s1mple: "We'll do everything we can"

4-7-2016 18:17

With ESL One Cologne knocking on the door, we interviewed Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev of Liquid to get his opinion about the one million dollar event.

The 18-year-old Ukranian who is regarded as one of the most talented players in the world will be playing with Liquid in Cologne.

We got in touch with Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev to get his thoughts on playing with Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin & co. once again at a Major.

How are you preparing for ESL One Cologne? Have you had a bootcamp to specifically prepare for the second major of 2016?

We started bootcamping before ECS and continued after it. We had two weeks of bootcamp.

How does it feel to be back with Liquid for the ECS Finals and ESL One Cologne? Is it weird to stand in for only two tournaments?

It's actually not bad, because I want to play all tournaments that I can with them, they are a great team and there are a lot of nice people in the organization such as players, coach, and managers.

s1mple is enjoying his time with Liquid

What are your thoughts on playing with jdm64? Do you think your current lineup has more potential than it did at MLG Columbus?

Josh is the most hard-working person I've ever met in my life. He always spends a lot of time to practice his individual skill. I like players that spend a lot of time in CS to do everything for their team's success. I also think our current roster is stronger than it was in Columbus.

What do you think about the group that was assigned to your team(Virtus.pro, mousesports, and EnVyUs)? Do you think advancing to the quarter-finals will be challenging?

It's a very hard group, and it's going to be hard to go through to the quarter-finals. Virtus.pro, like EnVyUs, have a lot of experience and they have been playing good for the last two months. Mousesports is a team that finally want to go through the group and they are going to do everything to achieve this. They want to play on stage as well to represent their country. We will do everything we can to beat these opponents.

The inefficiency and the unfairness of the current major seeding system, which allows for groups such as Group D (SK, fnatic, G2, and FaZe), has been criticized before by journalists and players. What is your opinion about the system and do you think it should change?

It's a random system, everyone saw this on stream after Cologne Main Qualifiers. I'm pretty sure nobody would want to be in this group but I always say that if you want to advance to the playoffs and try to win the final, you should beat all opponents; otherwise, you are not ready for this tournament.

What will be the goal for Liquid in this one million dollar event? What placing would you consider a success and what would be regarded as a failure?

Our first goal is to go through the group and our ultimate goal is to win the grand final. I think it's the same goals for every team who attend this Major. Failure would be getting eliminated in the group stage while being in the final would be a big success.

What are your opinions about Nuke as a competitive map and do you think it is ready to be played at a major? Do you feel comfortable playing it or are you still adjusting your game and developing?

Nuke is a great map! I want to thank Valve for this. It's such a good map for teams that are practicing it. We are ready to play Nuke as after we lost this map at the ECS Finals, we analyzed and fixed a lot of mistakes.

What is your top four prediction and which team, in your opinion, can surprise us?

My top four prediction is SK, Liquid, Navi, and NiP. I think that OpTic can surprise everyone in the group stage, they are an interesting team.

Is there anything you want to say to your supporters before we end our interview?

Just support our team my lovely fans. You should know that I or anyone from Liquid are always with you. Enjoy this tournament and cheer for your favorite team!

As ESL One Cologne gets ready to kick off, you can check below for all the pieces about the upcoming Major:

Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo: "Have to beat them all"
Jacob "⁠pyth⁠" Mourujärvi: "We will definitely recover"
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke: "Main goal is top eight"
Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele: "Focus on getting out of groups"

Group A preview by Michal "stich" Malachowski
Group B preview by Milan "Striker" Švejda
Group C preview by Michal "stich" Malachowski
Group D preview by Milan "Striker" Švejda

Follow HLTV.org writer BenjaCS on Twitter.

YES I DID IT FOX > ALL

2016-07-04 18:18

5 replies

omg another portugal fuck go suck ronaldos dick and watch team imperio play faggot

2016-07-04 18:30

1 reply

Christiano homosexual

2016-07-04 21:52

haha good glock drop João

2016-07-05 01:35

Bacalhau drop

2016-07-05 12:20

Ez p1mple

2016-07-05 07:37

s1mple god

2 replies

You can definitely depend on ChokeSquid to get 14 rounds.

