s1mple to join Team Falcons on loan
Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev will be loaned from Na’Vi to Falcon Esports as a joint announcement of the two teams disclosed today. The news arrives after the Ukrainian top player took an extended break from active competition, setting sights on competition at his first tournament in Counter-Strike 2.
Only a “temporary” affair?
It’s a news that few expected. s1mple will be loaned to the Saudi Arabian esports organisation Team Falcons for one month according to his current team, Natus Vincere. s1mple will be competing with the team at BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024, looking to help the struggling Falcons team secure one of the last two remaining spots at the BLAST Spring Final.
According to Na’Vi’s statement, s1mple’s loan duration is only a month, which matches up with his announcement of his return to active play at IEM Katowice. During the event, the star player shared that he was looking to get back into active play but would not be joining the active Na’Vi roster before the major, for now, to not disrupt the team's progress in the lead-up to the event.
Joining the struggle bus
s1mple is joining Team Falcons at a challenging moment in this roster’s history, having just failed to qualify for the PGL Major Copenhagen through the RMR, losing their qualifying matches to FaZe, AMKAL, and Eternal Fire in a disappointing fashion. The results came as a surprise, especially after Falcons' relatively decent showing at IEM Katowice, only falling short to the eventual winners Team Spirit in the semi-finals of the event.
The Ukrainian will be stepping in for rifler Mohammad "BOROS" Malhas who had been one of the remnants of the old Falcons roster before Danny "zonic" Sørensen took over the coaching role in November.
The GOAT of CS:GO will have to wait a little longer to go back to offline play, with the Spring Showdown only taking place online. The rosters in the remaining field are no slouches, with teams like Cloud9, Team Spirit, Team Liquid, and more also in attendance. While the seeding hasn’t been decided, the potential matchup of s1mple against the new CS wonderkid Danil "donk" Kryshkovets, who had taken over at IEM Katowice, could be in the cards.
