The Thunderpick World Championship is live now in the Counter-Strike 2 world, and it’s an event that marks the return of Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev. After a lengthy hiatus, the Ukrainian legend has returned to the esports scene, but his very first match back was marred by a loss against 3DMAX.
As the Group Stage of the Thunderpick World Championship went live, 3DMAX handed Team Falcons an 0 – 2 loss, but there’s plenty of road left ahead, and s1mple remains resilient.
Unfazed
Following the 0 – 2 loss against 3DMAX, s1mple took to social media to express his thoughts, but by all accounts, he was relatively unbothered by the initial shortfall:
Bad start, but don’t forget that we trained for about 10 days. A lot of mistakes in the majority, but nothing new, the process of preparation and correct of mistakes takes time, we play the second official in a couple of hours, thanks to everyone for the support.
This was s1mple’s first pro match in more than ten months, so it’s understandable that he’ll have a brief adjustment period before he’s back in the saddle. Fans of the 27-year-old competitor remain hopeful, though. It’s not like he’s playing badly – he secured an ADR of 125 and picked up a KD of 27 – 16 in that opening series.
The Thunderpick World Championship went live today and will run until November 3. There’s an $850,000 prize pool on the line, and 16 of the best CS2 teams on Earth are vying for the lion’s share of the prize – a whopping $500,000.
Last year’s tournament was claimed by FaZe Clan, with Virtus.pro coming in second place. It was around the time that FaZe Clan went on a dominating streak – in the space of just three weeks, the squad won IEM Sydney, Thunderpick, and the CS Asia Championships.
Do you think Team Falcons stands a chance at the Thunderpick World Championship? Let us know on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming esports coverage, check out the news that just four teams remain at LoL Worlds
