How did SimpL get into esports?
How S1mple Got into Esports
When S1mple finally entered the big esports scene, he began to show divine results alongside player Hiko. S1mple won numerous MVP awards at tournaments. After that, he joined his favorite team Na’Vi, where everyone spoke his native language. A year after joining, S1mple and his team started to show good results and became the world’s top 2 team. This is how S1mple started his journey. Alexander «S1mple» Kostylev is now the best player in the world according to HLTV rankings. Currently, he plays as a sniper in the world’s top 2 team, Natus Vincere. But he didn’t become so popular overnight. Before that day, he had participated in many tournaments in his hometown of Kyiv, even competing in a Ukrainian school league. He was a frequent guest at a computer club located very close to his home. In the fall of 2013, Sasha «S1mple» Kostylev played CS 1.6 on his favorite mix service (his home computer couldn’t handle CS:GO well). He was doing well, entering the top 100 best players on the site, winning a couple of mix games per day. At that time, big events were happening in the world of CS:GO: the first Major was announced, and in Kyiv, preparations were underway for the first major LAN championship for this game — the qualifiers for the Paris ESWC 2013. In the semi-finals, S1mple and his team faced Astana Dragons, who were considered one of the strongest teams in the world at that time. They only managed to put up a fight on one map, Mirage, losing 10:16, but making a loud statement about themselves for the first time. S1mple continued playing mixes, but he was repeatedly kicked out of the prestigious CISGL.GOTIME for alleged cheating. It got to the point where an admin forced Kostylev to play exclusively from the Kyiv Esports Arena, in the presence of other players. His first serious team was Hashtag, and Kostylev competed in SLTV StarSeries IX, then went on to win gold at the Voronezh Cup 2014. In late April 2014, S1mple left Hashtag and returned to LAN Dodgers. At the same time, the Kyivan started actively streaming, attracting more and more people to follow his successes. A few days after winning in the «pro series,» Kostylev was offered a trial period at HellRaisers, a team of much higher level. HellRaisers were pleased, as the 17-year-old Kyivan’s trial results exceeded all expectations. After a year of playing in HR, he had to leave due to a conflict with the team, as S1mple could not control his emotions. This is all I wanted to say about this remarkable and very talented player. Thank you for reading this article! I hope you enjoyed this topic!
Depending on NAVI’s needs, S1mple can play any position on the map, and he actively moves around the map and chooses unconventional positions. Even the notoriously sparing of praise in the CIS scene, Duncan «Thorin» Shields, is impressed by Alexander. Both S1mple and ZywOo have only two games against each other with a negative rating; in all other games, both players have ratings around 1.2 — 1.4. S1mple has a higher rating on all maps except for two. In the first two maps of the IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe final, Kostylev achieved a rating above 2. In the previous year, the best player was a Frenchman, and ZywOo has a chance to become the third player to claim first place in two consecutive seasons (in 2013 and 2014, GeT_RiGhT was the best, and in 2016 and 2017, it was Coldzera). On the other hand, S1mple will be the first player to be named the best not in two consecutive seasons. Below, we will explain why S1mple is our candidate. It is very difficult to play so well at the tier-1 level. Only two players managed to do so in the match between Heroic and Vitality at the autumn DreamHack Open Fall. On Nuke, Rene «TeSeS» Madsen made 37 kills, and on the decisive Mirage, he finished with a rating of 2.08 and 31 frags, while Casper «cadiaN» Møller.
The main intrigue of the year in CS:GO is the battle for the best player according to HLTV. There are two contenders: Alexander «S1mple» Kostylev and Mathieu «ZywOo» Herbaut. Both had outstanding seasons, but only one will receive the award. Alexander ended only two out of 18 maps with a negative K/D — in the group stage against Fnatic and Faze Clan. This is how true leaders step up. In matches against the top 20, S1mple is unrivaled. Kostylev leads in rating (1.29), opening frags (65.1% successful duels), multi-kills (54.4%), and kills per round (0.85). He is only surpassed by syrsoN in AWP kills per round (0.38 against 0.47). However, the statistic that shows S1mple’s advantage over other players the most is the difference between kills and deaths. Kostylev’s K/D is significantly higher than that of other pro players — +1138. For comparison, ZywOo has only +953. Even when NAVI is struggling, Alexander continues to dominate the map. The Frenchman is still learning. ZywOo in the IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe grand final on Dust 2. When choosing the player of the year, HLTV considers both titles and MVP awards, as well as personal statistics. It seems that in the sniper category, Kostylev is still the best.