s1mple's journey to the top of CS:GO
Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev never gave up his dream of becoming one of the greatest Counter-Strike players in history even though all the odds were against him. This is the rise of s1mple.
One of the defining traits of CS:GO players on the top of the game is the ability, and willingness, to do whatever it takes to win, every single time. But sometimes that takes a different form than you would expect. And for Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, that’s involved a tough journey to conquer internal demons just as much as external. He never lacked talent or work ethic, but his own anger acted as a ceiling in his early career.
Oleksandr ”s1mple” Kostyliev
Born: October 2, 1997 (age 24)
Country: Ukraine
Team: Natus Vincere
Role: Main AWPer
Approx. Total Winnings: $1,548,686
The best players are not made overnight and neither was the Ukrainian AWPer. Today, he’s widely considered as one of the greatest CS:GO players of all time, and his development from a toxic youngster to model teammate is almost as impressive as his ability to rack up frags in-game. The 24-year-old Ukrainian has won 19 MVP medals, a Major, and an Intel Grand Slam trophy, among other numerous S-Tier trophies.
All time stats:
Total kills: 33651
Headshot %: 41.4%
K/D Ratio: 1.34
Rating: 1.25
ADR: 86.5
KPR: 0.86
Impact: 1.36
KAST: 74.1%
Early life
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev was born in Ukraine. He started out with playing Counter-Strike 1.6 at an early age and was just like many others, inspired by his older brother, Alexey, who s1mple would sit next to and watch play. The Kostyliev family had just one computer at home, so it was not all perfect as young s1mple had to settle for operating the mouse while his older brother controlled the keyboard. And given the fact that s1mple was 10 years younger than Alexey, he couldn’t do much when his older brother told him to go away. Contrary to many other professional Counter-Strike players, s1mple never had any school problems and always made sure his grades were good.
The first step into competitive gaming
s1mple immediately picked up CS:GO as soon as it was released, back in 2012. After just one year of actively playing, s1mple took his first step into competitive gaming when he made his semi-pro debut for a local team called Lan Dodgers. At the start of 2014, s1mple was signed by Courage Gaming and burst onto the competitive scene when he took the title at Voronezh Cup with his current head coach at NAVI, Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy, and Georgi “WorldEdit” Yaskin, playing under the “Hashtag” banner, but with the same lineup. The then 16-year-old s1mple suddenly had a platform to showcase his talent to a wider audience in Europe, and quickly proved himself. He was a key part of the team and recorded good matches against some of the strongest teams in the world, which made people recognize him as a player with huge potential.
“My first victory was with Courage Gaming, that had B1ad3, z1, WorldEdit, and pr1zrak – at Voronezh Cup 2014. That was when I understood that I was going to become a professional CS:GO player.” – s1mple told HLTV.org.
After that success, the Ukrainian AWPer realized that he was destined to become a professional CS:GO player. And later in the same year, HellRaisers came knocking, and s1mple would take another significant step in his professional career by signing for a higher tier Ukrainian team, who had reputed players in the lineup such as Dosia, Markeloff, and ANGE1. Playing with a team full of superstars who he looked up to, s1mple didn’t have any problems at establishing himself on both online and LAN events. However, he still struggled to understand some of the team aspects of the game due to his inexperience on the big stage. As a result of this, s1mple’s best showing came at DreamHack Winter 2014, his first-ever Major where HellRaisers sent shockwaves in the community early on when they unexpectedly took down the best CS:GO team in the world, fnatic, and later Cloud9 in the group stage of the event. Unfortunately, s1mple and company got eliminated in the quarter-finals by Ninjas in Pyjamas and took home a 5-8th finish.
Despite ending the year with a 1.11 LAN rating, s1mple still found himself out of the roster just two weeks into 2015 due to a combination of two things, which compelled HellRaisers to boot him from their squad.
