Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev

Ukraine became famous in cyberspace due to Oleksandr’s exertions. An interesting fact about this unusual gamer is that he went on assisting his ex-teams instead of mocking or ignoring them. Such generosity certainly deserves admiration.

Introduction with gaming

Oleksandr got acquainted with CS:GO in 2002 when he was just – 4 years old! He enjoyed watching his older sibling Alexey playing the game. Unlike many gamers, Oleksandr didn’t have trouble with education. He attended school, studied well, and entered university to study Chinese. Soon, the guy from a conservative family chose to devote his life to gaming. It wasn’t so easy as Alexey couldn’t share one PC with his younger brother. In fact, Oleksandr clicked on a computer mouse when Alexey was busy with a keyboard – they just didn’t have another solution.

Career development

The history of Oleksandr’s interaction under the «s1mple» nickname started in 2013. Before, he just practiced at the computer and investigated routes of the gaming world like every amateur. In 2013 in the process of a professional formation, «s1mple» managed to join LAN DODGERS, A-Gaming, and Courage Gaming. These organizations were not very popular, however, they impacted Oleksandr’s occupation and knowledge.
Slowly but surely, Oleksandr evolved his skills, intending to participate in an international tournament one day.

On 1 February 2014, before achieving the world’s confession, Oleksandr received an accusation from ESL that prohibited his game for – 2 years for fraud and resistance. Courage Gaming announced that ESL fell for the bait of Oleksandr’s ill-willers. Though Courage Gaming was brave enough that is suitable to its initials, to stand by s1mple’s side, in 2015, he joined two Ukrainian multi-gaming organizations – HellRaisers and Dynamic Symmetry, but in 5 months left the last one for Flipsid3 Tactics.

While being a part of HellRaisers, Oleksandr attacked Fnatic – a successful British team that contributed enough to Counter-Strike.

S1mple did an incredible thing – beat a powerful opponent and won gold to HellRaisers. No doubt, the Ukrainian shooter’s population rose sharply. S1mple’s sudden decision surprised a lot of fans. He rapidly declared about leaving HellRaisers in July 2015 cuz Oleksandr «needed to take a pause» as he explained.

Nevertheless, in 3 days, mass media discovered that s1mple joined a Belarusian unexperienced band Evolution, that only lasted – 1 month! Perhaps s1mple wanted to help hardworking amateurs, but his idea was crushed. There wasn’t a way back, so he tried luck in a Ukrainian group Worst Players, and kept in touch with ex-mates from HellRaisers and FlipSid3 Tactics. Flipsid3 Tactics established a crucial role in s1mple’s gaming destiny as it was the first outlandish community for the shooter. It might sound like a happy return, but Oleksandr burned all bridges with his past and wasn’t in a hurry to apply back.

In January 2016 he entered into a treaty with Team Liquid. He brought silver to his new American group at ESL One: Cologne 2016. Despite the triumph, Oleksandr preferred to fly back to his homeland and accept Natus Vincere’s manager’s proposal. From August 2016 till now he is a proud member of the Russian multi-gaming community. It wasn’t comfortable to adjust to a new team and their vision of the game. The shooter once mentioned difficulties and the absence of a unanimous schedule. He didn’t even know his current role as he had to
Oleksandr achieved plenty of rewards for the team.

His love for Natus Vincere seems to be mutual. Once he said he was very thankful to his new team and promised never to leave it. As evidence, in March 2018, SK sent an invitation to Kostyliev and offered him 1 million dollars for consent, but s1mple refused a beneficial suggestion and new possibilities as a potential member of a German team.

In 2021 Oleksandr continued bringing rewards to Natus Vincere. In July 2021, he beat the world’s record, won the fourth MVP medal for the year and succeeded IEM Cologne 2021.

Additional facts about Oleksandr

In 2017 s1mple gave an interview where he informed about some interesting facts, subscribers might not know about him.

• Oleksandr finds Xyp9x gamer underestimated and talented as he always wins 1v2 and 1v3 clutches.
• S1mple determines Coldzera, NiKo, and KennyS to be the best players. He focuses on Coldzera and NiKo’s tactics as the guys lead the teams to success, but for Oleksandr, KennyS is just the coolest AWPer though the Ukrainian player also likes Fallen.
• S1mple can’t forget the match between Mousesports and Navi where he was defeated with a humiliating result of 16 against 0. No wonder he doesn’t like to speak about it.
• Oleksandr cares much about his family though he isn’t ego to demonstrate his private life to publicity. He spends almost all his money for his parents and donates cash to orphanages and hospitals.
• In 2020, he dated Catherine Rudenko – a streamer and a designer of Natus Vincere. In July 2021, Oleksandr confirmed he was single.