s1mple
s1mple at IEM Katowice Major 2019
Current team
TeamNatus Vincere
RoleAWPer
GameCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
Personal information
NameОлександр Костилєв
(Oleksandr Kostyliev)
Born (1997-10-02) 2 October 1997
NationalityUkrainian
Career information
Playing career2013–present
RoleSniper, Rifler
Team history
2014–2015Hellraisers
2015Flipsid3 Tactics
2016Team Liquid
2016–presentNatus Vincere
Career highlights and awards

Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev[lower-alpha 1] (born 2 October 1997), better known as s1mple, is a Ukrainian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Natus Vincere.[2] He is considered to be one of the best players in Counter-Strike history.[1][3][4]

Early life

Kostyliev was born on 2 October 1997.[5] His family name is of Russian origin.[6] He started playing Counter-Strike at four years old at the recommendation of his older brother. S1mple picked up Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on its release in 2012, joining his first professional team a year later.[7]

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.[8] There, he joined ANGE1, Dosia, Kucher, and Markeloff, who s1mple considers his idol.[9]

2015

In January 2015, s1mple was soon removed from Hellraisers due to his inflammatory comments about Germans, and an ESL wire ban for cheating.[10] S1mple himself says that the ban was from cheating in Counter-Strike 1.6.[11] However, records from ESL show that it was an in-game ban from when S1mple played CS:GO.[12] This ban was also extended to 2016 due to ban evasion.[13] 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. At this period in his career, s1mple was known for being quite "toxic", or rude to his teammates.[14][15]

2016

After a short stint studying Chinese at a university,[7] s1mple moved to Los Angeles, United States 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.[16] 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.[17] During the semifinals at ESL One Cologne 2016, Valve Corporation added a graffiti on Cache commemorating s1mple's falling AWP play against fnatic.[18] 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).[19] After leaving Team Liquid, he replaced Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko on Natus Vincere.[20] With Na'Vi, s1mple won ESL One: New York 2016, and he was awarded the #4 placement in the HLTV top 20.[21]

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 while bringing in former member Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko.[22][23] 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.[24] s1mple didn't find much success in 2017, but he still kept up his individual form from the previous 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.[25]

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.[26] 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.[27][28][29][30][31] In the semifinals at Cologne, they beat the best team at the time, Astralis.[32] 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.[33] Due to s1mple's personal performance,[34] he would be nominated for the #1 spot at the HLTV top 20 players of 2018.[35] According to the statistics from HLTV, s1mple in 2018 achieved the highest individual rating out of all of previous top 20 players. In retrospect, 2018 s1mple is considered by many fans and pundits alike as the best player to ever touch CS:GO.[36][37][38][39]

2019

Na'Vi came 3rd to 4th in the first major of the year. S1mple would keep up his form from 2018,[40] 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).[41]

2021

Na'Vi went into the PGL Major as the heavy favourites after placing first in their regional ranking tournament by reverse sweeping Gambit in the finals.[42] After going undefeated in the Legends stage of the Stockholm Major, Na'Vi proceeded to the playoffs, defeating home favorites NiP in the process.[43] Na'Vi retained their form and won the Major, making history by winning every single map played throughout the tournament.[44] S1mple's individual performance through the Major, including a 2.26 HLTV rating in one of the two maps against Gambit in the semifinals, earned him tournament MVP.[45][46] At the end of the year, s1mple was named Best Esports Player at The Game Awards.[47]

