 1.6. There are claims stating that there is evidence that the ESL wire ban is from Counter-Strike Global Offensive.[10] No comments regarding this has been made from ESL. S1mple was soon after signed by Flipsid3 Tactics, but his time in the team would cut short due to the team's semi-final exit at ESWC 2015. Contrary to his teammates, s1mple wasn't happy about the result. At this period in his career, s1mple was known for being quite "toxic," or rude to his teammates.[11][12]
2016
After a short stint studying Chinese at a university,[4] s1mple moved to America in early 2016 and joined Team Liquid. A Team Liquid player, Spencer "Hiko" Martin, was standing in for Flipsid3 at ESWC 2015, and he developed a friendly relationship with s1mple there.[13] Team Liquid surprised at the first major, and reached the semifinals of MLG Major Championship: Columbus, before falling to the eventual champions, Luminosity Gaming. Despite this result at the game's biggest tournament, it wouldn't be long before s1mple would leave Team Liquid, citing homesickness. The next major of the year was approaching, and s1mple once again played for Team Liquid.[14] During the semifinals at ESL One Cologne 2016, Valve Corporation added a graffiti on Cache commemorating s1mple's falling AWP play against fnatic.[15] Thus, Team Liquid became the first North American team to reach a major final. They were stopped in the finals by the same Brazilian lineup of SK (formerly Luminosity Gaming).[16] After leaving Team Liquid, he replaced Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko on Natus Vincere.[17] With Na'Vi, s1mple won ESL One: New York 2016, and he was awarded the #4 placement in the HLTV top 20.[18]
2017
During the first major of the year, ELEAGUE Major 2017, Na'Vi lost to Astralis during the quarterfinals. After a group stage exit at PGL 2017 Krakow Major Championship, Na'Vi benched Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs and Denis "seized" Kostin former-member Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko.[19][20] GuardiaN had been the AWPer for Na'Vi, so s1mple was forced to take up the sniper rifle after his departure. Despite these changes, Na'Vi continued their drought of results, and found a replacement for seized in the form Denis "electronic" Sharipov.[21] s1mple didn't find much success in 2017, but he still kept up his individual form from the last year. S1mple was awarded the #8 placement in the HLTV top 20 this year, down from #4 in 2016 due to a lack of results in the team.[22]
2018
Na'Vi started 2018 with a semi-final finish at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. At the start of 2018, Brazilian organisation MIBR attempted to sign s1mple and flamie. The deal was reportedly very close to being finished, but Na'Vi asked for too high of a buyout, and the deal eventually fell through.[23] After two 2nd-place finishes at Starladder & i-League StarSeries Season 4 and Dreamhack Masters Marseille, Na'Vi won their first event of the year at StarSeries & i-League Season 5; they would follow it up with wins at CAC 2018, and ESL One Cologne 2018. S1mple won MVPs at StarSeries and Dreamhack Marseille, despite his team not winning the events.[24][25][26][27][28] In the semifinals at Cologne, they beat the best team at the time, Astralis.[29] Na'Vi would lose to Astralis at the second major of the year, FACEIT Major: London 2018. Na'Vi won their final event of the year, BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2018, and s1mple would once again claim the MVP award.[30] Due to s1mple's personal performance,[31][32] he would be nominated for the #1 spot at the HLTV top 20 players of 2018.[33] According to the to statistics from HLTV, s1mple in 2018 had achieved the highest individual rating out of all previous top 20 players. He is considered one of the best players to ever play Counter-Strike.[34][35][36][37][38]
2019
Na'Vi came 3rd to 4th in the first major of the year. S1mple would keep up his form from 2018,[39] and receive an MVP at StarSeries Season 7. After this, Na'Vi would eventually hit a slump and replace s1mple's long time teammate Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev with Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov who was in September 2019 made the team's leader (or IGL).[40]
Notable results
Individual awards and accolades
Rankings
MVP
- DreamHack Winter 2017
- StarSeries Season 4, 2018
- StarSeries Season 5, 2018
- ESL One Cologne 2018
- Dreamhack Masters Marseille 2018
- CS:GO Asia Championships 2018
- BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018[44]
- StarSeries Season 7, 2019
- IEM Katowice 2020
EVP
- FACEIT Major: London 2018[45]
- MLG Major Championship: Columbus, 2016
- ESL One Cologne 2016
- IEM Katowice 2019
Other awards
- Esports Awards, PC Player of the Year, 2018[46]
References
- "S1mple" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- "The Thorin Treatment: s1mple and the Path of Greatness". dotesports.com. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- "HLTV names s1mple the best player in the world over dev1ce". dotesports.com. 20 January 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- CS:GO Player Profile – s1mple – Natus Vincere. Valve. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Official: Hellraisers add s1mple".
