What now for Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev?

By the looks of things, the superstar AWPer won’t be joining FaZe permanently, according to HLTV’s Milan “Striker” Švejda — and a return to NAVI’s starting lineup also seems unlikely.

So again: what now for s1mple?

According to Counter-Strike expert Janko “YNk” Paunović, there’s only one route left if s1mple wants to make it back to the top.

Something the Serbian analyst made clear in the most recent episode of Talking Counter.

– There’s only one way for him to come back to Tier 1. And that is, from tomorrow, he needs to start grinding the game again. Start playing eight FACEIT matches per day and have around 100-120 hours in the span of two weeks for the next six months.

– Whatever the hours, the point is just to grind CS again. Maybe play some cash cups. And then see where you’re at and see if you can get your individual level back to, where you’re comfortable playing game competitively.

If s1mple does that, YNk is confident multiple teams will come knocking in the next off-season.

– At that point, you have proven to everyone that you’re serious about coming back to Tier 1 CS.

– He needs to show that he’s able to commit, and if he can do that, I’m sure s1mple will have a plethora of offers in the next transfer window. But if not, we will do another episode in six months, where we talk about the same things.

Lost his fire?

In the podcast alongside Moses and SPUNJ, YNk elaborated further, saying that s1mple must first reignite his competitive drive.

– s1mple needs to decide if he still wants to play competitive Counter-Strike or not. If he does, he will have to take a step down – he can still go to a good team, but lower his salary or get a one-year “prove it” deal with performance incentives.

– At this point, he’s been away for so long and he hasn’t grinded the game a lot in the meantime. So, there’s not a lot of faith in him still having the fire to be the best player in the world or be a part of the best team. And that’s what he has to prove, not just to the suitors but also to himself.

Two ways forward

According to YNk, there are only two ways this can go. And the former FaZe coach doesn’t sound convinced it will end with a triumphant return.

– I’m sure he got a spark playing with the FaZe guys and in the arena, but also he got a very shitty feeling when you underperformed in such a big game [vs. The MongolZ].

– That’s going to do one of two things for him. Either it is going to light a fire under his ass and him saying like: “I’m going to fucking come back and prove to everyone I’m still better than all these guys”, or it’s going to be like: “Fuck this, I don’t want to this anymore.

What is more likely to happen, SPUNJ then asked.

– Unfortunately, the latter.

Full episode

You can watch the entire Talking Counter episode below. The quotes by YNk are a part of a longer segment about s1mple, with the specific discussion starting at 1:22.40.