S1mple Takes A Break From Competitive Play

S1mple has taken on Twitter to announce he is taking a break from competitive Counter-Strike and stepping down from Natus Vincere's active roster. In the post, he explained that he is stepping away from the game to take care of other people in his life and is considering joining another team; however, nothing has been decided yet.

By stating he is open to offers from other teams, s1mple has essentially confirmed he might leave Natus Vincere, ending his seven-year stint with the Ukrainian team, which s1mple joined in August 2016. This, however, is still up in the air.

During his time with Natus Vincere, s1mple has won 17 big events, including the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 and Intel Grand Slam, as well as many individual accolades, including being named as one of the top-20 players in the world three times.

S1mple has already shared his intentions to step away from the game last year, stating that there are many things he needs to take care of in his life – likely related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian superstar is widely known as one of the best Counter-Strike players in the game's history and a key member of Natus Vincere's success over the years. However, since Counter-Strike: Global Offensive transitioned to CS2, s1mple has yet to appear in a professional match, and has been publicly very critical of the game's new version and has eventually missed out on the first CS2 LAN event – IEM Sydney 2023.

To replace s1mple, who decided to take a break from professional play, Natus Vincere acquired Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov, who will take over as NaVi's new AWPer. The 18-year-old is set to debut for Natus Vincere at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023, set to take place on November 11, 2023.