The Wings Fell Off For s1mple
First game back for s1mple did not go as planned
Ukrainian AWPer s1mple has been a top 10 rated player by HLTV since 2016, he is one of the greats who has achieved a Major victory was even awarded the MVP of that same event. s1mple has been around since 2014 and spent the last 8 years with Navi obtaining every trophy that Counterstrike has to offer, and in October of 2023 he announced he will be taking a break from competitive Counterstrike and was benched on Navi. At this time s1mple was considering a role change to a Rifler as the AWP had become less important moving into CS2, and was toying with the idea on Twitch where there was not such high stakes like there is at a tournament.
Return Announcement
During the final stages of IEM Katowice, it was announced that s1mple would be making a return to Professional Counterstrike around the time of the Major. There was nothing said at the time what team he would be playing with, but he put himself on the market for any interested team to reach out and strike a deal.
It was then announced a few days later that Falcons will be loaning s1mple for a month, which will cover them for their time at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. It’s not expected that he will stick with them after that event. However, there has been no rumors of another signing happening soon, and it doesn’t look likely that BOROS will hop of the bench any time soon.
Loss Against Metizport
Since the addition of s1mple to the team, Falcons have not played any events. They were quickly eliminated from the European RMR for the Major just before his arrival and that was the last time playing as a squad. The team had several weeks to prepare and build their map pool and get into a rhythm heading into the BLAST Showdown.
Falcons vs. Metizport was the 3rd and final match on the bill for the first day of BLAST Spring Showdown 2023, and they started off strong winning Mirage all thanks to an incredible effort from Magisk & SunPayus. Unfortunately for Falcons this was not enough to defeat the Swedes and with the dominance of nilo on Overpass, overall Falcons were under prepared for this matchup.
Throughout the 3 maps, performance for s1mple was significantly less than it has ever been, he ended the match with a 0.94 Rating, and a shocking K-D of 38-49. If there were ever any doubts about Counterstrike being a hard game to leave professionally for months and coming back to, this is proof.
What’s Next?
Falcons have now been eliminated from the event, and with not too much longer left on the lease for s1mple. We are still unsure what lays ahead for the organisations or s1mple. It’s unlikely he will return Navi given their recent performance at the European RMR, and they’re looking ready for the Major in less than 3 weeks time. Will s1mple extend with Falcons or will he jump ship? that’s all to be seen.