We had the opportunity to speak with Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev following Natus Vincere’s dominating performance over BIG in the quarterfinals of the FACEIT Major in London. He discusses the match, his time on Na’Vi, Astralis, and more.

VPesports: First off, you guys just took down BIG in a really convincing fashion. Did you think it was going to be that easy going in? It was 16-2 and 16-6, that’s not too much of a struggle.

S1mple: We didn’t feel it was going to be easy because it was the map dust2, we didn’t win any game before this game on dust2. We didn’t have our confidence, we always lost in the practice but we always work on this map, we always fix our mistakes. There was a lot of stuff that we fixed, you know? We just destroyed their economy I guess. When you’re buying double AWP on CT side, it’s pretty hard to beat when everyone hits their shots. I think our team was just on point individually.

On the second map, I just didn’t think they thought we’d pick it because it’s not their strongest map, it’s one of the weaker maps like our dust2, but we manage to progress on dust2. We work to progress on this map because we know anyone could pick it.

VPesports: So you’ve been on Na’Vi for awhile now and you guys have had some pretty low points with roster moves and some group stage exits. Now you’ve risen back up and are competing for the top spot and in the last stage of the Major, whats that been like?

S1mple: I think it’s good for every person to go really down and find this power to go up. When I came into Natus Vincere, it’s not that easy. With GuardiaN, Seized, all of us are great individual players. We found mistakes, coach can’t talk, so we need in-game leader and everything changed and we started to play bad. We didn’t practice really well. Now we have structure, everything changed, Zeus is doing great work, all of us have different positions that we usually play and we’re not changing anymore. It’s nice when you go down and you go step by step moving forward toward what you want. All of us want titles right? But you need to put in a lot of work.

VPesports: So for a long time, you were the star player that was depended on to have to carry but now you’ve added electronic and he’s taken some of that load off of your shoulders as he’s given your team two star players. Are you enjoying that? Being able to focus on your own game and not be so relied on to carry each round?

S1mple: Of course I’m enjoying this. Not just electronic but everyone is stepping up. This carry is really important in some crucial situations, like when you’re losing 0-7 and you win clutch and your team’s coming back. It’s a really great feeling when you’re helping your team by winning some crucial rounds. I recommend every player to practice individually a lot because you can change the game really easily. It’s not like Dota 2 where you can go alone and kill 5 players, but in Counter-Strike, there’s more action, more things that you can do. You can hide in smokes, player with your flashes, you can do what you want, but I think the most important thing is when everyone’s on the same page and level and believes each other. You have more confidence in your individual game and your team play becomes better.

Especially after winning tournaments, fixing mistakes. That’s what some teams don’t understand, do not change the players. You don’t need to change players, he can easily fix his issues. It can not just be the player, it could be in life as well. You should know how to talk with your player, how to fix their mistakes, you should try to help your teammates.

VPesports: Lastly, so far the only team that has taken a map from you guys this event is Astralis and they’re the only team to be ranked above you guys. Is that the team you guys want to face in the finals, to prove you’re better and are the best?

S1mple: It would be really nice to play against Astralis and prove that we are better. But first, we will prepare for compLexity or MiBR. I can say that Liquid have a good chance as well to go to the final. It would be really nice to play against them as well. They’ve already proved you don’t need an AWP for T or CT side. They have really good team play and a lot of time to practice and they’re looking strong. I think if Astralis beats FaZe and Liquid beats HellRaisers, that will be a really great match up.