CSGO pro s1mple gets banned in Valorant after hitting Immortal rank

Fariha Bhatti Published 27/03/2021

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has recently taken quite a fancy to Valorant and it’s not going well for him.

Two days after his Valorant stream, s1mple has found himself under Riot Games’ ban hammer. The pro player shared the unfortunate news with his fans on Twitter. s1mple explained that he woke up and saw that he was blocked from ranked games.

I dont specifically show my nickname, I got an immortal, I wake up and see a block in ranked games LUL @PlayVALORANT
— Sasha (@s1mpleO) March 27, 2021

The battle between Valorant and CSGO had briefly settled until s1mple streamed the game on 25 March and rekindled the fire. Valorant switches are now a dime a dozen, but CSGO’s top-rated player s1mple’s Valorant teaser had greatly unsettled the fans. His Twitch stream was loaded with incredible plays and destructive criticism. The AWPer played the game and dragged the weapons through dirt, calling Operator “shit” and criticizing the Vandal spray.

CSGO top player s1mple rains kills in Valorant, calls it “too simple”

s1mple mysteriously gets banned in Valorant

While his stream had caused enough frenzy, a recent development has shocked both Valorant and CSGO fans. The 22-year old has freshly been restricted from playing competitive Valorant, as reported by himself. The player said that he updated his Platinum 3 rank to Immortal before going to bed and woke up to a banned account.

While he didn’t reveal the ban’s reason, the fans figured that unfair reports might have resulted in a cheat ban.

i think just too good ????‍♂️
— Sasha (@s1mpleO) March 27, 2021

While s1mple getting banned for hitting unbelievable AWP shots makes all the sense, it’s probably not the case. Vanguard ban is quite severe and restricts all sorts of modes. In contrast, s1mple clarified that he’s able to log in and is prohibited from the ranked queue. This information points at a voice chat ban, which leads to ranked restriction after the patch 2.05 update.

The player likely had multiple reports for misusing voice chat or went AFK numerous times during his games. Both of these reasons have recently been added to the shortlist of ranked queue ban causes. s1mple has called out Riot Games to unban as he’s “not a cheater.” His tweet quickly got a response from one of the Valorant developers Riley Yurk who offered his help. His ban was removed in a matter of hours after his case was taken into consideration, but the reason remains unclear.

Whatever the case, his current Immortal rank and involvement in Valorant show that he’s actively been playing Riot’s shooter. Fans should expect more streams and tons of weapon analysis from s1mple in the future.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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