Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev returned to official action on Monday as he made his debut for FaZe at IEM Dallas.
The Ukrainian superstar, currently on loan for the coming events, spoke to ESL before the tournament kicked off, reflecting on his long break from competition and his desire to play on a stage again.
– It feels great to be part of the team. (…) I have missed playing competitive Counter-Strike a lot. Most of all, I have missed playing in front of a crowd, so hopefully we will manage to qualify for the playoffs, s1mple said.
s1mple also talked about how he had prepared for the event in Dallas, touching on both his individual work and how Finn “karrigan” Andersen has helped him settle into FaZe.
– I have been practising nades and playing Deathmatch with aimbots every day. I have also had to learn new positions on seven different maps. (…) I think karrigan is doing all of the roles and helping everyone so we will do perfect rounds, and make sure no one will fuck up.
Early loss
s1mple and his new FaZe teammates didn’t get the best start in their attempt to secure a playoff ticket at IEM Dallas. In the opening round yesterday, they fell short against Liquid in a 2-0 loss, placing them in the lower bracket of Group B.
s1mple ended the match as the highest-rated FaZe player with a 1.12 rating.
FaZe will play again this Tuesday at 17:30 (CET), taking on BC.Game in an elimination match.
