s1mple joins FaZe on loan ahead of Austin Major

The Ukrainian superstar is picking up the AWP for the international team.

FaZe have announced that they have signed Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev on a loan deal from Natus Vincere until the end of the Austin Major. The three-time Player of the Year will replace Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants, who has been moved to the bench as the team looks to turn around a disappointing start to the year.

s1mple has been out of action since the Shanghai Major's Europe RMR, where he played for Falcons on loan. The deal was initially due to last through the end of 2024, but it was cut short after the team failed to qualify for the Major.

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FaZe bench broky

That was s1mple's second loan stint with the Saudi organization after he had played for them in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown earlier in 2024.

The Ukrainian superstar has been out of Natus Vincere's starting lineup since October 2023, when he took a break from competition. He has a little over six months left on the three-year deal he signed with the Ukrainian organization at the end of 2022.

s1mple's future has been the subject of much conjecture since the start of 2025. Early in April, he told streamer Evelone he had "some offers, kind of, something," adding that his price tag was decreasing as he approached the end of his NAVI contract. And later that month, he said in an Instagram story that he was "grinding CS and grinding [the] gym every day."

On FaZe, s1mple will reunite with Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, his Liquid teammate from 2016. That team made deep runs at the two Majors held that year, finishing top four at MLG Columbus and second at ESL One Cologne.

s1mple joins a team that has failed to live up to the hype generated by EliGE's high-profile arrival in the off-season. The North American star was brought in to replace Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, who has rediscovered his best form as part of a dominant Vitality roster that on Sunday won its fifth straight Big Event.

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A fourth-place finish at PGL Cluj-Napoca and a third-place finish at PGL Bucharest were FaZe's only highlights of the first four months of the year. The team couldn't reach the playoffs at IEM Melbourne and finished in 5th-6th place at BLAST Rivals, where it couldn't take a map off either Falcons or MOUZ and had to work extremely hard to beat FlyQuest.

s1mple will make his FaZe debut at IEM Dallas, which is slated to start on May 19. That will be the team's final stop before the Austin Major, where they will start their campaign in Stage 2.

FaZe currently have:

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard
Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski
David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev (loan)

Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski (coach)

Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants (benched)