From NaVi to Team Falcons, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev confirms that he won’t be remaining with the Saudi Arabian team, but is he returning to action or going back on vacation?
s1mple has been on a trial run with Team Falcons since September 2024, a run that broke a hiatus from his longtime team, Natus Vincere. He has an incredible track record, taking home a CS2 major championship to go alongside Katowice, Cologne, and consensus greatest-of-all-time status. His reputation and enduring popularity led Team Falcons to invest in s1mple despite his competitive absence, with the splashy signing only increasing the team’s visibility.
However, regardless of the months of planning, s1mple will not be moving forward with Falcons and may have to head back to his roots.
s1mple and Team Falcons will part ways after his trial run is up.
“I am not moving to Falcons,” s1mple posted to his Telegram account on November 20. Currently, the Ukranian player is on loan to the squad. The deal is set to end in late December. However, despite the inclusion of a star player, Falcons failed to qualify for the upcoming Perfect World Shanghai Major. s1mple posted on X that he would continue practicing to win a major again, while also calling for the returning Train to return to the active duty map pool.
A similar situation happened back in February. While also on loan, he only managed a 0.94 rifle rating at the BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown. Team Falcons then went on to be one of the first eliminated at the tournament and returned s1mple back to NaVi, with one player citing fit issues.
Neither the player nor the Falcons have given a reason for the deal breakdown. It’s possible that neither party was happy with how the trial run went down regardless of initial excitement.
s1mple did not indicate that he will return to the NaVi roster after splitting from Falcons.
Prior to being loaned to Falcons, the star player had been on hiatus from NaVi since October 2023. The Ukranian team has performed well throughout 2024, winning multiple prominent tournaments throughout the year. Even if s1mple wants to return, it’s unclear if the team would be willing to kick out another player to bring him back into competitive play.
Journalist Richard Lewis previously reported that NaVi would give Team Falcons a discount on s1mple’s $3 million buyout price. Given that other organizations allegedly wanted to buy his contract, there could be a chance for another deal. None of the specific teams have been confirmed, though, and plans may have changed in the months since.
s1mple’s contract with Navi is set to expire sometime in late 2025. Perhaps one of the original interested organizations will return to free him from the bench and give him the chance to be the Counter-Strike GOAT again. It’s also possible that s1mple is content to return to his hiatus.
With s1mple departing Team Falcons, fans are curious about his future—find answers in s1mple returns to CS2 with Falcons, is it permanent?.
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