Cover And Thumbnail Image Courtesy: DreamHack - Adela Sznajder
In a recent Team Liquid podcast consisting of Steve "jokasteve" Perino, William "Blitz" Lee, Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, and AveryHam, a segment discussed past player departures and how the organization handled them. During this discussion, the name of one of the best Counter-Strike players popped up Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, who currently plays for the Ukrainian esports organization Na’Vi.
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Talking about s1mple’s stay with Team Liquid jokasteve responded by saying that,
“S1mple was rough because he was very young (18-years-old). He came from like a very different background than the US, being from Ukraine. It was like a total culture shock when he first got here, and he had this expectation that he was the best and that he expected everyone to be the best, and ah s1mple s1mple s1mple….there are just so many s1mple stories. Oh my god!”
He went on to reveal how tough it was for the Liquid management and s1mple to come to a mutual agreement, commending the Ukrainian by saying that “He has a heart of gold and he literally gave it his all,” but it was hard to make him understand why his teammates were not as good as him and this made the situation pretty rough.
Perino went on to discuss other problems like s1mple desperately wanting to go back home during the off-time when others wanted to practise, and his sudden addiction to the mobile game 'Clash Royale'. All of this, months later transpired into a mutual separation between the two, as s1mple went on to play for Na’Vi.
To understand things better here is a timeline of a few events that took place from s1mple's joining to his departure.
[Also Read: s1mple's Total Time Spent Playing CS:GO Revealed]
Though Team Liquid did finish second at ESL One: Cologne 2016, it was not enough to make s1mple change his mind, as both he and the organization parted ways with each other. Ever since then s1mple has stuck with Na’Vi, currently playing with the organization for the fourth straight year.