TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2019: S1MPLE (2)
Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev places second in our top 20 players of 2019 ranking, powered by Xtrfy and LOOT.BET, after a historic year during which he was the most consistent player and performed admirably at the biggest events.
Top 20 players of 2019: Introduction
s1mple's road to glory started under the helm of his current coach, Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy. At the start of 2014, then 16-year-old s1mple played his first HLTV matches with the veteran IGL in Courage, competing in the StarSeries IX online league and impressing against some of the best teams in the world. s1mple's talent was soon confirmed on LAN, at Voronezh Cup, where that same lineup but under the name of Hashtag claimed the title ahead of Egor "flamie" Vasilyev's USSR and Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow's HR.mix.
"My first victory was with Courage Gaming, who had B1ad3, z1, WorldEdit and pr1zrak - at Voronezh Cup 2014. That was when I understood that I was going to become a professional CS:GO player." - s1mple after placing fourth on the Top 20 list of 2016
It took six more months and an unfruitful stint in Amazing Gaming for s1mple to be offered a chance at the higher tier, when he joined HellRaisers in place of Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev. It was a massive step up, an unproven teenager slotting alongside some of the most experienced players from the region in a squad that was supposed to be the CIS superteam but that failed to live up to that tag.
Surpassing even the most optimistic expectations, the youngster averaged a 1.20 rating while playing for HellRaisers in 2014. His showings at the two big international LANs he attended were commendable as well, especially the 1.12-rated effort in HellRaisers's 5-8th finish at the first Major s1mple played, DreamHack Winter 2014. Taking down fnatic and Cloud9 wasn't enough to keep s1mple in the team, however, as he was ousted at the end of the year due to a combination of two things that haunted him early in his career.
The first one was his ESL ban, which dated back to CS 1.6 and was extended until February 2016 due to s1mple trying to evade it by creating a new account. The ban kept him out of contention for any ESL events — including their two Majors that were held in 2015. The second problem was his abrasive personality, which resulted in internal issues in teams. That had been the case in his departure from Courage earlier in the year and also led to his removal from HellRaisers — the latter being additionally spiced up by s1mple's inflammatory comments on stream.
While those issues dissuaded top teams from s1mple, his raw skill couldn't be overlooked by those lower in the pecking order. Alongside his former HellRaisers teammate Yegor "markeloff" Markelov, he would soon rejoin B1ad3 in dAT, a team that would be signed by FlipSid3 shortly afterward. s1mple missed a number of official matches that year, as his team played with Vadim "DavCost" Vasilyev as a stand-in at ESL events, and he started playing more as a hybrid than an AWPer, a trend that would continue until late 2017.
The results in FlipSid3 were underwhelming — the team managed upsets but was unable to fight for titles even at smaller events —, and frustration started to come out, with ESWC 2015, where his team had Spencer "Hiko" Martin as a stand-in, proving to be the final straw for s1mple. Following the event in Canada, the Ukrainian announced that he would be leaving the squad and would "not play with some of the players anymore".
s1mple spent the rest of the 2015 hopping between HellRaisers, Worst Players, and FlipSid3 for short stints, but had little success, notably failing to qualify for the first Major he was eligible for since 2014 - DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca.
A new leaf was turned at the start of 2016. The first Major of the year was organized by MLG, making s1mple eligible to play it, and the ESL ban would be behind him before the second Major rolled around. A radical move was on the cards - going back to HellRaisers wasn't an option anymore, Natus Vincere weren't looking to change as they were in prime form, so the 18-year-old had to look elsewhere. His friendship with Hiko opened an option for him to join Liquid, making the huge leap across the Atlantic.
"I think my favourite [former teammate] was Hiko. He helped me understand a lot of things right from the very start of my professional career."
The Ukrainian would go on to have his most successful year yet, from a team and individual perspective, starting with a top-four finish at the MLG Columbus Major — where Liquid fell to Luminosity and the infamous jumping-double from Marcelo "coldzera" David. s1mple wouldn't stick in this team for long either, though, as three months later he would step down from the North American squad. Once again, difficulties with team atmosphere were cited, with homesickness also being an issue for the young Ukrainia,n who was the only CS player living and playing in Liquid's League of Legends team house at the time.