Edgy tsipras

2016-07-04 19:12

ez 4 s1mplovich

s1mple is love, s1mple is life

exciting, go liquid!!

east for simple

mhmm

rip spammers

Tilting?

-rep toxic

god

god s1mple

1st AMA

Good luck

nice london

SIMPLE IS SHIT

every1 gonna try to be the 1st

I also think our current roster is stronger than it was in Cologne. wat

he probably worded it wrong but meant that it was stronger than it was before, now in cologne.

2016-07-05 00:12

i think the people that interviewed him didnt want to correct him

2016-07-05 00:30

2016-07-04 18:20

#S1MPLECSGOD

2016-07-04 18:21

s1mple is more toxic than a Chinese industrial plant

SEMPEL

news1mple LMFAOOOOO

roster is stronger in Columbus on paper. let's see if it's stronger in reality as well :)

2016-07-04 18:23

gl s1mple

gl BRAZIL! We smart, we loyal, we friendly, we are from BRAZIL!

2016-07-04 18:24

Everything including choking

100% not by p1mple. watch his stream, this toxic kid can barely speak english

4 replies

how dare you criticize our god and saviour s1mple?

2016-07-04 18:34

his attitude changed so much, as you can see if you read this interview.

2016-07-04 18:46

i can confirm they edit the interview, my uncle works at hltv.

2016-07-04 20:12

Tell him to unban me please

2016-07-04 20:17

next major: s1mple + maikelele + NiKo = 200% MAD

2016-07-04 18:25

+troubley +dazed

2016-07-04 18:37

-troubley +steel

2016-07-05 02:21

He was nervous during this interview i think lelele

2016-07-04 18:32

Good Luck :) #CSGOD

2016-07-04 18:36

crazyguy > toxic(s1mple)guy

2016-07-04 18:38

Nuke is a great map! I want to thank Valve for this.

2016-07-04 18:45

gl s1mplerino <3

1st

2016-07-04 18:49

simple sucks cock, simple if life.

Just like you did with France.

2016-07-04 19:37

whos s1mple ?

2016-07-04 19:30

This doesn't sound like s1mple one bit.

2016-07-04 19:38

3 replies

Yeah you're right it doesn't sound like him

2016-07-04 19:51

Is there an audio book attached because I can't hear shit

2016-07-04 20:13

same

2016-07-05 01:31

if they do well i bet s1mple wont want to leave the team seems like hes really enjoying it

2016-07-04 20:07

Same

2016-07-04 22:13

1. PLS GIVE ME TONS OF REPLIES IM NEW ON HLTV WANNA MAKE TOPICS LOVE YOU ALL <3 2.am i the only one who thinks simple's overrated? while in liquid he hasnt been on fire often being outfragged by hiko,hasnt carried them during the major,can potentially ruin team chemistry/make others on tilt and often in liquid vs other NA team games he never really carries yet people always talk about him being like a god up there with shox or cold yet imo hes overrated

2016-07-04 20:10

I think jdm will make more of an impact than s1mple

2016-07-04 20:24

LMAO

2016-07-05 10:11

s1mple lost them cache against LG by being an idiot.

2016-07-05 10:28

Nuke is a great map! I want to thank Valve for this. It's such a good map

2016-07-04 21:03

ready for choke

2016-07-04 21:13

ez for mouz

2016-07-04 22:12

I have never been more excited for a major. Group D alone will provide match-ups that no doubt the fans are eager to see. This major is the most unpredictable with NiP/NaVi/VP/EnVy all in shaky form (relative to their dominant displays in 2015). Anything can happen with the amount of boot camping the teams have been doing. Definitely ready to watch some world class CS :)

2016-07-04 22:22