After missing the first matches of the BLAST Premier Fall group stage, Alexander «s1mple» Kostylev returned to the Natus Vincere lineup just in time to take part in the qualifying game against Vitality and contribute to the victory. After the match, the cyber athlete gave an interview to HLTV. He shared his opinion about the game of headtr1ck, who temporarily replaced him, as well as about the development of the team.
The player mentioned that the very opportunity to watch his team's performance from the sidelines was a very valuable experience for him. He had the opportunity to spot mistakes, share his advice with the team and see the game change. S1mple believes that headtr1ck has done a good job showing the maximum of what he is capable of now.
Commenting on the fact that recently NAVI was back on top of the world ranking, s1mple emphasized that now they have to prove this fact with real achievements at major tournaments. The difference in rating points between the teams is still small – 896 points for Natus Vincere and 889 for FaZe. The gap from the rest of the top 10 teams is much more noticeable.
Also s1mple spoke about the substitutions recently made by the leading teams. In his opinion, the new G2 – lineup is not the best option, but Vitality has really seen a marked improvement.