Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is no longer part of Natus Vincere’s Counter-Strike 2 lineup after seven years. The star player is planning a break, his future at Navi is unclear.
The Ukrainian had already sat out the IEM Sydney, the first major CS2 tournament. Navi did not give any reasons at the time; media reports from “Dexerto” suggested problems with his EU residence permit. On X, formerly Twitter, s1mple explained his break, among other things, with having to take care of documents.
His decision comes just under a month after the switch to CS2. s1mple had recently frequently criticized the redesigned game and suggested that newcomers should wait another six months for improvements. He still wants to start his own CS2 project during his break.
It is unclear whether s1mple will play again for Navi, where he has been under contract since 2016. Offers, possibly for another role, would be “interesting,” he wrote on X.
Navi described the player as “inactive” without further comment and signed Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov from German team Sprout as a permanent replacement.