ESL ban and inflammatory comments
Just as s1mple began making international headlines and showing huge potential, he was released from HellRaisers at the start of 2015 because of two things: The first one was his ESL ban that dated back to his 1.6 days and was extended until February 2016, which meant that s1mple would be barred from two out of three Majors in 2015. The second problem was his toxic behavior that resulted in internal issues in teams and had been the case in his departure from Courage Gaming. This was all additionally spiced up by some comments about German people on his stream, which s1mple admitted also contributed to his removal from the roster.
The CS:GO analyst, Duncan “Thorin” Shields, even wrote a lengthy open letter to the troubled superstar, in which he explained what it would take for him to become a true champion.
However, just days later, another Ukrainian team called Flipsid3 Tactics realized s1mple’s worth as one of the most talented rising talents in the scene and that his raw skill couldn’t be overlooked because of his issues. Therefore, Flipsid3 decided to get him on board and the Ukrainian got reunited with B1ad3.
At Flipsid3, s1mple continued to impress the CS:GO community with strong showings at events, averaging high ratings at some of the biggest tournaments in the season. Sadly, internal issues plagued his team once again, as s1mple felt that he had grown too big for the team. The relationship with his team progressively grew poor over time and frustrations started to come out.
“The most annoying thing was when he was toxic. You could see that he was really toxic during the game and he was trying to infuriate you.” – B1ad3 explaining why the team struggled to get along with s1mple.
The Ukrainian made headlines after revealing on social media that he wouldn’t play with Flipsid3 Tactics any longer, following their elimination in the ESWC semi-finals. It was certainly an impressive campaign from the Russian-Ukrainian squad, but s1mple wasn’t satisfied. Not long after the match, he vowed to never play with some of his teammates again and even said that he would begin his search for a new team if the roster stayed the same after the event.
“This was my last tournament with this team, thanks to all who supported us. Either that or I will not play with some of the players anymore.”
Flipsid3 attended the event with Spencer “Hiko” Martin as a substitute due to one of their players getting his visa denied to enter Canada and it was at this event where s1mple and Hiko had their first team experience together.
s1mple was once again let go and spent the rest of 2015 hopping between teams for shorts stints with little success.
A new chapter
In early 2016, the Ukrainian was at the center of one of the biggest transfer moves the game had seen, as he joined Team Liquid from North America. Back then, Liquid was one, if not the most, popular esports organization and they decided to fly s1mple to Los Angeles where he would eventually live. The move to a North American team was in great part down to Hiko, who had a good bond with the Ukrainian.
“I don’t want to say he’s like the Michael Jordan of CS:GO, but he has the same superstar mentality where he expects everyone to show up on time and with their best performance. He wants to win every practice like 16-0. He holds himself to a high standard and he holds everyone else to the same standard.” - Hiko
The first Major of the year in 2016 was organized by MLG and s1mple was finally eligible to play as his ban had come to an end. Liquid’s decision of bringing in the Ukrainian paid off almost instantly, as the team made it to the semi-finals in their first Major together. Liquid went 2-0 in their group of the main event, besting FaZe and fnatic for a spot in the playoffs. The Ukrainian played a massive role in both of the matches and finished with a 37-27 K/D (1.26 rating) before he smashed their North American rivals from CLG in the quarter-final. With a spot in the semi-finals, Liquid equaled the best NA Major result (Complexity – DreamHack Winter 2013). However, s1mple and company fell to Luminosity and Marcelo “coldzera” David’s infamous jumping-double. Liquid was leading both 15-9 on Mirage and 15-6 on Cache, but they were unable to close out either map, which meant they finished the tournament with a 3-4th place.
Last dance with Liquid
The Ukrainian had his most successful year yet, both from a team and individual perspective, with his reputation simply growing. However, s1mple decided to leave the roster and move back to his home country due to homesickness and missing the comfort of having family and friends around him.
Liquid struggled to find a substitute for the last two events of the year and s1mple was temporarily brought back as he was still under contract with the organization. At ESL One: Cologne 2016, s1mple helped Liquid make it to the Grand finals which no one would have anticipated. In the semi-finals of the event between Liquid and fnatic, s1mple outdid himself by presenting a completely ridiculous play on the B-site of Cache.
