We have approached the final episode of our series about the most valuable players of CS:GO majors. The events of the last CS:GO Major in Stockholm are still fresh in our minds. It is always a pleasure to recall the grand victory of Natus Vincere and their main star. Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev, perhaps the most famous player in the history of CS, was a sniper who changed the competitive Counter-Strike. He is an example for young players, a cyber-sportsman who made the shooter popular in the CIS (no matter how haters are trying to deny it). The road to his first victory in the Majors was as dramatic and long as possible. He had to go through a lot of abuse, crucial setbacks, and conflicts with teammates to reach his goal in the PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
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Biography
We could talk a lot about Oleksandr's life along the way to the top. No other pro-player has as many biographical videos from different creators as Kostyliev. S1mple himself occasionally refutes many of the facts stated in those materials. We, in turn, will try to bring you the main highlights. Oleksandr was born on October 2, 1997, in Kyiv. He grew up and spent most of his life there. His brother Alexey brought him into the world of eSports. The elder Kostyliev has always supported s1mple at all the stages of his career (he has also been a content maker for NaVi for several years now). Since his youth, Oleksandr showed an outstanding performance and won local tournaments in various versions of Counter-Strike. His professional career began in 2013 when Kostyliev tried his hand on the pro scene in various mixed teams and then ended up in HellRaisers. Some difficulties in his professional growth arose after the rumors about skins swindles and one-time playing with cheats outside of competitions. ESL banned S1mple for several years, which did not stop him from competing in the DreamHack Winter 2014 Major. During that period, many complained about the player's toxicity and attitude toward teammates. Then Kostyliev ended up in FlipSid3 Tactics, but the ESL ban prevented him from participating in the major events of 2015. After that, Oleksandr briefly returned to HellRaisers and began to prepare for the riskiest journey of his life.
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While playing for FlipSid3, Kostyliev got to play alongside Spencer Hiko Martin, a Team Liquid player. They developed a warm relationship. Once s1mple was stripped of his ban, he received a North American organization offer, which Hiko facilitated. A high-profile transfer took his career to a whole new level, but the player had to give up his usual habits. He wound up in a foreign country without family, friends, or native language. Kostyliev spent this entire time playing Counter-Strike. His progress was plain to see. Together with Liquid, s1mple played at the majors quite successfully until he lost an upsetting match after the historical highlight from coldzera on Mirage in the semi-finals. Then he was defeated by the selfsame Brazilians in the final of the next major in Cologne. At that tournament, Olexsandr took his place in history with one graffiti-worthy episode.
The North American organization did not provide the roles that s1mple wanted. Besides, he got tired of living away from home and decided to leave Team Liquid. Natus Vincere quickly offered a contract to the young sniper, and in the future, he would bring them a multitude of victories.
As a part of NaVi Kostylev became the best player in the world, won many competitions, and once more played in the major final against Astralis at FACEIT Major London 2018. However, the cyber athlete still didn't manage to conquer the main tournament. Alexander said that he wouldn't Natus Vincere until he won the majors.
PGL Major Stockholm 2021
We had to wait for this major two years because of the pandemic. A long time passed since the Berlin events, NaVi ended the era of Astralis and ascended to the Olympus of the CS:GO pro scene. This roster was one of the favorites for the main tournament in Stockholm. The team began their performance with the Legends Stage, where they proved themselves stronger than Heroic and Virtus.pro in their opening matches. Kostyliev, together with Denis electroNic Sharipov and Valeriy b1t Vakhovskiy, showed the best results in the tournament. Natus Vincere defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas as they fought to make it to the playoff. The first opponent of the playoff series was Team Vitality, s1mple faced Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut - his main rival of the last years. The Frenchman took the title of the best player on the planet from Kostyliev twice. In a hard-fought match, Natus Vincere beat their opponent 2-0 on the maps.
The CIS semi-final against Gambit Esports was supposed to be intriguing. The teams fought each other all year in 2021 in the finals of grand tournaments. At the major, the Born to Win destroyed their opponent (16-8, 16-3). The final against G2 was a great one. The teams had already met in the decisive matches in Katowice and Cologne, where NaVi was the stronger team both times. Natus Vincere was extremely close to losing the first map (Nuke) in the tournament, but Nikola NiKo Kovač missed the back three times, thus allowing Natus Vincere to make their comeback. The CIS team turned the tide in overtime and won the match and the entire tournament. NaVi made a historic achievement for the first time in history without giving up any maps to their opponents. S1mple finished the tournament with a rating of 1.47 and unequivocally became the MVP of the tournament. Oleksandr kept his word.
Further career
After the triumph in Sweden, Kostyliev and his team continued their era of dominance, breaking Nicolai dev1ce Reedtz's eternal record for the number of MVP titles in one year. In 2021 s1mple was named the most valuable player of the competition eight times. NaVi's victory march ended at IEM Katowice 2022, where the moral component played its part. The current political events affected the atmosphere in the team, which prevented them from winning in Katowice and at ESL Pro League Season 15. The team is approaching the upcoming major seriously. The players intend to repeat their success and, perhaps, win a major championship for the last time with this squad. As for our hero today, he will not leave the organization, but he is considering trying his luck overseas in a few years, or Valorant, for example. Many viewers and players call Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev the best player in history. He changed his attitude toward the game. He dominated every team by himself. His level is beyond reach.
During his career, the sniper has won 16 major tournaments, been named MVP 19 times, and made the HLTV top 20 lists six times (4th place in 2016, 8th in 2017, 1st in 2018, 2nd in 2019, 2nd in 2020, 1st in 2021). On most maps, his ranking is the highest in the CS:GO pro scene history. S1mple is the best at what he does.
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