Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has joined FaZe Clan. A couple of weeks ago, this news would have been hard to take seriously. Yes, Helvijs “broky” Saukants` performance had been somewhat mediocre over the past six months, but talking about transferring a player who last competed at a pro level in November 2024 into a top-10 team was difficult to do without a smile. Yet, the professional CS2 scene once again proves that the impossible is possible.
S1mple joined the club on a loan basis, so his future with the team will entirely depend on both his individual and the team`s results. Thus, this transfer cannot yet be called a full comeback. Nevertheless, in an era dominated by the rivalry of ZywOo, donk, and m0NESY, it`s very pleasant to see the good old nickname that struck fear into opponents five years ago. In this article, we will speculate on what this unexpected transfer might lead to.
Before we take off the rose-tinted glasses and look at the real world with a clear perspective, let`s try to figure out how this adventurous transfer might help FaZe Clan. It does have a couple of advantages. The first one that stands out is s1mple returning to his favorite role. He won`t have to play forced into a rifler position.
The Team Falcons scenario was indeed disappointing for many s1mple fans. Not only did s1mple play four tournaments with an average rating of 1.04 (which is certainly not expected from arguably the best player in the history of the shooter), but the team`s overall results were, to put it mildly, lackluster. 9-16th place at BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024, 13-16th position at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, and 7-8th at ESL Challenger Katowice 2024.
The final nail in the coffin was failing to qualify for the Shanghai Major. However, if Kostyliev was to blame for this, his fault was minimal. The roster had a dysfunctional coach-captain dynamic and lacked a real young star player – the team consisted only of older players assembled somewhat randomly.
S1mple has previously played with members of FaZe Clan on other teams. The esports athlete is not joining the roster as a complete stranger – his transfer was initiated by Håvard “rain” Nygaard. It`s quite plausible that Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, who played with s1mple in Team Liquid and is likely reminiscing about past conflicts with a smile, also enthusiastically supported the invite, given how much time has passed.
Discussing s1mple`s motivation is pointless – the AWPer is clearly pumped to show his best. There`s a chance this is the 27-year-old esports athlete`s last serious attempt to break back into the Tier-1 scene. As much as we love Kostyliev, it`s worth considering that if his time isn`t already over, it`s certainly approaching its end. Therefore, if he fails with FaZe Clan, Kostyliev might leave permanently.
“It`s all-in,” commented FaZe Clan captain Finn “karrigan” Andersen on the transfer. It`s hard not to agree with this sentiment. The team is currently not going through its best times and entered a crisis state after the second consecutive painful loss in a Valve major final in Shanghai. Their best result in the first half of 2025 was third place at PGL Bucharest 2025 – which is clearly not what the club`s players, who have won majors, built an era, and earned five golden Intel Grand Slam bars throughout their careers, strive for.
S1mple, judging by his FACEIT account, received the offer quite recently – Kostyliev hasn`t been playing CS very often. In April, the AWPer played only 12 matches, and in May, he didn`t even press the search button. For comparison, let`s look at the stats of other esports athletes: donk played 12 matches between April 30th and May 4th, and m0NESY played from May 2nd to May 5th. And this is all mixed in with practices and official matches!
Kostyliev stopped grinding CS a long time ago and clearly fell out of the meta, so you shouldn`t expect him to be at the top with FaZe. S1mple is not m0NESY, who completely transformed a team with just one transfer. Yes, the karrigan-led club will likely improve its results slightly, but don`t expect them to reach the level of top-5 teams in just a couple of weeks.
FaZe Clan`s problem wasn`t just broky. Karrigan himself confirmed this, saying the decision to replace the AWPer was the hardest of his career. In FaZe Clan`s situation, it would arguably be better to change everyone at once, because the roster was broken after the painful second consecutive loss in a Valve main event final. The s1mple transfer is a last-ditch effort to keep the team afloat. But no matter how many factors point to a likely failure, you wholeheartedly want to believe that Kostyliev will be able to pull off a “last ride” and, like in the good old days, carry the team on his shoulders at least to tournament stages with live audiences. Otherwise, the hope for a comeback will die not only for arguably the greatest player in CS:GO history but also for the FaZe Clan we know.
Kostyliev is set to debut with his new team at IEM Dallas 2025, which will take place from May 19th to 25th in Dallas, USA. 16 teams will compete for a prize pool of one million dollars, with $300,000 going to the players.