Notable achievements

Placement Tournament Location Date
With Team Liquid
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) MLG Major Championship: Columbus Columbus, United States March 29, 2016 – April 3, 2016
2nd place, silver medalist(s) ESL One Cologne 2016 Cologne, Germany July 5, 2016 – July 10, 2016
With Natus Vincere
1st place, gold medalist(s) ESL One: New York 2016 New York, United States September 30, 2016 – October 2, 2016
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) StarSeries Season 3 Kyiv, Ukraine April 4, 2017 – April 9, 2017
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) ESL One Cologne 2017 Cologne, Germany July 7, 2017 – July 9, 2017
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 Boston, United States January 12, 2018 – January 28, 2018
2nd place, silver medalist(s) DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 Marseille, France April 18, 2018 – April 22, 2018
1st place, gold medalist(s) StarSeries Season 5 Kyiv, Ukraine May 28, 2018 – June 6, 2018
1st place, gold medalist(s) CAC 2018 Shanghai, China June 14, 2018 – June 18, 2018
1st place, gold medalist(s) ESL One Cologne 2018 Cologne, Germany July 3, 2018 – July 8, 2018
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) ELeague CS:GO Premier 2018 Atlanta, United States July 21, 2018 – July 29, 2018
2nd place, silver medalist(s) FACEIT Major: London 2018 London, United Kingdom September 5, 2018 – September 23, 2018
2nd place, silver medalist(s) EPICENTER 2018 Moscow, Russia October 23, 2018 – October 28, 2018
2nd place, silver medalist(s) BLAST Pro Series: Lisbon 2018 Lisbon, Portugal December 14, 2018 – December 15, 2018
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) IEM Katowice 2019 Katowice, Poland February 13, 2019 – March 3, 2019
1st place, gold medalist(s) StarSeries Season 7 Shanghai, China March 30, 2019 – April 7, 2019
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) ESL One Cologne 2019 Cologne, Germany July 2, 2019 - July 7, 2019
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 Malmö, Sweden October 1, 2019 - October 6, 2019
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) ESL Pro League Season 10: Finals Odense, Denmark December 3, 2019 - December 8, 2019
2nd place, silver medalist(s) ICE Challenge 2020 London, United Kingdom February 1, 2020 - February 6, 2020
1st place, gold medalist(s) BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season London, United Kingdom January 31, 2020 - February 16, 2020
1st place, gold medalist(s) IEM Katowice 2020 Katowice, Poland February 24, 2020 – March 1, 2020
2nd place, silver medalist(s) ESL Pro League Season 12: Europe Europe (Online) September 1, 2020 - October 4, 2020
2nd place, silver medalist(s) IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020: Europe Europe (Online) November 6, 2020 - November 22, 2020
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) IEM Global Challenge 2020 Europe (Online) December 15, 2020 - December 20, 2020
1st place, gold medalist(s) BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 Europe (Online) January 19, 2021 – January 24, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021 Europe (Online) February 4, 2021 - February 14, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 Europe (Online) April 29, 2021 – May 9, 2021
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Blast Premier: Spring Finals 2021 Europe (Online) June 15, 2021 - June 20, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) IEM Cologne 2021 Cologne, Germany July 6, 2021 - July 18, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) ESL Pro League Season 14 Europe (Online) August 16 - September 12, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Stockholm, Sweden October 26, 2021 - November 7, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) Blast Premier: Fall Finals 2021 Copenhagen, Denmark November 24, 2021 - November 28, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) Blast Premier: World Final 2021 Copenhagen, Denmark December 14, 2021 - December 19, 2021
2nd place, silver medalist(s) PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Antwerp, Belgium May 9, 2021 - May 22, 2021
1st place, gold medalist(s) BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022 Lisbon, Portugal June 15, 2021 - June 19, 2021
2nd place, silver medalist(s) IEM Cologne 2022 Cologne, Germany July 7, 2022 - July 17, 2022
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) IEM Katowice 2023 Katowice, Poland Feb 4th - Feb 12th 2023

Individual awards and accolades

Rankings

MVP

  • ESL One New York 2016
  • 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[55]
  • StarSeries Season 7, 2019
  • IEM Katowice 2020
  • ESL Pro League Season 12: Europe 2020
  • BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020
  • DreamHack Masters Spring 2021
  • Starladder CIS RMR 2021
  • IEM Cologne 2021
  • ESL Pro League Season 14 2021
  • PGL Major Stockholm 2021
  • Blast Premier: World Final 2021
  • BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022
  • IEM Cologne 2022

EVP

Other awards

  • Esports Awards, PC Player of the Year, 2018[57]
  • Esports, PC Player of the Year, 2021[58]
  • The Game Awards, Best Esports Player, 2021[47]
  • Player of the Year (HLTV Award), 2022[59]
  • AWPer of the Year (Panel Award), 2022[59]
  • Player of the Year (HLTV Award), 2021[59]
  • Intel Grand Slam Season 3 Winner[60]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ukrainian: Олександр Олегович Костилєв[1]
    Russian: Александр Олегович Костылев, tr. Aleksandr Olegovich Kostilev

