The GOAT is coming back.
Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev has joined Falcons on a three-month loan to replace the Spaniard Álvaro "SunPayus" García, Falcons announced on Friday, Sept. 27.
The Ukrainian AWPer had been sitting on the sidelines since October 2023 and has only played one professional CS2 match this entire time. The Ukrainian AWPer joined Falcons on loan in March and lost to Metizport at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.
Although there are question marks surrounding s1mple's skills in CS2, he's well-regarded as the best CS:GO player of all time, having been named the best player in the world three times.
There's also a key difference this time around as s1mple will effectively play as Falcons' primary sniper. When he joined in March, he mostly played as a rifler as Falcons had just parted ways with Mohammad "BOROS" Malhas after missing the PGL Copenhagen Major.
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Why have Falcons signed s1mple?
Falcons have not been meeting expectations all year aside from their semifinal run at IEM Katowice in February. On top of that, SunPayus has struggled to carry his form from CS:GO days to CS2, and only recently started to play better.
As soon as FaZe Clan eliminated Falcons from BLAST Premier Fall Final this week, the head coach Danny "zonic" Sørensen admitted to stage interviewer James Banks that it's clear that Falcons need changes.
According to a report by HLTV.org, Falcons planned to sign s1mple for at least a week. The Ukrainian was also listed as Falcons' substitute for the Perfect World Shanghai Major Europe RMR before the roster lock on Sept. 22.
The HLTV report came out in the same week that s1mple told fans via his Telegram that he's been training every day and that big news would come. The Ukrainian AWPer played 20 FACEIT matches on Sept. 24, which shows how much he has been grinding.
"Time to be back at LAN, that’s was my goal from the very beginning - to play the Shanghai Major," s1mple wrote on X. "I’m very glad that we will have official games before we fix the mistakes and play the main tournament of this year!"
And, this is not the first big move Falcons has made. The Saudi-backed organization has also reportedly agreed on terms to sign G2's superstar Nikola "NiKo" Kovač following the Perfect World Shanghai Major in December.