“What is this clutch from s1mple? What, are you serious? What is that? You can’t do that, s1mple! That’s not allowed, this is not FPL, this is a Major!”
Those were the word from caster, James Bardolp when he witnessed this legendary and iconic play. The play perfectly illustrated s1mple’s inhuman skills and his mechanical capabilities, and the sequence will forever be a part of CS:GO history. After the Major, Valve commemorated the play with a graffiti on the map.
The Grand final against the Brazilians from SK Gaming was s1mple’s only underwhelming series in the tournament, as the Ukrainian had a huge part in getting the team all the way to the final.
At ESL One: Cologne 2016, Liquid achieved the first-ever Major Grand final appearance for a North American CS:GO roster.
NAVI sign s1mple
Shortly after the Major, s1mple’s lifelong dream of representing Natus Vincere became a reality in August of 2016 and he replaced Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko in the roster. The decision to remove Zeus from the NAVI roster ultimately proved to be a huge detriment to the team, as the Russian-Ukrainian side would struggle to improve on a tactical level. Denis “seized” Kostin was the man who took over the IGL duties, but he suffered massively as he couldn’t find the right answers to what would work for the team. s1mple’s raw talents were simply not enough to carry NAVI to the top and a string of poor results followed, even though they managed to win ESL One New York. Meanwhile, former captain of NAVI, Zeus ended up winning his first Major trophy under the Gambit banner at PGL Major Krakow 2017, where he proved his real value beyond KD-stats.
s1mple’s outstanding individual performances weren’t being converted into consistently good results by the team, but things would finally take a turn for the better when Zeus returned to the roster. The move saw Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács leave the squad and s1mple taking over the AWP duties. s1mple’s adaptation to the AWP role was instantaneous, but it wasn’t before Denis “electronic” Sharipov joined the squad that they finally managed to win their first trophy of 2017 at DreamHack Open Winter.
The Ukrainian ended 2017 on a high note, with an MVP award on top of the DreamHack Open winter trophy after averaging a stellar 1.52 rating.
HLTV Player of the Year 2018
In 2018, NAVI finally started to pick up some speed and began to tally tournament wins. The Russian-Ukrainian side secured three events in a row in the middle of the year, taking home trophies at StarSeries & iLeague Season 5, CS:GO Asia 2018, and ESL One: Cologne 2018, while also getting top-four and grand finalist placements at the two Majors in 2018.
s1mple’s contributions earned him HLTV’s Player of the Year award in 2018. This came as no surprise after the Ukrainian had universally recked every opposition in the game. With a level of play and consistency so brutally far from every other player in CS:GO, everybody expected s1mple to remain at the very top of the game for some time to come.
- Highest rated player of 2018 at big events (1.34).
- Averaging the best T-side rating (1.34) and the second-best CT-side rating (1.33).
- Ranked first for frags (0.87 kills per round), damage (87.4), and KD-D (+1107).
- Third lowest deaths per round ratio (0.59).
- Highest opening kills per round ratio (0.14).
- Highest opening duel success (64.9%).
- Second best clutcher (75 clutches).
- 76.0% KAST.
- 1.19+ ratings at every tournament.
“My main goal is to be a part of history. If every player reminds themselves of their goal and pursue it, then nothing or no one can stop them. I am sure that I have not hit my peak and that I can play better. I know what I need to work on and I am doing so.” – s1mple told HLTV.org.
And s1mple was right. He hadn’t hit his peak yet as the following years saw him dominating the scene.
ZywOo vs. s1mple
Is fair to say that 2019 was a year of mixed results from NAVI and it was in this period another contender stepped onto the scene. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. The French AWPer was quickly speculated to become the next big star of CS:GO, but nobody expected that he would explode onto the scene nearly instantly.
ZywOo stole the 2019 HLTV Player of the Year award from s1mple in a year where everybody could easily spot that the two of them were playing on a level above everyone else in CS:GO. Their rivalry, which is pretty much similar to Messi vs. Ronaldo, continued on in the following year, in which the Frenchman once again edged out s1mple in one of the closest races for the No.1 spot by being a more impactful player in the most competitive events and in the biggest matches.
