S1mple Reveals Why He Changed His Mind About Joining SK Gaming in 2018
This is why s1mple stayed in NAVI.
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There was a chance in 2018 when both Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and Egor "flamie" Vasilev could have moved over to the German esports organization SK Gaming, but the transfer never actually took place. Both the players went on to play for NAVI where they have enjoyed successful careers.
During a recent Twitch stream, s1mple spoke about why he did not go through with the transfer to join SK gaming. He revealed that he was not too confident about the move and that he felt the lineup did not have the potential to be the absolute best. Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo also spoke about the incident on a Brazilian podcast called 'Flow Podcast'. It was recalled how both s1mple and flamie had sent a message reading "not going" at the very last moment.
S1mple talks about why he did not join SK Gaming in 2018
There was a huge uproar back in 2018 when reports had broken out about s1mple and flamie moving from NAVI to join SK Gaming. Though the move never materialized, it is still occasionally discussed till date. Over the years players having come forward to speak about the move more openly.
During a recent Twitch stream, s1mple revealed why he changed his mind about joining SK Gaming at the very last minute saying:
I don't know man, I wasn't too confident about this (moving to SK Gaming). I had lived in LA (Los Angeles) already and I was not sure that we (possible SK Gaming lineup) would have been able to destroy everyone.Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev
Note: The section related to this story can be watched from 2:00 to 2:14.
While this was s1mple's reason for the last minute decision to stay in the CIS region, FalleN, during an interview with 'Flow Podcast', explained how it had all unfolded.
According to him, SK Gaming tried to sign both s1mple and flamie. Their transfer to the organization was almost done, but on the day that they were supposed to fly to LA to close the deal, they suddenly backed out as he received a text message from them reading "not going".
Former SK Gaming Manager - Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia in an interview with HLTV had also narrated a similar story stating that,
For you to understand how close things got, flamie was at the airport when s1mple said that he was no longer coming. I understand NAVI's point of view, the guy was their entire team and they did everything they could to hold on to him.Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia - Interview with HLTV
Since then NAVI has continued to build multiple CS:GO rosters around s1mple, who has proven himself to be one of the best players to ever play the game.
The organization finally has a solid lineup in place, which has already managed to win the Intel Grand Slam Season 3. They are also touted as being one of the favorites to win the upcoming PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
