Natus Vincere announced that Alexander «s1mple» Kostylev has signed an extension of his current contract with the organization for another three years. Thus, he will continue to cooperate with it until at least 2025.
s1mple joined NAVI in 2016, moving to the Ukrainian team from Liquid. In the six years since then, he has become its key player and has made a defining contribution to its victories at a number of top-level tournaments. Since 2016, s1mple has appeared in the top individual player rankings every year, with 2018 and 2021 finding him at No. 1 on that list and 2019 – at No. 2. With his participation, the team won a total of 11 major trophies, successfully played at the PGL Major Stockholm and became the third winner of the Intel Grand Slam.
Commenting on the contract extension with s1mple, the team management notes that the player will now be one of the architects of the team's success at IEM Rio 2022. At the European RMR tournament in Malta prior to the major, Natus Vincere became the unquestioned leader, which will allow it to start at the major right from the Legends stage. The s1mple rating at these events was an impressive 1.48.