In early May, the Counter-Strike professional s1mple announced that he would play for FaZe at IEM Dallas. He has now played his first matches.
Who is it about? Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev (27), a Ukrainian Counter-Strike professional.
- The 26-year-old Ukrainian is considered one of the best Counter-Strike players of all time. s1mple reached the peak of his career at Natus Vincere (NaVi).
- s1mple played for NaVi from 2016 to 2023. With the team, he won several tournaments, such as IEM Katowice 2020 and the PGL Major 2021 in Stockholm.
- For his performances in various competitions, he has also been awarded the MVP of a tournament multiple times. He received the award a total of 21 times, with only the French player ZywOo receiving it more often (25).
In early May, s1mple joined the FaZe Clan team. There, he now plays alongside Danish player Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who leads the team as the in-game leader (IGL).
Strong individual performance despite loss
How did the match go for s1mple and his team? s1mple’s debut for FaZe took place at IEM Dallas 2025 against Team Liquid, where FaZe ultimately had to concede 0-2. However, s1mple was able to impress some fans with his individual performance.
The Ukrainian stood out as the statistically best player of his team and was the only FaZe player to maintain a positive KD (38:31). Especially on the second map, where he finished with 21:13, he made a positive impression. Additionally, he received the highest performance rating of his team at 1.12.
During the match, however, it seemed that FaZe had not yet found their rhythm with the new lineup. This is measured by the fact that the team had 2 new players. karrigan, the IGL of FaZe, commented optimistically: “Not the best start, but with 2 replacement players, a lot of chaos, and some confusion in a few rounds. It should get better from now on.”
Fans are glad that s1mple’s career is not over yet
What do the fans say about s1mple’s debut? Many CS fans who watched the match are convinced of s1mple’s performance against Liquid. It was clear to observers that despite a long break, he is still a strong player, even if his “best time” has already passed.
Fans comment that their GOAT (i.e., the greatest of all time) still has it and criticize the performance of the rest of the team. Here are some examples:
- One fan raves: “My GOAT still has it.” – Via X
- Another user states: “That s1mple is the top performer at FaZe is embarrassing for Ellige and Frozen” – via X
- Another fan is happy: “s1mple is not washed. I’m happy. Twistzz [Team Liquid] was really good, no one from FaZe could keep up.”
Despite the fairly good performance, there are still some users on social media who do not believe that s1mple still belongs among the best players.
Meanwhile, FaZe played the second match of IEM Dallas against the weaker-rated team “BC.Game” and won it 2:0. s1mple was again the best player at FaZe, with 39 kills/deaths and a rating of 1.63. Here, too, some comment that this performance is not good since it was not against a top team.
Not only s1mple is competing for a new team at IEM Dallas. The 19-year-old Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov has also found new teammates. His new team is said to have paid a lot for the former player of G2 Esports: 19-year-old transfers to a new team in Counter-Strike 2 for an insane amount – CEO justifies letting such a talent go
