s1mple reveals plan to return to Counter-Strike 2 pro play

NAVI superstar Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev has revealed his plans to return to Counter-Strike 2 pro play, making a comeback after the Copenhagen Major. 

IEM Katowice has wrapped up, and it saw Team Spirit dominate the first major LAN tournament to start off 2024, amongst many other surprises. From Team Vitality falling in the Group Stage, to donk’s jaw-dropping Katowice debut performance at just 17 years old, the event was one to remember. 

Amidst all that, arguably Counter-Strike’s greatest of all time, s1mple, was at the tournament watching the playoffs, even though NAVI fell at the Group Stage.

And during an interview, he revealed his plans to return to pro play, giving a potential time frame of when he’ll be stepping back into the mix. 

Speaking to James Banks on the ESL broadcast of IEM Katowice, s1mple was asked the all-important question of when he was returning from his hiatus. 

“I hope after Major,” s1mple told Banks. “Because I’m the sixth player for NAVI for this Major, but I hope nothing really happens to the roster because they were practicing really hard after I took my break. I just want them to progress and let’s see what’s gonna happen after the Major. ” 

The upcoming PGL Copenhagen Major is set to run from March 17 to 31, with the next tournament NAVI slated to compete in after the Major being ESL Pro League Season 19 running from April 23 to May 12. 

s1mple stepped down from the squad when the team had just gone international from their mostly Ukranian lineup. And to replace him, NAVI picked up w0nderful from Sprout.

When s1mple took his step back, it was during the start of CS2’s takeover in the pro scene, of which he was critical of the change from CSGO. However, in the interview, he admitted he was happy with where the game was at now after the recent major update.