While on the bench of Liquid, s1mple had a stint with his friends' team Worst Players, before coming back to the lineup of the North American team for the second Major - ESL One Cologne. Despite the circumstances, Liquid went on an even stronger run than earlier in the year and reached the grand final, in which they were again defeated by Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and co.
That was the end of the road for s1mple in Liquid, as the long-awaited call up to Natus Vincere would finally come in August of 2016, after it felt like the CIS side had plateaued with their former lineup. The decision was made to remove Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko and move the in-game leadership to Sergey "starix" Ischuk, the team's coach. At the time, that seemed like a good option, but just two weeks later Valve announced the rule which is now still in place, limiting how much coaches could communicate during matches.
Lacking leadership, Natus Vincere had volatile results for the rest of the year, but nonetheless managed to pick up a win at ESL One New York - s1mple's first Big event trophy and MVP award of his career. Great impact in his teams' wins across the year earned s1mple the title of the fourth best player of 2016, announcing his arrival at the top level.
"It was not a bad or a good year for us. We lacked preparation due to a lot of tournaments, we changed a lot of positions, our captain [caller], had to adapt to the new coaching rules - all of that affected us a lot" - s1mple talking about 2016
In 2017, outstanding performances from s1mple still weren't being converted into consistently good results by Natus Vincere, which brought even more criticism his way as fans blamed his personality for the lack of team success. Things would finally take a turn for the better as Zeus rejoined the squad after a failed PGL Krakow Major (12-14th finish with s1mple averaging 1.43 rating over four maps).
The move would see Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács leave the team and s1mple in the main AWP role for the first time at this level. His adaptation was instantaneous, but it would take the addition of Denis "electronic" Sharipov — s1mple's side-kick ever since — for Natus Vincere to win their first trophy of 2017 at DreamHack Open Winter
Finishing 8th on the list of the top 20 players for 2017, s1mple stated he was aiming to do better in the following year - but firstly as a team, and then as an individual. These kinds of team-first, positive comments were becoming more and more common from the Ukranian, with "#news1mple" starting to win people over. He spoke about his personal development later in the year, saying that "there is no point being the bad guy".
"Sometimes I pick the wrong words when pointing out mistakes, which is an issue that I worked on a lot in 2019. There is always room for improvement or learning something new."
s1mple continued transforming critics into fans as time went on, with the yet-unseen level he unleashed in 2018 helping that cause significantly — after all, everyone likes winners.
The first big event of 2018 was the ELEAGUE Boston Major, where his side reached the semi-finals and he posted a 1.23 rating, but that would end up being a below-average event for the star player. Natus Vincere finished second at the next two events they played — StarSeries i-League Season 4 Finals and DreamHack Masters Marseille — but s1mple was awarded the MVP at both of them, with his obscene 1.52 rating from the latter foreshadowing an incredible year.
"I mean, you know... How do I explain it? It's okay to get the MVP award, but as I see it I would rather win with my team and give the MVP to an Astralis guy, than getting MVP and losing against them." - s1mple after the DH Masters Marseille grand final.
In the middle of the 2018, Natus Vincere won three events in a row and, after the last victory, from ESL Cologne, seemed closer than anyone to dethroning Astralis. They had their shot to do so, in the grand final of the FACEIT Major after the break, but that match would end up being one of the rare disappointing showings from s1mple. He would end the year by amassing six MVPs and four trophies, with an incredible 1.33 rating that didn't drop off when it mattered the most, in Big events (1.34) or in playoffs (1.30). He was also unmatched in terms of consistency and pure fragging, topping most of the statistical categories for the year.
There was no discussion to be had about who the best player of 2018 was: the Ukrainian dominated from start to finish and it seemed like no one would ever be able to match his individual capabilities.
"My main goal is to be a part of history. If every player reminds themselves of their goal and pursues it, then nothing or no one can stop them.
"I am sure that I have not hit my peak and that I can play better. I know what I need to work on and I am doing so." s1mple at the start of 2019
A second-place finish at the ICE Challenge invitational tournament preceded the first Big Event of the year for Natus Vincere - the IEM Katowice Major. s1mple kept up his 2018 level in Poland, outshining Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut in the first meeting of the two best players of the year (1.30 rating in BO1). Natus Vincere got into the playoffs easily, suffering just one defeat in the group stage — to Liquid, s1mple's former team and a squad that ended up being his team's kryptonite.
