s1mple’s BC.Game lose to VRS number 185 team

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 21/01/2026

Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev’s BC.Game started their time together with a nightmare loss to Ursa in the IEM Rio 2026 Closed Qualifier.

The Russian/Latvian minnows were ranked number 185 in the latest snapshot of the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

BC.Game humbled by Ursa minnows

Defeat by Ursa is a nightmare start for a BC.Game roster that few have faith in.

Even worse, Ursa were not meant to even be in the qualifier due to their meagre rank.

They were a replacement team in the competition after Parivision, Heroic, and GamerLegion withdrew.

Despite that, BC.Game lost 2-0 to the obscure team, losing on 13-11 and 16-14 on Dust2 and Anubis.

The qualifier is double-elmination format, meaning BC.Game are not out of the competition, but the loss is not a great sign for the roster’s ambitions.

BC.Game was rumoured by Spirit scout, Aleksei ‘OverDrive’ Birukov, to have paid $2.5m for the SAW core.

It is an extreme sum for a questionable roster who were unconvincing for much of last year.

The signing of SAW’s core was met with scepticism that the roster was essentially unworkable and temporary – only secured due to its VRS ranking, but lacking in any other discernible logic or benefit.

That critique added to the already latent scepticism about the project following the signing of Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov.

The IGL’s previous projects have not exactly gone to plan, most-recently being benched from Virtus.pro in August.

That core only secured BC.Game number 22 in the VRS, a position which netted them an IEM Krakow invite, but also a rank that is precarious.

It places them outside of invitations for 16-team events, and just inside the bubble for 24-team events.

That threshold is now deeply at risk. The roster needed to start the ground running, especially against this lowly opposition.

Any further slip-ups may see the roster cast out of Tier 1 Counter-Strike entirely.

This result was certainly not a good sign for the roster, but a big boon for the haters.

But as a famous Ukrainian AWPer once said, “I need new haters, the old ones became my fans.” BC.Game and s1mple will have to recreate that pattern if they are to get anywhere with this team.

BC.Game will play in the lower-bracket against either Nemesis or Eyeballers, who defeated FaZe last week in the BLAST Bounty qualifiers.

Following the release of its previous roster, featuring Thomas ‘Thomas’ Utting, Nemesis acquired the Russian core of Gun5.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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