AWPgust: s1mple, the greatest of all time

Throughout August, we here at BLAST.tv have been celebrating AWPgust, a month where we look throughout Counter-Strike history at some of the best AWPers ever to touch the game.

In a month where we’ve looked at names like device, cadiaN, GuardiaN, and allu, where else could we possibly end than with the greatest COunter-Strike player of all time, s1mple?

Major winner, Intel Grand Slam winner, the man who carried NA on his back in 2016, s1mple has done it all, so let’s close out AWPgust by paying our respect to the best.

The prodigy

s1mple first stepped into the limelight with a period in the b1ad3 school of excellence following a short spell with dAT and FlipSid3, but left due to 'internal problems'.

Following that, he had spells HellRaisers and Worst Players, although at the time he was mildly marred by issues surrounding his immaturity, and this caused concern as to whether he was ever truly going to reach his potential.

In need of a star, it was Team Liquid who were willing to take a chance on him, and it was here where the legend of s1mple truly began to be written.

Hardly exceptional on the international stage at the time, Liquid turned to their new star from the European scene to help them become so, and he did that in emphatic fashion.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

At the two Majors of the year, MLG Columbus and ESL One Cologne, s1mple starred as Liquid reached the top four at the former, and the final of the latter, both times being bested by the legendary SK/LG core.

He even hit this clip in the semi-final of ESL One Cologne against fnatic, which was so good it even got a graffiti in game.

Unfortunately, s1mple would never truly settle in NA, and as he clamoured to be back home, the greatest team from Ukraine, NAVI, came calling.

The superstar

Now at the organisation that was undoubtedly his dream home, s1mple was ready to stake a claim for the best player in the world and it wasn't long after joining that he would win his first tournament with his new team, ESL One New York 2016.

He wouldn't do become the best player in the world in 2017, the title would go to coldzera that year, but as Zeus returned to the NAVI fold and electroNic arrived from FlipSid3, results drastically improved, and the new lineup claimed their first trophy together at Dreamhack Open Winter 2017 towards the end of the year.

While 2018 would end up being known as the rise of Astralis and the beginning of their two years of dominance, the same should be said for s1mple. An unstoppable force that year, his 1.35 HLTV Rating across 2018 is one of the greatest years ever seen from a professional player.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

Despite Astralis' dominance, there was trophies for s1mple too. An incredibly strong month-long period in the Summer saw the team claim StarSeries i-League Season 5, the CS:GO Asia Championships, as well as ESL One Cologne. Unsurprisingly, s1mple was the MVP at all three events.

In the months following, s1mple would reach the second Major final of his career, this time losing to Astralis as they began their legendary three-peat run, however they would see gold again before the year was out as they claimed BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen. The MVP of that event? You guessed it, s1mple.

Unfortunately, NAVI the unit would fail to have many great performances over the course of the following win. They won a sole tournament, StarSeries i-League Season 7, with another s1mple MVP award, but the rest of the time they were barely even second fiddle to Liquid, the second-best team in the world.

s1mple himself remained dominant, however, his 1.3 HLTV Rating was have been lower than the year before, and he was pipped to the title of best player in the world by a certain rookie named ZywOo.

The GOAT

NAVI would win the final LAN tournament before Counter-Strike would be sent online due to COVID with a 3-0 victory over G2 at the IEM World Championship 2020, and while the remainder of that year was disappointing, it wasn't long before s1mple and the boys were stacking up trophy wins at a rate faster than even Astralis in their prime.

The best team in the world in 2021, they won three online tournaments throughout the year, including Dreamhack Spring, but it was when professional play returned to LAN that they really began to shine.

Opening their account with a win at IEM Cologne, they followed this up by winning an online ESL Pro League Season 14, and immediately after that, the PGL Stockholm Major.

s1mple had finally claimed his first Major and shut down all of the s0mple memes once and for all. MVP of the event, his 1.47 HLTV Rating was incredible as he and the rest of NAVI made history by becoming the first team to win a Major without dropping a map.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

Immediately followed up with wins at both BLAST Fall Final and BLAST World Final, NAVI looked unstoppable, and only an act of God could stop them.

Well, God or one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Just as NAVI looked to stake a claim to becoming the greatest team of all time, war between the two nations that made up their squadron broke out, and the motivations of players on the squadron took a hit. There was changes in the team, with Boombl4 being replaced by sdy, and it would take them another six months to win a trophy at BLAST Spring Final.

Of course, it could also have been down to the incredible form FaZe were in, but in truth, NAVI never really looked like taking trophies away from their international rivals. Falling to them in both the PGL Antwerp Major and IEM Cologne finals, FaZe had clearly overtaken them as the best team in the world at that point.

Still, s1mple pushed onwards, and despite failing to win a trophy for the remainder of the year, he claimed the number one spot in HLTV's top twenty for the third time in his career, setting a new record for the amount one player has won the award.

2023 would be, at least in s1mple's terms, a slow year for the AWPer. With just a 1.17 HLTV Rating, while still impressive, it has taken some of the shine away from him, and he now embarks on a new chapter of his career following NAVI's recent decision to become an international unti with the additions of jL, iM, and Aleksib.

Undoubtedly the greatest player of all time, s1mple has created a legend unlike no other. No players have won more HLTV MVP awards than he has, and very few boasts the trophy cabinets he does either. The king amongst kings, s1mple will go down in history as not just the greatest professional Counter-Strike player of all time, but perhaps the greatest professional player of all time in any esport.