FlipSid3 Tactics has grown to become one of the most promising up and comers in the CS scene, but the succes story took an unexpected turn when Aleksandr ”s1mple” Kostyliev dumped the team at ESWC.

According to 1.6-legend Yegor ”Markeloff” Markelov, this was not a big loss.

– He was yelling and arguing with teammates all the time, the veteran tells Aftonbladet Esport.

Yegor ”Markeloff” Markelovs CS:GO-career has been somewhat of a rollercoaster. He started off with the 1.6 colleges in Na’vi, but was soon caught up in a CIS shuffle that brought him to HellRaisers. Eventually though, he landed in the team that is now known as FlipSid3 Tactics, a team that has grown to become one of the most promising up and comers in the CS community. In 1.6, Markeloff was widely considered to be one of the greatest players ever, but in CS:GO few would give him the same title. This does not seem to bother Markeloff.

– Of course it’s not as solid like in the past 1.6 days, but still I’m very satisfied with myself, the organization and my teammates. I still enjoy playing the game, nothing else matters, Markeloff tells Aftonbladet Esport and adds:

– Another main thing is that I do not use AWP anymore, and the sniper gun was one reason I was so popular in 1.6.

”He was yelling and arguing”

FlipSid3 recently caused one of the biggest upsets of this year, winning the ESWC quarter finals against Ninjas in Pyjamas. What made the upset even more extraordinary was that the victory came with the American standin Spencer ”Hiko” Martin. Still, the AWP star Aleksandr ”s1mple” Kostyliev seemed all but satisfied. After getting stomped in the semifinals he published harsh criticism towards his teammates and went on to leave the team.

”I just don’t know how you cannot do simple stuff when you’ve been playing CS for so long”, s1mple wrote after leaving the team.

His departure was however, according to Markeloff, not a big loss.

– He is definitely an outstanding player with huge confidence and godlike aim. I would say he would be the best in a 1v1 FPS like Quake. But the reason he left is because CS:GO is a team game, and also it’s just impossible when all the players in the team need to play on a godlike level all the time and not make any mistakes. It is a game of mistakes overall, whoever makes the least mistakes wins, Markeloff says and continues:

– He couldn’t understand it. He was yelling and arguing all the time with teammates and it damaged our team chemistry a lot.

How do you feel about losing him?

– I do feel really awesome that he left, we all feel much better. Now we can concentrate on our personal and team game instead of fighting with a toxic kid.

”ESL One will be unbelievably hard”

Although FlipSid3 had been forced to replace their AWP star s1mple, they still managed to grab one of the last spots for the major tournament ESL One Cologne. However, for the upcoming major Markeloff seems slightly pessimistic.

– It will be unbelievably hard to even pass to the playoffs. Because of ESL rules and it’s BO1 where the top seed choose side on the map. It’s just a huge advantage especially in BO1, he says and adds:

– Still, our goal for this event is to play as good as we can or even better, and try to reach the playoffs.