headtr1ck to step in for s1mple at BLAST Premier Fall Groups

19-8-2022 16:08

NAVI Junior's youngster has been called up to the main lineup for the second time this year.

Natus Vincere will start their BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 campaign without Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev as their talismanic AWPer takes a leave of absence for personal reasons. Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov will round up the roster after being listed as the team's backup ahead of the tournament.

It is still unclear whether the Ukrainian superstar will only miss the opening group stage games, or will be out for the entirety of the event, including the knockout phases.

headtr1ck returns to the main NAVI lineup for the second time

This is the second time the 18-year-old from the academy steps in to play with the seniors, having filled in for Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov at ESL Pro League Season 15 after the Russian in-game leader tested positive for COVID.

headtr1ck will have large shoes to fill as s1mple has been the standout performer for Natus Vincere for the last six years. The youngster performed admirably in NAVI Junior's 5-6th campaign at WePlay Academy League Season 5 earlier in August, leaving the event with an average 1.24 rating across the 14 maps played.

The Ukrainian core will start the tournament in Group B alongisde Complexity, Liquid, and G2 on Saturday, August 20.

Natus Vincere's starting lineup for BLAST Premier Fall Groups will be:

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov
Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy
Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy
Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev
Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov

Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy (coach)

good luck headtr1ck!

2022-08-19 16:09

7 replies

good luck!

6 replies

s1mple is over we won

2022-08-19 16:14

4 replies

g2 and br always tier 10000

2022-08-19 16:28

G2 winning what?

2022-08-19 16:30

only way g2 winning +L

2022-08-19 16:37

NAVI STILL BEAT G2. BR always deluded

2022-08-20 18:08

Navi still wins BLAST s0mple will be exposed

2022-08-19 16:52

gg navi

s1mple go valorante

3 replies

Imagine headtrick being OG Degster 2.0, stand in one tounrament and kick s1mple out of navi

2022-08-19 17:07

2 replies

if anything s1mple kick navi out of navi

2022-08-19 17:11

1 reply

+1 s1mple headtr1ck N/A N/A N/A 2v5 ez top1

2022-08-19 18:24

not so s1mple

Navi are fucked

21 replies

he wont be playing only tomorrow, he will comeback for the knockout stage so they should still be fine

2022-08-19 16:12

18 replies

source? I know it was on one of blast schemes but still he was "expected" to return

2022-08-19 16:16

15 replies

it literally says so in their tweet "We will be playing the GROUP STAGE of the #BLASTPremier Fall Groups without @s1mpleO."

8 replies

well, but on navi.gg there is also "We will additionally inform you when s1mple joins the team on our social media and website, stay tuned for updates." So I'm just wondering if the guy has some additional info

2022-08-19 16:18

Im confused aswell. I would like to know why is it happening now. Actually i have a guess. When Navi played in Lisbon, S1mple said that he was looking for a Country to Live, because of the war. He said aswell that he was living in Hotels and Stuff. Maybe he is doing paperwork somewhere to buy a house. I mean, thats my guess. I can be wrong, but it kinda make sense actually. Well, i just want the best player to be back so i can watch some quality gameplay!

2022-08-19 16:41

He is just taking small brake traveling the world with friends (Dubai etc)

2022-08-19 16:53

that was after the last tournament

2022-08-19 17:22

He is still traveling I think

2022-08-20 07:30

Everything I know is that he started going to the gym lol, so the guy probably just wants some additional time in order to fix his life, nothing too serious. And he seems much happier now, idk. Hopefully he'll be back soon

2022-08-19 17:25

Such a weird conclusion, I think its more serious than that for him to skip out on his team and job.

2022-08-19 18:07

if it's only for blast, and especially if it's only for tomorrow, there is nothing serious at all

2022-08-19 18:09

on the beggining of today's blast stream there was a segment which summarised roster changes for the blast teams and when navi was mentioned they said that headtr1ck is stepping in for s1mple for the group and s1mple will be back in week 2 (they probably don't know it 100% but most likely got that info from navi that they expect him to be back for the knockout stage)

2022-08-19 18:11

5 replies

well, at least then s1mple will be back for EPL and I'm fine with that. I guess NAVI can still qualify to fall finals even without him. B1t will carry

2022-08-19 18:16

i hope so, even if they lose to g2, they should still be fine during the knockout stage, so one day or even one event absence isnt that bad

2022-08-19 18:18

if G2 still manages to lose vs navi without s1mple it will be legendary

2022-08-19 18:29

i mean, its not impossible as both teams wont know what to expect from each other (g2 new igl and navi never played with headtr1ck as main awp) so it will be a very interesting match

2022-08-19 18:34

oh nvm i just read your message once again, but yeah they expect him to be back so its like 90% confirmed

Is sure 100% Navi plays in the knockout stages ?

2022-08-19 18:23

every team plays the knockout stage

2022-08-19 18:37

no more bait :)

2022-08-19 17:21

my fantasy team fucked

2022-08-19 17:50

God Sasha is flexing sry

king doesnt play on saturday

navi without s1mple= tier2?

