Counter-Strike 2 superstar Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyljev says lifestyle changes have helped revive his esports career.
The Ukrainian is considered by many to be the greatest Counter-Strike player ever.
S1mple took a break from competitive play for over a year, saying he wanted “to fix documents and take care of other people in my life.”
Now, he is back to competing at the top of CS2 while on loan with FaZe Clan at the Blast Austin Major 2025.
And so far the return has paid off as FaZe find themselves in the Quarterfinals and are favourites behind only Team Vitality to win the Major according to esports betting sites.
In a chat with retired pro Mikhail ‘Dosia’ Stolyarov, s1mple says he was already making better life choices before the offer came from FaZe:
“Basically, I had bros in Poland, they’re working out a lot. They told me, ‘You have to go to the gym.’ So we all went together.
“And at some point [FaZe] Rain text me and asked me if I want to play at the Major.
“I had already started to change my life. I did my first steps, cancelled drinking alcohol and all the other stuff, I started going to the gym and somehow this happens, when I started taking care of my life.”
S1mple tried to come back last year on loan from NAVI to Team Falcons but it didn’t go to plan as Falcons failed to qualify for the Shanghai Major.
However, this time s1mple says he was able to hit the ground running:
“We started practising and played like nine days in a row. I told the team from the very beginning, as soon as we have the bootcamp, I will play better.
“And once the bootcamp started, I felt how I started to play better. But in Stage 1, I was nervous so I couldn’t perform at 100%.
“But it also matters how the team plays, when I feel how the team is communicating and does the right rotations, it is much easier for me to play.”
With s1mple on their side, FaZe have proven to be the most popular team at the tournament.
If FaZe make it all the way through the event, Esports Charts believes the Austin Major final could be one of the most-watched CS2 events yet.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.
