s1mple attends VCT EMEA in support of NAVI’s Valorant team
João Ferreira/DexertoCS:GO star Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyljev made an appearance at the VCT EMEA league for its first match day in support of the NAVI Valorant along with the esports organization’s upper brass.
The first match of the VCT EMEA league was NAVI vs. KOI at the Coliseum and to show support for the Valorant team, NAVI brought out Head of Esports Amiran Rekhviashvili and CEO Yevhen Zolotarev, as well the organization’s CS:GO superstar, s1mple.
The CS:GO player was spotted in the crowd during the broadcast, took photos with fans before the match and even went on stage for a half-time interview with Yinsu Collins.
“I actually want to [play on this stage]. I told ANGE1 to just stand in for one map,” s1mple said when asked if he wanted to play on the VCT EMEA stage. “But he said ‘No. I got it.'”
The CS:GO player has dipped his toes into Valorant before, playing on his stream and queuing ranked with NAVI’s Valorant star sniper Mehmet ‘cNed’ İpek.
s1mple cheers on NAVI Valorant squad
The NAVI Valorant IGL and s1mple have some history together as the two players are longtime friends and played together in CS:GO. ANGE1 was the IGL for HellRaisers when s1mple played on the squad for a time in 2014 before he became the star we know him as today.
The Ukrainian star, who has given no indication that he is looking to switch games professionally, congratulated Riot Games for putting on a good show in Berlin with its Valorant league.
NAVI’s Valorant team is not as accomplished as its Counter-Strike division, which has won numerous titles over the years, including a Major and an Intel Grand Slam, but the squad does have one of the more stacked rosters in EMEA and recently finished third-fourth at VCT LOCK//IN.