References

  1. 1 2 "At esports tournament, Ukrainian 'Counter-Strike' star calls for 'peace for Ukraine'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  2. ↑ "S1mple" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  3. ↑ "HLTV names s1mple the best player in the world over dev1ce". dotesports.com. 20 January 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  4. ↑ "The Thorin Treatment: s1mple and the Path of Greatness". dotesports.com. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "Happy birthday, s1mple!". Natus Vincere. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "Origin of the surname Kostylev". analizfamilii.ru.
  7. 1 2 CS:GO Player Profile – s1mple – Natus Vincere. Valve. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  8. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Official: Hellraisers add s1mple".
  9. ↑ @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 stay my idol in this game" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ↑ Kornyshev, Phil (4 April 2017). "A Brief History of Bans in CS:GO". Esports Insider. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  11. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "s1mple, "I'm sorry for my actions."".
  12. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Germany - ESL". ESL Play. Archived from the original on 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  13. ↑ "Thorin's Take: No Company for Young Men". Dexerto.com. 8 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  14. ↑ Bajaj, Abhisek (8 March 2019). "s1mple and the unquenched thirst for a Major title". Talkesport. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  15. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Slams Flipsid3 Teammates".
  16. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Liquid sign s1mple".
  17. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Returns to Liquid Roster".
  18. ↑ Lahti, Evan (7 October 2016). "Insane CS:GO Double-Noscope Memorialized as In Game Graffiti". PC Gamer.
  19. ↑ Bektaş, Bünyamin "BenjaCS". "s1mple, "We'll Do Everything We Can"".
  20. ↑ Švejda, Milan "Striker". "S1mple Replaces Zeus in Na'Vi".
  21. 1 2 Burazin, Zvonimir "Professeur". "Top 20 Players of 2016: s1mple (4)". HLTV. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  22. ↑ Švejda, Milan "Striker". "GuardiaN and seized Step Down From Natus Vincere".
  23. ↑ Švejda, Milan "Striker". "Natus Vincere Bring in Zeus and Kane, seized Returns".
  24. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Na'Vi Confirm Electronic Signing".
  25. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 Players of 2017: s1mple (8)". hltv.org. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  26. ↑ Mira, Luís. "dead: "flamie was at the airport when s1mple said he did not want to come; we wanted NiKo and shox at first" *". HLTV.org. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  27. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Wins StarSeries MVP Medal".
  28. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Claims DH Marseille MVP Award".
  29. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Claims StarSeries S5 MVP Award".
  30. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Secures CS:GO Asia Championship MVP".
  31. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Wins ESL One Cologne MVP Award".
  32. ↑ Chiu, Stephen. "From Unheralded to Undisputed, Astralis 2018". VPEsports. Archived from the original on 2019-07-20. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  33. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "S1mple Secures BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen MVP Award".
  34. ↑ Shields, Duncan (March 13, 2019). "Thorin's Take, the Superlative S1mple". VPesports. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  35. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 Players of 2018 s1mple (1)".
  36. ↑ Chiu, Stephen. "The s1mple Era". VPEsports. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  37. ↑ "Device: "Cейчас s1mple является лучшим игроком в мире, и это неоспоримо"". Cybersports (in Russian). 11 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  38. ↑ Steiner, Dustin (8 April 2019). "How S1mple Proved He's CS:GO's GOAT at StarSeries". Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  39. ↑ Phillips, Dom (20 January 2019). "S1mple, The Ukrainian Superstar – Part 2: The King".
  40. ↑ Michael, Cale (22 April 2018). "S1mple continues to prove that he's one of the best CS:GO players in the world". Dotesports. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  41. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Na'Vi Close in on Boombl4 Deal". hltv.org. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  42. ↑ "Na'Vi complete reverse sweep of Gambit in CIS RMR event final". gamelevate.com. July 4, 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  43. ↑ Scott Robertson (31 October 2021). "Na'Vi cap off 3-0 run in Legends Stage with victory over NiP, qualify for PGL Stockholm Major playoffs". Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  44. ↑ Aaron Alford (7 November 2021). "S1mple and NaVi make history, winning first major without dropping a single map". Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  45. ↑ Arron Dempsey (8 November 2021). "s1mple adds Major MVP to collection". hltv.org. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  46. ↑ "The PGL Major grand finals will be G2 vs. Na'Vi". Upcomer. 2021-11-06. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  47. 1 2 "Game Awards 2021: 'It Takes Two' wins game of the year, Activision Blizzard leaves with no wins, new 'Elden Ring' trailer details lore". Washington Post. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  48. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 Players of 2017: s1mple (8)". HLTV. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  49. ↑ Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Top 20 players of 2018: s1mple (1)". HLTV. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  50. ↑ Burazin, Zvonimir "Professeur". "Top 20 players of 2019: s1mple (2)". HLTV. Retrieved 29 Feb 2020.
  51. ↑ Milan, Švejda "Striker". "Top 20 players of 2020: s1mple (2)". HLTV. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  52. ↑ Milan, Švejda "Striker". "Top 20 players of 2021: s1mple (1)". HLTV. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  53. ↑ Miles, Lucas "LucasAM". "Top 20 players of 2022: s1mple (1)". HLTV. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  54. ↑ "Top 20 players of 2023: s1mple (7)". HLTV. 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  55. ↑ "BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018". HLTV.org. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  56. ↑ "FACEIT Major: the EVPs". HLTV.org. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  57. ↑ Hale, Jacob (13 November 2018). "The winners of the Esports Awards 2018". Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  58. ↑ "Esports Awards 2021 | Esports Awards". esportsawards.com. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  59. 1 2 3 "HLTV Profile for s1mple". hltv.org. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  60. ↑ Miles, Lucas (September 13, 2021). "HLTV article on IGS S3". hltv.org. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
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