The Game Awards just verified what every Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fan already knew. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is the greatest esports competitor in the world.
s1mple of Natus Vincere has been recognized as 2021’s Best Esports Athlete at The Game Awards. The category included several important names from other esports, but the Na’Vi superstar came out on top. This year, he accomplished several important milestones on his journey to becoming CSGO’s undisputed greatest player of all time.
The category for Best Esports Athlete included several breakout names including Team Spirit Dota 2 offlaner Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov and Valorant star Tyson “TenZ” Ngo. The competition was close, but s1mple won out due to his team’s overwhelming success in 2021. s1mple himself is the undisputed best CSGO player in the world. Based on his achievements in 2021, he makes a very good claim as the greatest CSGO player to ever play the game.
s1mple’s biggest accomplishment in 2021 was finally winning his first CSGO major. PGL Major Stockholm represented a triumphant return to LAN play after more than a year of travel restrictions. Natus Vincere had an incredibly difficult path to the $1 million championship, defeating rivals Team Vitality, Gambit Esports, and G2 Esports without dropping a single map. s1mple was the MVP of the tournament, putting up .95 kills and 94 damage per round.
With s1mple’s AWP skills, Na’Vi also achieved six other big championships throughout the year. The squad also earned a nice $1 million bonus by earning the Intel Grand Slam. Natus Vincere’s best year in history could get even better with a championship at the upcoming BLAST Premier: World Final.
In addition to s1mple’s personal recognition, The Esports Awards declared Na`Vi to be the Esports Team of the Year. The team had an incredibly successful season, earning $3,775,500 from 15 tournaments. The Ukrainian-Russian roster had one of the most lucrative years of any CSGO team in history.
Esports fans who don’t watch CSGO might be surprised by this choice. Natus Vincere’s Dota 2 roster was rife with controversy this year as right before the qualifiers for The International 2021, Na’Vi blatantly poached multiple players from Gambit Esports in a futile bid to qualify. Despite this, the team failed to qualify for the tournament.
The Esports Awards only considers the sponsored players of one team, not the sponsor itself.
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