s1mple – All Articles
After the first LAN tournament in over a year finally drew to an end, only one team remained the undisputed champions of the world, Natus Vincere. Dropping only three maps in their entire run, the CIS titans have silenced their domestic and international competition to become the new frontrunners to win the PGL Major and…
It is a surprise to no one that Astralis has become the dominant force in CS:GO over the past several months. HLTV.org places Astralis as #1 in the world, and this makes sense given their current track record. Astralis has placed 1st in three of the past five events. In the other two events, they…
The Game Awards are back again this year, handing out 29 different awards to a large spread of various games and esports. This took place Thursday, December 12 in the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Amidst a number of new game announcements and the Xbox Series X reveal, nominees included games such as Death Stranding and Super Smash…
Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan was the first match of the IEM Katowice 2019 Major Playoffs. FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere have rosters overloaded with talent. With that being said, many thought that this would be a close series between the two teams. FaZe Clan picked Inferno as the map they wanted to play. Natus…
The Young Prodigy In the world of sports there are always prodigies. Esports also has its share of prodigies. The professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene has seen quite a few young prodigies. For example, Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip and Oleksandr “s1mple“ Kostyliev were both young prodigies who went pro and made it evident that they were star caliber players.…
At Global Offensive’s beginning, every conversation began and ended with the Ninjas in Pyjamas. The legendary lineup encompassed; the world’s best player by leaps and bounds, Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund; second best player, Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg, dominant entry fragger Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg, in-game leader Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström, and role player Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson. When Fifflaren decided…
When Natus Vincere picked up Counter-Strike prodigy Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev, they were supposed to be the best team in the world. After narrowly winning out in ESL One New York, the team was fairly underwhelming. Na’Vi reacquired Danylo ‘Zeus’ Teslenko and they were primed to be a top five team. This prophecy never came to fruition either; the public seems…
For some time now Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has been tipped to become the best player in the world. Whether it was way back on HellRaisers after making the playoffs of Dreamhack Winter 2014 or after carrying Team Liquid to a major final, it was expected that he would eventually be the world number one. Everyone…
The PGL Major saw a champion from the CIS emerge, though it wasn’t who one might have expected. Gambit surprised the world under Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko’s leadership, and took home the coveted grand prize and major title in Krakow. While this is the best case scenario for a well-deserved veteran in-game leader and his troops, it is…
Link to part one in case you missed it. Day 3 – Saturday – Semifinals A chilled morning Since the semifinals didn’t start until four o clock local time we slept in till our hearts were content. We left to go out for breakfast at about ten – we’d had enough of cereal bars and…
Esports has been a huge part of my life ever since I discovered it. Playing games competitively was an escape from the many trials and tribulations I’ve been through over the past four years. For the entirety of the game, the only outcome that mattered was the win. My journey started with Call of Duty,…
On Wednesday NiP played their final ECS Season 3 matches with two stand-ins following Adam “friberg” Friberg and Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg’s absences. The Swedes managed to get hold of two Natus Vincere players in Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Egor “flamie” Vasilyev to cover them. While qualification was near impossible, the move sparked discussion in the…
There is a myth that plagues the mindset of the North American Counter-Strike scene. It’s a falsity that has infected players, casters and leaders of the scene. It’s a bronze idol that has contributed to the instability of the scene’s teams and perhaps reduced its level of results. And it’s a lie so insidious, I’ve even…
