This week in our two-part series, we are back to the no-scopes and amazing feats in professional CS:GO. If you are looking for professional players who have affected this game the most, then you can’t leave out Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. The Ukrainian superstar is already considered one of the best CS:GO players of all time by fans around the globe and there is a good reason he’s in our CS:GO Hall of Fame.
Who is Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev?
Oleksandr Kostyliev was born on October 2 1997 in Kiev, Ukraine. He started his gaming days from a very tender age – believe it or not, he was only 4 years old when he played the first video game!
Just like many others, Kostyliev was inspired by his older brother as he was the first person to introduce him to Counter-Strike. At such a young age, he would only sit next to his brother Alexey and watch him play.
At times, his older brother would allow him to operate the mouse while he would be in charge of the keyboard. It was not at all perfect since these two shared only one PC. Given the fact that Oleksandr was 10 years younger, he could not do much when his brother told him to go away.
Contrary to many other professional CS:GO players, the Ukrainian never had any school problems and his grades were always good. Oleksandr got into the university where he studied Chinese but he wanted something else in his life and gave up after the first semester.
Early career: s1mple on the rise
Kostyliev picked up Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as soon as it was released, back in 2012.
It did not take him a lot to find his footing. After only a year of actively playing, the emerging pro by the name of s1mple already founded a professional team for himself – Courage Gaming.
Truth be told, it did not take a lot for Oleksandr to be recognized and after winning an event with Courage Gaming, HellRaisers came knocking. Keep in mind that the Ukrainian was only 15 back then.
After a short spell with HellRaisers, Flip3side Tactics came knocking, too, and s1mple answered the call. Truth be told, he at that time he was crushing everyone who stood in front of him and that put him on the radar.
Back then, Team Liquid was the most popular esports organization and they decided to fly Oleksandr to Los Angeles. During his time in Liquid, s1mple pulled off an amazing double no-scope that we will touch base in Part 2 of this article, so do not miss out.
Sadly, the Ukrainian wonderboy was homesick and he did not stick around for long in North America. Shortly after, Natus Vincere announced a new fifth player and was finally back on home soil, representing his local CS:GO team.
Social media profiles and Twitch
Just like every other CS:GO player, Oleksandr is also very active on various social media. The list below will provide you with links to his most popular social profiles and of course, his Twitch channel.
- Twitter - @s1mpleO – followers: 372,000
- Instagram - @s1mpleo – followers: 837,000
- Twitch - @s1mple – followers: 1,279,000
As you can see from his following, s1mple is insanely popular in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene. Not that we’re surprised, but here is why.
There is always some type of banter involved around him. However, s1mple is also known for being toxic and a lot of players that played with him confirmed the same thing. It always makes for some good drama.
It is also interesting to see that the Ukrainian AWPer will soon hit that 1,000,000 follower goal on his Instagram profile, so make sure you follow him there and find more about his personal life.
Personal life and controversy
Kostyliev did like to pick up fights in his younger years and his mother always complained about that. It seems like this type of behavior still applies to him as he does not mind getting on the bad side of other CS:GO professionals or trolls that can be found on Twitch or Twitter.
At the time of writing, he is in a relationship with Natus Vincere’s designer, Catherine Rudenko. She is very active on Instagram and occasionally streams on Twitch. If you think there is some conflict of interest there, you might be right.
Sadly, s1mple has been caught cheating by ESL, and not just once. First, he was banned for 1 year but this did not stop the Ukrainian AWPer from competing as he switched accounts. ESL noticed that and handed him another one-year ban. This time around, he did not fool around and accepted the punishment.
As we already mentioned, heis known for his toxic behavior and that is clearly shown in his Twitch ban logs. At the time of writing, he has been banned on several occasions for various things.
Make sure you stick around for Part 2 of our Life and Times series, where we will discuss s1mple's professional CS;GO achievements, so do not miss out!
Our Life and Times series takes a look at the life and career of many esports pros. If you're curious about the path they took and where they are today, check these out:
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