S1mple Reveals Why He Missed First Stage of BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022

NAVI star player, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, was not able to join the Ukrainian organization for the group stage of BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022, due to reasons that were not revealed at that point in time.

He was replaced by the 18-year-old NAVI Junior rifler, Danyyl "headtr1ck" Valitov, who played four matches for the side against Complexity Gaming, G2 Esports, and Team Liquid.

Talking about why he was not able to join NAVI for the first stage of the tournament, s1mple revealed that he was getting his resident card made in one of the European countries and could not leave in the middle of the process, as per a statement given to Escorenews.

S1mple explains why he was not available during the group stage of BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022

Even in the absence of s1mple, NAVI did not face any troubles at the Fall Groups 2022. The young replacement rifler held his own and performed well enough to contribute towards the team's success.

After an initial hiccup against Complexity Gaming, NAVI won five consecutive maps to book itself a slot in the BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2022, scheduled to take place in November later this year.

Ahead of the tournament, s1mple via an Instagram story had hinted towards a big announcement coming soon, which unfortunately never saw the light of day.

However, it seems that the deadly AWPer might have spilled a few beans during a recent interview where he spoke about making a new resident card in a European country, due to which he was unable to attend the group stage of the Fall Groups 2022.

"It's all great. I'm trying to make my papers, so I needed to stay in one of the countries. A place where I could at least leave my stuff, [and] not travel with two suitcases," said s1mple.

He went on to explain that his presence in the unnamed country was necessary for completing his paperwork. This resulted in him missing out on the initial action to then join the team later during its grand final match against Team Vitality.

It remains to be seen which European country s1mple finally settles in during his time away from his home in Kyiv, Ukraine - as the country continues to defend against the Russian invasion.