Counter-Strike star Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyljev has broken his silence on a potential return to pro play in CS2 after finally experiencing the changes on LAN.
When Valve announced that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive would be making way for CS2, the competitive scene was shaken up. Some rosters were quickly overhauled as some players couldn’t get to grips with the movement and overall gameplay changes.
NAVI were also included in that. They saw s1mple – the greatest Counter-Strike player of all-time – decide to take a backseat as he wanted to seeValve make some changes. Afters1mple benched himself, the Ukrainain’s team went on to win the first CS2 Major – PGL Copengahen Major – and theEsports World Cup.
There has beenplenty of talk about him returning, something he “hopes” to do with NAVI. Yet, it might be tough.
“Na’Vi doesn’t need S1mple; Sasha needs Na’Vi. There are things that are hard to talk about but the motivation never faded. I’m genuinely very happy with how the guys are playing, but sometimes they lack professional egoism, and that frustrates me,” s1mple said on his official Telegram account followingIEM Cologne.
The Counter-Strike legend continued, saying he wants to return: “I hope to return someday, I’m tired of doing nothing. And when I come back, I’ll definitely be stronger – it’s just a matter of time.”
“I will come back stronger"Strong speech from s1mple 👏pic.twitter.com/rzcVz5Oe0P
As for his own experiences with CS2, he added: “First time playing on LAN, even though it’s a showmatch – the game feels different, you don’t need to use any extra stuff to help you.”
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He didn’t exactly go off as he normally does in that series, having a kill death ratio of 38-49. Though, he’s clearly got a bit more practice under his belt, and now that competitive fire is raging.
Connor Bennett is Dexerto’s News Editor in the UK team. He is a journalism graduate and an expert in Gaming and Esports. His coverage areas include Call of Duty, Apex Legends, EA SPORTS FC, GTA, Counter-Strike, Twitch, YouTube, and boxing. You can contact him at: connor.bennett@dexerto.com
