It seems that Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, who used to be the best player in CS2 before the long break he took in 2023, has finally started to play like his old self again.
FaZe Clan entered the Austin Major as one of the favorites, but many people doubted their ability to qualify for the playoffs with so many formidable teams in the race.
Beating both MOUZ and The MongolZ at this point in time is not exactly easy but FaZe managed to pull it off, largely thanks to the performance of their superstar player, s1mple.
FaZe Clan’s Path to the Playoffs
FaZe entered the Austin Major in stage 2 and barely qualified for stage 3. In the process, they defeated HEROIC, TYLOO, and MIBR but lost against Legacy and 3DMAX.
In stage 3, they avenged their defeat against Legacy with a stellar performance and looked stronger after every match. Despite losing against Aurora in the first round, Finn “karrigan” Andersen found a way to win the next three matches versus MOUZ, Legacy, and The MongolZ.
It’s been around two years since we last saw s1mple on the big stage of an important CS2 event. In a recent interview, he confessed that he gets very nervous before the matches, probably due to a lack of confidence. When you take such a long break, the risk of losing touch with the meta is very high.
For FaZe Clan, this result means a lot because the tournament is taking place in the US, where the organization has numerous fans. For many of them, watching FaZe in a Grand Final or even a semifinal would be a dream come true.
