S1mple explains why Astralis are still the world’s best CS:GO team

CS:GO professional Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev still believes that Astralis remain the best team in the world, despite back to back losses to FURIA, which saw them eliminated from the ECS Season 7 Finals in London.

FURIA Esports have set the Brazilian CS:GO scene on fire, after defeating Danish giants Astralis twice in as many days, to knock them out of the ECS Season 7 Finals. FURIA first beat Astralis 16-14 on June 6, then backed this victory up through a 2-1 BO3 series on June 7, which they took 12-16, 16-10, 16-13.

In spite of these defeats, s1mple, who currently plays for Ukrainian organization Natus Vincere, still believes Astralis are the best roster in the world.

Astralis, consisting of dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, gla1ve and Magisk, have been together since February of 2018, and have amassed numerous major tournament wins in that time period, including the IEM Katowice in March 2019. 

This success and longevity has led to many fans and commentators calling the roster the most dominant in CS:GO history.

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However, having skipped out on numerous events, and with their struggles versus FURIA, some now argue that their reign as top dogs is over, but s1mple isn’t buying it: “Still the best team in the world @astralisgg, surprised by @furiagg let’s go guys!”

This led to something of a debate on social media, as many argued Astralis’ supremacy was over. One user argued that they “are still very good… but clearly aren’t [one] step ahead of everyone as it used to be”.

S1mple wasn’t convinced, arguing that they need to lose at a major tournament before they can be discounted as the best roster. He said that if they lose 3 “big” tournaments in a row, then they should no longer be considered the best.

S1mple himself is considered one of the best players of all time, but clearly thinks more has to be done to dethrone Astralis’ stellar roster.