s1mple joins FaZe Clan Roster ahead of Austin Major

FaZe Clan has signed Oleksandr ‘s1mple⁠’ Kostyliev from Natus Vincere on a loan deal.

The CS2 legend will replace Helvijs ‘⁠broky⁠’ Saukants, who has been benched after a disappointing performance at the start of 2025. s1mple will be playing for FaZe until the end of the Austin Major, which will take place next month.

The CS2 player will be making a return to competitive play after being out of action since the Shanghai Major’s Europe RMR last November.

Playing for Team Falcons on that occasion on a loan deal too, the failed qualification to the Major brought s1imple’s return to an early end. Prior to that, Team Falcons had already loaned the player ahead of the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown in 2024.

The Ukrainian player will have his contract with NAVI expire at the end of this year, even though s1mple hasn’t been on the starting lineup since the end of 2023 when he took a break from competitive play.

With FaZe Clan’s temporary roster announced, s1mple will reunite with former teammate Jonathan ‘EliGE⁠’ Jablonowski, who played with him on Team Liquid back in 2016/ FaZe Clan has been struggling to compete for titles so far in 2025, having scored two top-four finishes at PGL Cluj-Napoca and PGL Bucharest. In the last tournament, BLAST Rivals, the team was immediately eliminated in the quarterfinals by MOUZ.

Current FaZe player Finn ‘⁠karrigan⁠’ Andersen has publicly welcomed s1mple with a tweet on X: “Unique opportunity and I’m looking forward to playing with this GOAT at the major. This is an all-in move, we are going for the trophy at major even if Sasha is only a stand-in, I know we can win.”

Many other personalities in the scene such as broadcast analyst Jacob ‘Pimp’ Winneche and Team Spirit player Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets have expressed hype around the move. s1mple will be making his debut at the upcoming IEM Dallas, which will kick off on May 19th.