With the North Americans upset by ENCE in the quarters, it seemed like the CIS powerhouse had a clear path to the grand final, as it was only the Finnish underdogs standing in their way in the semis.
Regardless of the fact that s1mple played one of his best series of the year against the Finns (1.47 rating), the match was remembered by the 1v3 attempt he was unable to convert at 13-13 on the final map, Mirage. Sami "xseveN" Laasanen secured the round for his team and left Natus Vincere without a grand final appearance.
"The moment after xseveN killed me was one of the most disappointing moments ever. I was extremely stressed and afterwards I had a sharp pain in my chest for about 2-3 seconds, as I understood that that specific round had been key and that I shouldn't have lost it because of an unfortunate miss.
"[Could we have challenged Astralis in the final?] I think that our team would've played better than at the FACEIT Major Final and showed a respectable performance on the day."
Revenge was served warm to ENCE at the following event, StarSeries i-League Season 7 Finals in Shanghai. s1mple spearheaded Natus Vincere through the group stage before putting on another masterclass, a 1.41-rated series against ENCE, to eliminate Aleksi "allu" Jalli and co. in the quarter-finals. He boosted that up to 1.71 for the following series against Renegades and then helped his side defeat fnatic in the grand final to claim his first trophy and MVP of the year.
"The victory in Shanghai was my favorite moment of 2019. We had a difficult game against ENCE, and after we secured the victory we barely felt any of the opponents for the remainder of the day."
At that point, predicting that the title and MVP from StarSeries would be the only ones s1mple would earn over the course of 2019 would be unreasonable, but that was exactly what wound up happening. Issues within Natus Vincere were growing bigger and, behind the scenes, the team started to explore options to replace both Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev and Zeus.
It took three poor events for the team to pull the trigger on a roster change. Fourth and fifth-place finishes at BLAST Pro Series Madrid and Miami, followed by a group stage exit from ESL Pro League, where they were eliminated by North and Heroic, led to the first lineup change in over a year. The last defeat must have been a particularly tough pill to swallow for s1mple, as even his 36K-15D performance on the final map of the series against Benjamin "blameF" Bremer and co. wasn't enough for a victory.
Missing out on ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, not participating in ECS, and skipping DreamHack Masters Dallas left Natus Vincere with a month-and-a-half of off-time to acclimatize to their new roster, which now featured Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov instead of veteran Edward.
The new lineup had its debut at one of the biggest events of the year, ESL One Cologne, bringing excitement right from the start. s1mple went massive in the opening BO1 with a 1.53 rating to put his team in position to edge out mousesports 16-14, and then met Liquid in a game that brought us another unforgettable s1mple moment.
On Dust2, on match point and in a 3v1 advantage, s1mple went for a knife kill that backfired in the worst possible way. The failed knife turned into a Nick "nitr0" Cannella clutch and an overtime win for Liquid, who eventually got the 2-1 series victory. The Ukrainian star finished Dust2 with a 42-25 K-D and was impeccable for the rest of the tournament, pushing Natus Vincere to the semi-final, but there they would falter to Liquid once again, leaving s1mple with a top-four finish and his second EVP of the year.
"I think that from a specific moment Liquid really started feeling confident in their abilities and felt their superiority and advantage over us. We didn't try out different strategies [to beat them], we knew how they played at the time. After we made roster adjustments we managed to win against them and break their streak."
With Cologne finishing, Natus Vincere's first half of the year was already over, leading into the second Major of the year, StarLadder Berlin. s1mple's quest to win a Major would once again be cut short as, after a strong run in the New Challengers Stage, he didn't play up to his level in the quarter-finals against NRG, who ran out 2-0 victors. BLAST Pro Series Moscow followed shortly, and with the news that it was going to be Zeus' last event with the team, Natus Vincere were not expected to do well, so it was no surprise that they bombed out in last place.
"I would say our preparation for the Berlin Major was good, but it wasn't long enough. At the time, NRG deserved the victory, even though every single one of us believed that we could have done better. It's difficult to show peak individual performance without full-fledged team play."