'll see soon :)

S0mple

2022-08-19 16:10

imagine being NIP fan in 2022 KEKW

2022-08-19 16:11

Na KEKW

2022-08-19 17:05

This will be interesting

we already knew it KEKW

dev1ce confirmed lol

Nice for it to be finally confirmed

FINALLY, WAS KNOWN FOR 2 WEEKS ALREADY

gl headtr1ck<33

Saturday, the king doesn't play

He switched to VAL already

when was the last time he took a break

maybe never

2022-08-19 16:13

obviously not counting player break

2022-08-19 16:24

never rlly he was even playing when banned

2022-08-19 17:06

RIP Navi Fantasy Teams :(

smart s1mple taking a break from the irrelevant tournament of the year to improve himself, hopefully he’s back at EPL

i think only a few match in blast he skip and will back

interesting

rip fantasy - thank you for late notice

Literally been known for weeks

2022-08-19 16:44

who da fk picks simple in the fantasy for 250k $ and fk the rest of 4 player line up in fantasy in this uselesss tourney where most of the teams are gonna play for practice and to get ready their line ups with all the changes, better pick avg 190k $ players and make some one a star player who worth like 220k $ something ? since here there is big chance for every other team.

2022-08-19 17:52

2022-08-20 05:22

Lol top 100 last season - quite a convincing strategy - thanks for valuable advice lol

2022-08-20 13:18

top 100 does not deny the fact i said , and if you misunderstood i specifically said its for this tournament not for any other fantasy tourney !!

2022-08-20 16:04

There are different strategies my man - I had top 10% placings with simple on the team so it works sometimes

2022-08-20 16:20

Have a good day sir :)

2022-08-20 17:17

L + Junior better

S1mple to valarante with hiko

I am never sure if ppl trolling or serious but I laughed thx

2022-08-19 16:29

Little bit of both

2022-08-19 19:33

b1t awp?

headtr1ck is the main awp in jr

s1mple to lulquid incoming

He is just exhausted with travelling and is probably relocating

I forgot about this. RIP my pickems...

2022-08-19 16:17

Esports, play when you feel like it

Good luck headtr1ck!

quelle surprise

Goodluck!

headtr1ck most expensive player @ fantasy

2022-08-19 16:19

Rip fantasy

2022-08-19 16:20

I am so screwed...

2022-08-19 20:11

GuardiaN>>>

-s1mple +device

2022-08-19 16:22

lmao navi lost ggs

2022-08-19 16:23

p0mple kekw

2022-08-19 16:26

Navi 4th place inc

2022-08-19 16:27

gl headtr1ck

Honestly now I think G2 should win their group

headtr1ck next player to be sold from navy junior

2022-08-19 16:31

still my goat i don't care man

2022-08-19 16:32

Good luck Headtr1ck. That will be interesting.

GL headtr1ck!! Hope goat comes back asap<3

2022-08-19 16:33

soon woro2k?

2022-08-19 16:36

100% winrate with headtr1ck, easy for NaVi now.

2022-08-19 16:38

glad its not some of the others from junior, cuz holy smackballs theyre bad

2022-08-19 16:48

s1mple <3 Hope to see you back soon

2022-08-19 16:50

Liquid and G2 gotta be happy now

2022-08-19 16:51

headtrick goated tho

this guy looks like he bussin fr no cap

how can i watch this tourna without him, i wish he comeback sooner

2022-08-19 16:54

Good experience for navi junior player, also he can prove himself as a contender for 5th navi spot. GLGL

2022-08-19 16:57

I hope it’s just for groups since every team is already qualified for the KO stage. They don’t need s1mple to take on Complexity. Also RIP Fantasies xDD

2022-08-19 16:59

:-( sad moment

Grand final faze vs vitality.

S1mpleless Na'Vi will be a completely different team

Good luck goat!

s1mple to vitality, magisk igl

2022-08-19 17:10

breaking news

W against complexity. L against G2. L against Liquid. Without S1mple, Navi = present Astralis.

2022-08-19 17:13

Present astralis topped their group. :)

2022-08-20 05:23

Heard already weeks ago.. It’s actually real..

s1mple pulling a dev1ce

2022-08-19 17:19

fantasy team is gg

2022-08-19 17:23

rip navi

2022-08-19 17:26

im so hyped for this

i love how they say s1mple will be missing only for the group stage, expecting that they will advance anyways.. something tells me thats gonna be their downfall :I

2022-08-19 17:28

bye bye a lot of people's fantasy teams

2022-08-19 17:35

RIP IN PEACE NAVI

2022-08-19 17:45

P1mple is a cocky idiot

2022-08-19 18:00

Now S1mple gets to blame SDY and Headtr1ck if NaVi lose any matches.

reason?

2022-08-19 18:14

Na'Vi without s1mple? Going to be rough for them. Best of luck to headtr1ck.

2022-08-19 18:17

crazy to see S1mple skipping an event. Can't remember the last time

rip

2022-08-19 18:20

Tier 6

2022-08-19 18:27

Go Ukraine! (And the rest of the civil world)

2022-08-19 19:59

RIP NAVI. They are done with and will be lucky to qualify. Just like G2.

rip NaVi

2022-08-19 20:14

rip fantasy for most of you :D

2022-08-19 20:16

that sucks, I heard he's good

2022-08-19 21:21

gl headtr1ck and navi

2022-08-19 21:22

rip navi, thanks you s1mple

2022-08-19 21:24

What will happen to the fantasy??

2022-08-19 21:26

group stage doesn't matter for the top team, if he needs time for personal reasons he's more than entitled to it, always people jumping to conclusions

2022-08-20 01:35