s1mple

In keeping with my recent theme of writing homages to semi-famous people, today is the turn of Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev, the 21 year old Ukrainian Counterstrike phenom. Widely lauded as the best individual player in the world, he is probably my favourite progamer at the moment, and arguably the most skilled competitor across all titles.

Sasha reminds me a lot of Bobby Fischer. Before the two of them came along, people thought that their respective games had been figured out, that the meta could no longer be improved, that the optimum style had been perfected and set in stone. Neither Fischer nor Kostyliev cared at all - they showed aggression, emotion and unrivalled talent to dominate their chosen fields.

S1mple is about as inspiring as it gets for me. He went from a toxic-but-brilliant teenager to a mature, composed leader whose level is virtually unparalleled. Throughout his transformation, he lost neither his fiery spirit nor his willingness to take normally unthinkable risks, embracing scenarios in which only the best player in the world could ever hope to emerge victorious. He still roars out a battlecry after felling his opponents, but now hypes up the crowd or tries to console his teammates when things aren't going so well.

In my mind, almost anybody who has managed to become a progamer is an inspiration, especially to play in a tier 1 team in a tier 1 game like s1mple. But his journey, his heart, his ability to reshape the entire game around him, not to mention how incomprehensibly good he is... makes him without a doubt one of my heroes.

Davai, Sasha.