Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has been largely missing from action since October 2023, only playing one game of competitive CS2 for The Falcons back in March earlier this year. Back then, the circumstances with different, as s1mple was replacing Mohammad “BOROS” Malhas due to BOROS’s inability to play in the PGL Copenhagen Major. Since BOROS was a rifler for the team, the Ukranian could not make the most of his skills with the AWP, and hence, the team lost to Metizport in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.
The Falcons’s recent struggles
The Falcons have been struggling all year this year, seeming to have the talent needed to make history but just falling short of something every single time. At the start of the year, they made it to IEM Katowice semi-finals, but since then, they haven’t been able to make it past the top 10, facing elimination mostly during Group Stages. After one of their recent eliminations from IEM Cologne 2024 at the hands of FaZe, the team’s head coach, Danny "zonic" Sørensen, addressed the pressing matter:
"It’s better than where we come from. Yes, we’re getting better and better, but it’s simply going too slowly. With the ambitions that the Falcons have and what I am tasked with leading, we’re not managing to close out games and minimise our mistakes. Of course, mistakes happen; that’s always the case. But sometimes we make too big mistakes, and there’s just no excuse for it because we’ve been together for a while now," he admitted.
"It’s clear that we need to be in a position where it’s really enjoyable. Whether it’s these five or others, it’s hard to say. We’re always looking at all parameters to see where we can improve, but there are also things that mean we can’t keep underperforming without something changing,” he concluded, hinting at potential roster changes.
Preparing for the Shanghai Major
So far, it seems that s1mple has been that change that zonic has desperately needed. Having s1mple on the AWP will not only allow the legend himself to shine the most but also ensure team-wide compatibility as SunPayus was also the team’s former AWPer. With that said, s1mple seems to be equally excited about the opportunity, looking forward to playing in the upcoming Shanghai Major. He expressed his excitement on X (formerly Twitter):
"Time to be back at LAN, that was my goal from the very beginning - to play the Shanghai Major! I’m very glad that we will have official games before we fix the mistakes and play the main tournament this year!
Thank you for the opportunity to Falcons and NAVI
See you fans ?? ❤️
I will do everything not to disappoint you ?"
