ZywOo vs s1mple: What Sets Them Apart?
The topic of comparing Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev has become the main subject of competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). This includes their overall skill sets as players, but most importantly; who’s the best AWPer in the entire world. Fan-favourite s1mple has about three pro years on ZywOo, and made his debut in 2014 with HellRaisers. He also has twice the amount of earnings along with multiple placements at major events. While winning a major is huge, participating in one is an achievement in itself.
ZywOo has his fair share of major invites, but they didn’t have the same significance as s1mple’s. Most importantly, both players have their own playstyles, and either one can easily be argued as the best overall. ZywOo and s1mple have both been referred to as CS:GO prodigies and respectfully hold their titles as the best AWPers.
ZYWOO'S CAREER
ZywOo gained popularity in late 2018 after singing with Team Vitality as an all-star AWPer. Before his massive success in CS:GO, ZywOo started out like every other player - a nobody who spent their days before and after school playing FACEIT with smaller independent teams. The talented online pub stomper had his start with a team known as Nevermind. They spent most of their time participating in qualifiers with zero earnings, and while ZywOo was a great player, he always lacked proper teammates in the beginning. He began to pick up the pace with teams such as E-Corp Bumpers, WySix, and against All authority. All these teams helped ZywOo gain attention from bigger teams including Vitality, but first came his most honourable achievement as a rookie after placing first at the ESL Championnat National. A LAN event where aWa absolutely crushed MaxiSaucisse and Team LDLC in the semi and grand-finals.
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On October 8, 2018, ZywOo joined Vitality with a chance to impress others in top-tier CS:GO. Exactly one month after joining his first big team, ZywOo finished first at the DreamHack Open in Atlanta. The event brought in fifty grand for the French roster and was ZywOo’s first big tournament. In 2019, Vitality moved onto an even better season including their placements at cs_summit 4, ECS, and EPICENTER. They also earned two major slots including IEM Katowice and StarLadder Berlin. That year earned ZywOo two six figure events and some respectful but not victorious placements within major tournaments. While ZywOo looked amazing on paper, what was it that made him stick out compared to someone like s1mple?
What makes ZywOo special is his ability to use the AWP almost as if it’s an AK-47. He holds tight angles and often re-peeks on multiple occasions. Without the worry of giving his position away, ZywOo isn’t afraid to deal a couple of random wall-bangs with the hope of tagging someone. A common similarity he has with s1mple is his speed; some might even say he’s faster. Instead of getting a kill and backing away or holding a different angle, ZywOo tends to hold one area with an extreme sense of confidence; never worrying about getting shot in the back knowing that one of his teammates is watching his opposing angles. If the AWP is ever in a motion of reloading, a deagle also seems to be an easy pickup for ZywOo. Making him a threat with most guns allows him to hold down any position requested by his fellow teammates.
S1MPLE COMPETES FOR THE BEST
Now for the man, the myth, the legend, who goes by the name of s1mple and continues to crush it with NAVI. Highly regarded as the best AWPer in competitive CS:GO, s1mple has been a threat to the scene since he arrived back in 2014 alongside HellRaisers. In his first year of competitive CS:GO, s1mple attended DreamHack Winter 2014 as a main roster player. He earned a fifth-place finish in his very first major event which also happened to be his S-Tier debut - a pretty big achievement for someone who was new to the scene and was only known within certain parts of Europe. He then moved onto multiple rosters with little success, including FlipSid3 Tactics, Evolution, Worst Players, and Nostalgie.
After a year of disappointments, and organisation from North America known as Team Liquid took a chance on the Russian native. He played with the team for nearly three months, including two major events. Even though s1mple didn’t place first at either major, he still successfully earned two top three placements.
S1mple has been playing with NAVI for almost four years now and has continued his routine with placing second in major titles. While the money is nice, all s1mple wants is a major under his belt before he's satisfied with his career in esports. Even though s1mple finished first at the IEM World Championship back in March, he still managed to finish in second at IEM Beijing to Vitality. S1mple is obviously a great AWPer who always comes up with the craziest flicks, but the most important factor in his gameplay is all game sense. It’s almost like he memorises every shot taken from the enemy to produce round by round plays. This skill set of his can be seen in any highlight, and it’s clear that he understands the game like no other.
Images via EPICENTER