The StarLadder Berlin Major and BLAST Pro Series Moscow were the two events where s1mple did not stand out as much as he usually does - he only averaged a rating 5% higher than his team's average at the Major (yearly average was +15%) and finished with his lowest rating of 2019 in Moscow, 1.06.
"The worst moment was the period of time when we couldn't decide our future as a team, a time when we didn't know what would happen with our captain and what to do next."
It only took two weeks for Natus Vincere to debut their latest roster, featuring GuardiaN. To accommodate for the Slovakian AWPer, s1mple switched back to a hybrid, secondary-AWPing role for the first time since GuardiaN left the team back in 2017. The initial impressions were great: the Ukrainian was on point in the group stage of DreamHack Masters Malmö but his team was once again stopped in the playoffs early, losing 2-1 to ZywOo's Vitality.
"Initially, the hybrid role was awkward, but later it became a lot easier. I would say I played above average in that role, according to my judgment."
Nonetheless, s1mple bagged another EVP for his performance at what was one of the most competitive tournaments in 2019 and headed into StarSeries i-League Season 8 with promise, only for the team to shockingly exit the tournament in last place after defeats to Heroic and G2. Better form was shown at BLAST Copenhagen, where s1mple earned his fourth EVP with a 1.38 rating, but despite breaking the losing streak to Liquid, Natus Vincere was unable to grab a spot in the grand final, finishing third.
"I don't think this meta had any impact on my performance level, but what I will say is that it was more difficult playing against CTs with the AUG than it is currently playing against Ts with the SG after the update."
The last of the "Big Five" events of 2019 was the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, where s1mple finished with his second-highest rating of the year, 1.39, while also putting in his lowest DPR, 0.53. Despite electronic and s1mple being the two highest-rated players at the event — and by a significant margin — the CIS side were again unable to reach the grand final, with this time being fnatic the team to stop them.
The third match between ZywOo and s1mple took place at EPICENTER, the final event of the year, with the Frenchman outshining the Ukranian in the series (1.55 vs. 0.81 series rating), and the tournament overall ending equally underwhelming for Natus Vincere - with a 5-6th place finish.
Looking at 2019 as a whole, s1mple was able to keep up a very high level throughout roster and role changes in Natus Vincere, but wasn't to surpass the heights of 2018 after all. A few underwhelming playoff series ended up costing him EVPs and MVPs, but at the biggest events of the year he was always up to the task.
"The year wasn't easy, but in every situation, I did my best to put out my maximum. I didn't stop training or believing in any version of our roster."
Moving on to 2020, s1mple's goals haven't changed:
"Our main goal was, and remains, to become the best team of the year."
Why was s1mple the 2nd best player of 2019?
As the number one fragger and the most consistent player of 2019, s1mple once again put up historically great numbers. Not only did he lead in terms of kills per round (0.84), he recorded multi-kills the most often (22.0% of his rounds) and was the most successful player in opening duels (64.3% won).
s1mple also stood out with the fourth-highest damage output (84.2 per round), fifth-fewest deaths per round (0.59) and fifth-highest KAST (74.6%), which all helped him achieve the year's second-highest rating of 1.29 — the fourth-highest yearly rating of all time, only behind his own from 2018, ZywOo's from 2019, and Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund's from 2013.
On top of that, s1mple's ability to perform almost all the time was unmatched. He recorded a rating of 1.00 or higher in an incredible 87% of maps played (highest by far), which contributed to him having one of the highest floors of all players as he performed well above average at all of his events, with a rating of 1.16 or higher at 11 of the 12 notable tournaments that he attended.
What solidified him at such a high spot is that he played exceptionally well at the year's most competitive tournaments, coming away with four EVPs from the "Big Five" events (the two Majors, ESL One Cologne, DreamHack Masters Malmö and the EPL S10 Finals) and averaging the second-highest rating (1.27) at them.
Furthermore, his sole MVP award at StarSeries i-League S7 was one of the most convincing performances of the year (1.43 rating across 19 maps) and he always performed in the playoffs of Big events (1.24 rating, second-highest), albeit in a smaller sample size of 26 maps. In the end, it was that lack of deeper big playoff performances and therefore lack of awards (EVPs and MVPs) that prevented him from challenging for the No.1 spot.