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On Friday, September 27, Team Falcons announced the addition of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, who joins the Saudi-based team on a three-month loan.
This marks the return of the Ukrainian Counter-Strike superstar, who last appeared in a match in March when he stood in for the Falcons at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2024.
That was also s1mple’s first and only professional fixture on Counter-Strike 2.
Time to be back at LAN, that’s was my goal from the very beginning – to play the Shanghai Major! I’m very glad that we will have official games before we fix the mistakes and play the main tournament of this year! Thank you for opportunity both @TeamFalconsGG and @natusvincere… https://t.co/PUEFjEPK2T
— Sasha (@s1mpleO) September 27, 2024
S1mple’s arrival comes amid a rough period for the Falcons, who have been struggling to make noise in the upper echelons of the Counter-Strike esports scene.
Their struggles, however, reached a new low earlier this month.
S1mple to the Rescue
Since the turn of the year, Team Falcons’s most notable accomplishments were two semifinal appearances at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024 in February and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #1 in May.
More recently, Danny “zonic” Sørensen’s men crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 20 in 21st-28th and BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 in last place.
After the abysmal showing in Copenhagen, zonic talked about how the team needs to make some roster changes to find more stability.
And it did not take long for the changes to come into effect.
The 26-year-old replaces Álvaro “SunPayus” García, who got benched from the starting five nine months after joining Team Falcons from ENCE.
!THE LEGEND RETURNS
S1mple is back on a 3-month loan🦅⚡ Time to soar higher 🦅⚡
الأسطورة @s1mpleO يعود ليلعب معنا لمدة ثلاثة أشهر على سبيل الإعارة! 🐐💚#FalconsAreHere pic.twitter.com/ZafLO1YXqF
— Falcons Esports (@FalconsEsport) September 27, 2024
SunPayus’s benching comes as a bit of a shock, as the Spanish AWPer had been the team’s highest-rated player, averaging a 1.13 performance rating during his stint.
Despite his strong showings, SunPayus later commented that the roster did not click and they agreed some change was needed.
“We tried everything to make this work but it just didn’t click as a team, it was really tough for everyone and a change was needed, wishing the best for my teammates. For me, will keep grinding and doing what I love to refind myself in the game,” said SunPayus.
S1mple will debut for Team Falcons at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, which kicks off on October 21.
The tournament will feature 16 Counter-Strike teams, including BIG, Fnatic, and HEROIC, who, alongside Team Falcons, received direct invites.
Counter-Strike betting sites have yet to release outright markets for Thunderpick World Championship 2024; however, those will become available after the tournament organisers hand out the final six invitations for the event.
Team Falcons’ biggest challenge, however, will come in November, then s1mple and co. attend Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMRs, where they will vie for a spot at the second Counter-Strike 2 Major.