Until this day, the back-and-forth rivalry between the two phenomenon’s is still going on.
The golden year of NAVI and s1mple
After NAVI’s lifting of the IEM Katowice 2020 trophy, s1mple and company found true consistency by placing top four at most of their events. They cemented themselves into the history of Counter-Strike as they became the third team to win an Intel Grand Slam and the spoils of $1.000.000 by winning IEM Katowice 2020, DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, IEM Cologne 2021, and ESL Pro League Season 14.
The organization joined the elite group of Astralis and Team Liquid, but became the first team to complete the impressive run with victories in both ESL Pro Tour Championship competitions, IEM Katowice, and IEM Cologne. Alongside the ESL Pro League S14 title, NAVI’s star, s1mple, was also awarded the 16th MVP of his career and was the best performer at the event in a number of categories, including rating (1.35), KAST (77.8%), impact rating (1.48), and kills per round (0.88), while also being Top 5 in terms of K-D Diff (+135), ADR (87.3), and opening kills per round (0.18). The Russian-Ukrainian squad already left no doubts about them being the absolute best team of 2021 after winning the Intel Grand Slam.
As a result of the Intel Grand Slam and several other tournament wins, NAVI was undoubtedly the best CS:GO team coming into the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 and it seemed impossible to deny them this Major achievement. However, their journey to Major glory wasn’t easy at all, as the Russian-Ukrainian side had to face multiple tough opponents on the way such as Heroic, NiP, Team Vitality, and Gambit before ultimately taking down G2 in the Grand final without dropping a single map at the event. s1mple finally achieved his dream of winning a Major and even took home the MVP award in the process. His first-ever Major MVP and the 17th MVP medal of his career at the time.
This Major victory cemented s1mple as one of CS:GO’s most decorated stars, with a Major, two Cologne championships, one Katowice championship, and an Intel Grand Slam all under his belt.
NAVI had already conquered the year at this point and just as you thought it couldn’t get any wilder for NAVI, they topped it off by securing first place in the last two events of the year: BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2021 and BLAST Premier World Final 2021 to close out a six-month span where they won seven tournaments. NAVI CS:GO earned $4,275,500 from 16 played tournaments during 2021, beating Astralis’ single-year team record of $3,651650 in 2018, according to Esports Earnings.
The was no discussion to be had about who the best team and player of 2021 was. s1mple closed out the year as the definitive best player of the year, with the highest rating on every single map in CS:GO except NAVI’s perma ban of Vertigo, and an award for Esports Player of the Year at the Game Awards 2021. The Ukrainian beast played a massive role behind NAVI’s success and showed peak consistency, as well as deadly form in every single event, which resulted in him winning eight MVP awards in the same year to break Nicolai “device” Reedtz record of seven MVP medals in 2018.
In an interview from Esports Kingdom with ZywOo, the Frenchman was asked about his opinion on who he thought had been the best player in 2021:
“Of course, s1mple is better than me this year, but I had a bad year too. I’m going to do everything next year in 2022 to get better. I know this year was pretty hard with COVID, we had to play from home, it was really hard sometimes. For sure, s1mple was better than me this year, I have no problem saying it.” – ZywOo told Esports Kingdom.
Like a true sportsman, ZywOo acknowledged his shortcomings and vowed to perform better in 2022.
Does NAVI have an era?
NAVI and s1mple are now walking into 2022 as the world champions having won the PGL Major in Stockholm and the Intel Grand Slam Season 3, while being the reigning champions of BLAST Premier. So, there are no doubts that we are entering a NAVI era in 2022 and all the signs are definitely pointing to it. With IEM Katowice up next, NAVI will have an opportunity to truly cement their era.
At the end of the day, the Danish giants from Astralis achieved greater dominance during their own era. However, if NAVI can manage to maintain their dominant form, there is no telling of what they can achieve
