FaZe replace broky with s1mple

Counter-Strike

May 5, 2025

Leonardo Biazzi

FaZe has benched Helvijs “broky” Saukants and brought Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev for the BLAST Austin Major 2025, the organization announced on May 5.

s1mple joins FaZe initially on loan from Natus Vincere. The Ukrainian superstar has been away from the pro scene since November 2024, when he and Falcons failed to qualify for the Perfect World Shanghai Major.

Credit: BLASTPremier

Although broky’s benching isn’t surprising, given that the Latvian is going through a slump for months, FaZe signing s1mple is shocking. S1mple is the best CS:GO player ever, but he’s yet to deliver in CS2, having played just a few tournaments for Falcons on loan.

This is the type of signing that could either make or break FaZe. The international powerhouse have struggled this year after the departure of Robin “ropz” Kool to Vitality, and only made deep runs at PGL Cluj-Napoca and PGL Bucharest.

When will s1mple debut for FaZe?

s1mple will debut for FaZe at IEM Dallas, which kicks off on May 19th. The Ukrainian superstar will roughly have two weeks of practice with FaZe, one of the IEM Dallas confirmed teams, before the North American tournament begins, which should be enough time for him to learn the basics of FaZe’s playbook and tactical protocols.

Although fans haven’t seen much from s1mple in CS2, he will likely change the team’s dynamics because he’s naturally a much more aggressive player than broky. s1mple isn’t the type of sniper that stays in the backline and throws a bunch of utility to set up his teammates, for example.

It also could take a while for players such as Finn “karrigan” Andersen and Håvard “rain” Nygaard to get used to s1mple’s playstyle. The former has been playing with broky since 2021, and the latter since 2019, the year broky joined FaZe.

The Latvian AWPer joined as a promising player from the FACEIT Pro League (FPL) and became a key part of the team, having helped FaZe to win various championships, including an Intel Grand Slam in 2023 and the PGL Antwerp Major in 2022.

Depending on how the s1mple experiment goes, broky could make his way back into FaZe after the BLAST.tv Austin Major as the Ukrainian only has two CS2 tournaments to make a good impression.