S1mple reveals how he feels about being called CSGO\u2019s greatest superstar BLAST PremierOleksandr \u2018s1mple\u2019 Kostyliev has weighed in on his oft-dubbed title of the \u201cbest CSGO player,\u201d and where he stands compared to Mathieu \u2018ZywOo\u2019 Herbaut, after a 2\u20130 win sealed Natus Vincere\u2019s BLAST Premier Spring Group B victory. Na\u2019Vi\u2019s veteran rifler, and the rest of the European squad, climbed past Complexity in the Group B final to clinch a spot in Blast\u2019s new-look 2020 Spring Finals, winning out in a stacked bracket alongside Astralis and Team Vitality. It was an unlikely victory\u2014not over Complexity specifically, but against the full bracket\u2014though s1mple and his team managed to defy the odds in a lower bracket run, edging past Astralis 2\u20131 before reversing the script to defeat ZywOo\u2019s Vitality 2\u20130. The triumph in London re-sparked discussions surrounding the Ukrainian\u2019s place atop the totem pole of Counter-Strike, especially after he managed to break past his French rival at the tournament. Many suggested Na\u2019Vi were \u201cback.\u201d According to s1mple, who joined the analyst desk at 3 Mills Studio post-victory, the title, and his endless duel for supremacy with Zyw0o has added a great deal of pressure to his game, but it\u2019s not something he\u2019s shying away from. \u201cI mean, I think people [saying that] gives me extra pressure from it, you know,\u201d he said when asked how he felt about the title, but added he agrees with it. \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think ZywOo is better than me, individually at least, no. No one is better, 100%.\u201d The Ukrainian certainly holds a decent level of respect for the 19-year-old superstar who has risen to challenge his throne. Considering what he\u2019s already achieved in his 14-month stint with Vitality, there can be no questioning him. \u201cAchievements-wise, I agree with what they say about ZywOo, and with all the results that they have,\u201d he said. \u201cThat said, we\u2019re back now. Now it\u2019s all about Na\u2019Vi getting better form, so we can beat them 16\u20133, or even better maybe.\u201d https:\/\/twitter.com\/BLASTPremier\/status\/1226558291997798400 While the s1mple vs ZywOo battle may be re-sparked at the IEM World Championship in Katowice later this month, the Ukrainian admitted his team is trying to \u201cfocus on being the best\u201d rather than becoming embroiled in any ongoing personal contests outside the server. \u201cI think we can be the best team in the world, when we were asked if it was the best roster, I think yes\u2026 with this roster, you have a brighter future, with this roster, and the individual skill we have, we can beat any team,\u201d s1mple said. \u201cWe have each other\u2019s backs. You know when your teammate is going to be covering each other, when you have no flash he\u2019s there for you, and opposite. It\u2019s a really good feeling. Old roster was on individuals, now we have great structure.\u201d Just as Kostyliev suggested ten months ago when Andrey \u2019B1ad3\u2019 Gorodenskiy first joined Na\u2019Vi as the team\u2019s esports director, he believes the behind-the-scenes analyst and coach is one of the major reasons behind the CIS team\u2019s revival. \u201cB1ad3 is a big reason for us [succeeding], yeah,\u201d he said, and admitted it was \u201csatisfying\u201d to relink with the Counter-Strike helmsman after s1mple\u2019s notoriously messy exit from FlipSid3 Tactics saw the pair split back in 2015. \u201cI was waiting for this moment for such a long time, we always had problems before majors, and now I understand that we have one of the youngest rosters so it\u2019s all about building. We will get results, soon, or eventually. We will get them.\u201d For mobile readers, the related segment begins at 1:47 in the video below. S1mple and Na\u2019Vi continue to their quest to \u201cbecome the best\u201d on February 25, when the Katowice event kicks off at the MCK International Congress Centre. The team also has its first chance at a major title in 2020 at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro on May 11. s1mple and his team now also have to prepare for the Blast Premier Finals series, to be held on June 19 in Moscow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
S1mple reveals how he feels about being called CSGO\u2019s greatest superstar BLAST PremierOleksandr \u2018s1mple\u2019 Kostyliev has weighed in on his oft-dubbed title of the \u201cbest CSGO player,\u201d and where he stands compared to Mathieu \u2018ZywOo\u2019 Herbaut, after a 2\u20130 win sealed Natus Vincere\u2019s BLAST Premier Spring Group B victory. Na\u2019Vi\u2019s veteran rifler, and the rest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}