S1mple showed his class by destroying FaZe Clan at the IEM Cologne 2023 on Aug. 1. The player showed why he was elected ESL’s CS:GO Player of the Decade and won HLTV’s best player in the World award for the third time in 2022.
The Ukrainian superstar used a disgusting wall bang to get the first kill on Ropz. The situation behind the rope killing was not clear whether Aleksib informed s1mple of Lopez’s presence or pure ingenuity from the knowledge that players use the spot to boost. The AWPer could have taken a cue from all the noise Aleksib made.
Nevertheless, the wallbang kill gave FaZe no choice but to move to the B bombsite, which put them at a four-vs-five disadvantage. Eventually, FaZe Clan lost the map and the whole series as they were brought down by NAVI’s defence.
The result meant that NAVI remained in the race for a playoff spot, and FaZe Clan was eliminated from the IEM Cologne. It was a masterclass performance from the GOAT on Overpass and Mirage, recording 55 kills and just 29 deaths.
S1mple’s individual performance in 2023 falls short of the statistics he posted in 2022, but he was in peak form on Tuesday. NAVI will need simple to be in form to be able to get past dev1ce and Astralis if they want to move out of the IEM Cologne 2023 groups.
Meanwhile, 100Thieves VALORANT are making a rebuild as their VALORANT general manager and former esports caster Daniel “ddk” Kapadia left the organization on Monday, July 31.
The move has ignited talks about a possible big roster overhaul ahead of VCT 2024. This comes just two weeks after 100 Thieves crashed out of the VCT Americas Last Chance Qualifier on July 16 against Sentinels, which effectively ended their 2023 VCT season.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
