If you somehow missed Part 1 of our take on the life and times of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, it was mostly focused on his personal life and early career. Now, we continue with the real deal – Kostyliev’s achievements in CS:GO.
Personal and team achievements
Unlike other top CS:GO players who were at their peak in later stages of their careers, s1mple is already breaking all the records and he is only 22.
So far in his career, he has played for four teams in total. However, his first three were not good enough for him and he did not stick around a lot. However, it all changed once Natus Vincere invited him to represent their banner.
It is also important to mention that Kostyliev did not win a single tournament with HellRaisers, FlipSid3 Tactics and even Liquid. However, he racked up a total of 8 trophies during his time with Na`Vi and topped it off with 10 MVP awards.
First things first, let’s go over s1mple’s personal achievements. As mentioned above, a total of 10 MVP awards for someone who is only 22 years old says a lot. Here is a list of every event the Ukranian has dominated so far:
- ESL One New York 2016
- DreamHack Open Winter 2017
- StarSeries i-League Season 4
- DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018
- StarSeries i-League Season 5
- CS:GO Asia Championship 2018
- ESL One Cologne 2018
- BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018
- StarSeries i-League Season 7
- IEM Katowice 2020
Unlike some of his rivals, s1mple is still lacking that Major MVP award. However, we believe that this is just a matter of time as he is only getting better and better.
From our perspective, Natus Vincere finally has a team that is capable of carrying its own weight. That will enable the Ukrainian superstar to comfortably carry games without having to worry about his teammates.
Alongside MVP awards, we will go over his tournament trophies as well, so do not miss out.
Top 20 rankings
It is very rare to see that a particular player has won more individual achievements (10) than tournament trophies (8). This information itself says a lot about the potential this guy has.
As for his rankings in the Top 20, ever since 2016, s1mple has found his way in the Top 10. It all started with a solid showing throughout 2016 where he was crowned as the 4th best CS:GO player in the world.
However, Kostyliev saw a small decline as he was switching between a rifle and an AWP at the time. This showed in his drop to the 8th spot in 2017.
Still, s1mple soon found his rhythm in 2018 as he was crowned as the best CS:GO player. In 2019, another extremely talented individual stepped up and swept the scene. Even though it was a close competition, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut definitely deserved that No.1 spot as his team (Vitality) performed much better than Natus Vincere. All in all, being second-best is not that bad either.
What makes s1mple so good is his aggressive playstyle. You can never know what to expect from him as he does not care even if he is burning or being fully flashed. He will take the fight and more often than not, win the duel. As you might recall from our CS:GO Hall of Fame, he has more often than not dropped from the sky to snatch a win.
Tournaments won
So far in his CS:GO career, s1mple has played a total of 60 LAN events (including Majors). As mentioned above, he has won a total of 8 events:
- ESL One New York 2016
- DreamHack Open Winter 2017
- StarSeries i-League Season 5
- CS:GO Asia Championship 2018
- ESL One Cologne 2018
- BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018
- StarSeries i-League Season 7
- IEM Katowice 2020
Sadly, Natus Vincere have come close to winning a Major, but they always failed short in the grand finals. For s1mple, the FACEIT Major 2018 and ESL One Cologne 2016 (with Liquid) were some excellent tries but alas, no cigar.
All in all, s1mple definitely sets a high bar for other superstar players that are still finding their footing. His aggressive and loose style makes him very unpredictable and hard to counter. The only thing this Ukrainian wonderboy is missing is a Major trophy and we are positive that he will claim several of those in the later stage of his career.
If you somehow missed our series on the famous players across esports, check them out here:
READ MORE:
- The life and times of Topson – Part 1
- The life and times of Topson – Part 2
- The life and times of device – Part 1
- The life and times of device – Part 2
And make sure to come back next Saturday for another exciting story in the Life and Times of the best and brightest in esports, here, at EarlyGame.