- @s1mpleO (March 2, 2018). "Bro, i watched 100 markeloff demos when I played CS 1.6 and CSGO, I respect him more then anyone and he will always stays my idol in this game" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Kornyshev, Phil. "A Brief History of Bans in CS:GO". Esports Insider. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- "Thorin's Take: No Company for Young Men". Dexerto.com. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "s1mple, "I'm sorry for my actions."".
- "r/GlobalOffensive - Please, stop saying s1mple was banned in 1.6". reddit. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
- Bajaj, Abhisek. "s1mple and the unquenched thirst for a Major title". Talkesport. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Slams Flipsid3 Teamates".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Liquid sign s1mple".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Returns to Liquid Roster".
- Lahti, Evan. "Insane CS:GO Double-Noscope Memorialized as In Game Graffiti".
- Bektaş, Bünyamin "BenjaCS". "s1mple, "We'll Do Everything We Can"".
- Švejda, Milan "Striker". "S1mple Replaces Zeus in Na'Vi".
- Burazin, Zvonimir "Professeur". "Top 20 Players of 2016: s1mple (4)". HLTV. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- Švejda, Milan "Striker". "GuardiaN and seized Step Down From Natus Vincere".
- Švejda, Milan "Striker". "Natus Vincere Bring in Zeus and Kane, seized Returns".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Na'Vi Confirm Electronic Signing".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 Players of 2017: s1mple (8)". hltv.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- Koepp, Meg Bethany. "CS:GO superstar s1mple was reportedly very close to signing with MiBR". Dexerto. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Wins StarSeries MVP Medal".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Claims DH Marseille MVP Award".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Claims StarSeries S5 MVP Award".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Secures CS:GO Asia Championship MVP".
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Wins ESL One Cologne MVP Award".
- Chiu, Stephen. "From Unheralded to Undisputed, Astralis 2018". VPEsports.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Secures BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen MVP Award".
- Shields, Duncan "Thorin". "Thorin's Top 10 CS:GO Players of 2018". Dexerto. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- Shields, Duncan (March 13, 2019). "Thorin's Take, the Superlative S1mple". VPesports.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 Players of 2018 s1mple (1)".
- Chiu, Stephen. "The s1mple Era". VPEsports. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- Bennett, Connor. "S1mple continues to break his own impressive CS:GO stats streak". Dexerto. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- "Device: "Cейчас s1mple является лучшим игроком в мире, и это неоспоримо"". Cybersports (in Russian). Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- Steiner, Dustin. "How S1mple Proved He's CS:GO's GOAT at StarSeries". Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- Phillips, Dom. "S1mple, The Ukranian Superstar – Part 2: The King".
- Michael, Cale. "S1mple continues to prove that he's one of the best CS:GO players in the world". Dotesports. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Na'Vi Close in on Boombl4 Deal". hltv.org. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 Players of 2017: s1mple (8)". HLTV. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 players of 2018: s1mple (1)". HLTV. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- Burazin, Zvonimir "Professeur". "Top 20 players of 2019: s1mple (2)". HLTV. Retrieved 29 Feb 2020.
- "BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018". HLTV.org. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- "FACEIT Major: the EVPs". HLTV.org. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- Hale, Jacob. "The winners of the Esports Awards 2018". Retrieved 22 June 2019.
Placement | Tournament | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|
With Team Liquid | |||
MLG Major Championship: Columbus | Columbus, United States | March 29, 2016 – April 3, 2016 | |
ESL One Cologne 2016 | Cologne, Germany | July 5, 2016 – July 10, 2016 | |
With Natus Vincere | |||
ESL One: New York 2016 | New York, United States | September 30, 2016 – October 2, 2016 | |
StarSeries Season 3 | Kyiv,Ukraine | April 4, 2017 – April 9, 2017 | |
ESL One Cologne 2017 | Cologne, Germany | July 7, 2017 – July 9, 2017 | |
ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 | Boston, United States | January 12, 2018 – January 28, 2018 | |
DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 | Marseille, France | April 18, 2018 – April 22, 2018 | |
StarSeries Season 5 | Kyiv, Ukraine | May 28, 2018 – June 6, 2018 | |
CAC 2018 | Shanghai, China | June 14, 2018 – June 18, 2018 | |
ESL One Cologne 2018 | Cologne, Germany | July 3, 2018 – July 8, 2018 | |
ELeague CS:GO Premier 2018 | Atlanta, United States | July 21, 2018 – July 29, 2018 | |
FACEIT Major: London 2018 | London, United Kingdom | September 5, 2018 – September 23, 2018 | |
EPICENTER 2018 | Moscow, Russia | October 23, 2018 – October 28, 2018 | |
BLAST Pro Series: Lisbon 2018 | Lisbon, Portugal | December 14, 2018 – December 15, 2018 | |
IEM Katowice 2019 | Katowice, Poland | February 13, 2019 – March 3, 2019 | |
StarSeries Season 7 | Shanghai, China | March 30, 2019 – April 7, 2019 | |
IEM Katowice 2020 | Katowice, Poland | February 24, 2020 – March 1, 2020 | |