CSGO star s1mple is actually even better than you think

Anyone with a vague familiarity with the Counter-Strike esports scene knows that Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is absurdly good. But statistics suggest he might actually be even better than people think.

Pley.gg crunched the numbers to determine the highest-rated player on every CSGO competitive map. With the sole exception of Vertigo, the Natus Vincere star was the best on every single active duty map in 2021. In some cases, second place wasn’t even particularly close. Here’s the breakdown:

By far, s1mple’s best map is Nuke where he enjoys a 1.42 rating. That’s the highest rating of any player on any map, and he stands a full 0.12 points above second place, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. 

The margins are much narrower on other maps, ranging from 0.05 to 0.01 points. ZywOo comes in second place on Nuke, Dust 2, and Inferno, and is just 0.01 points behind s1mple on Dust 2 and Inferno. Fnatic’s William “mezii” Merriman tails s1mple by 0.05 points on Overpass, Nikolay “mir” Bityukov of Team Spirit is behind s1mple on Ancient, and Gambit Esports’ Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov is second to s1mple on Mirage.

Even though s1mple is at the top on six CSGO maps, he isn’t actually even in the top five on Vertigo. Gambit’s Abai “Hobbit” Hasenov is the best on that map followed by sh1ro and ZywOo. That’s not an especially big deal, though. In terms of overall rating, s1mple sits at the top with a 1.33 overall rating, once again ahead of ZywOo at 1.28.

s1mple is CSGO’s best player, both qualitatively and quantitatively

The stats showing s1mple is CSGO’s best isn’t surprising, but it does basically give s1mple the credentials to be regarded as the Counter-Strike GOAT in every possible sense.

Alongside all the numbers that show his greatness, s1mple has also won all the most prestigious trophies there are to win in CSGO. Earlier this month, he became a CSGO major champion in the PGL Stockholm Major. The trophy from that event goes on his mantel alongside an ESL Pro League championship, two ESL Cologne titles, one IEM Katowice victory, and the $1 million prize from the third Intel Grand Slam season.

The cherry on top of all these numbers and credentials are the little things that s1mple does to get ahead. His gunplay is amazing but he also does the little things to give his team an advantage over opponents.

Unfortunately, s1mple does seem poised to take a lengthy break from CSGO but odds are that fans will be able to see more of him before long.