Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is one of the stars of the Counter-Strike scene and probably the best player who has ever played the shooter. Now he has extended his contract.
A short clip, no more than 22 seconds long, caused jubilation among NaVi fans last night.
An unsuspecting s1mple is about to sign some autograph cards. So far, so good. Nothing new for the Ukrainian superstar who is more or less regarded as the G.O.A.T. of Counterstrike. But in fact, hidden under the autographs is a piece of paper that says “3 Years” big and bold.
s1mple doesn’t seem to notice this and signs on it too, partly because he is distracted by team-mate Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev at the crucial moment. The paper turns out to be a contract in the end. Oh, what a surprise!
We will never let him go pic.twitter.com/mBS7H60ubd
– NAVI (@natusvincere) October 18, 2022
The clip is of course not meant to be taken seriously, but the message behind it remains significant despite all the staging: THE superstar of the scene will remain tied to NaVi for another three years.
CSGO: s1mple until 2025
In terms of numbers, s1mple, who is in his prime at the age of 25, will stay with the successful Ukrainian team at least until the end of 2025.
Thank you for your trust, time to archive even better memorable results, thanks to all fans for support and don’t forget to support Ukraine in such a difficult time 🇺🇦 navination https://t.co/tLzEfXnyif
– Sasha (@s1mpleO) October 18, 2022
The Ukrainian has been with NaVi since 2016. At the end of the updated contract, he would thus have been part of the team for nine years.
Since his move six years ago, when he joined the Ukrainian organisation from Team Liquid, s1mple has won countless titles with NaVi garnished with individual accolades.
In addition to dozens of titles with the team, he is also the only player outside of the legendary Astralis roster of Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Emil “Magisk” Reif to rank in the top6 of all-time prize pool earnings. Approximately 1.6 million US dollars has been earned by s1mple through prize money alone.
In addition, the Ukrainian holds the record for the most HLTV event MVP titles with 21 in number and is the only player who has managed to be ranked either 2 among HLTV’s best players worldwide four years in a row (2018-2021). This year he is also ranked behind the exceptional French player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut in 2nd place.
If s1mple can maintain this level for the next three years, last night will not have been the last to bring cheers among NaVi fans.
