After winning his first-ever Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev decided to give the Stockholm Major-winning mouse to event host James Banks.
s1mple is often said to be one of the best CSGO players of all time. He burst onto the scene in 2014 when playing for Lane Dodgers but became a star with Team Liquid in 2016. Despite his jaw-dropping skills and long list of achievements while playing with Team Liquid and Natus Vincere, s1mple didn’t win a major until Stockholm.
But instead of celebrating his own achievements after officially beating G2 Esports, s1mple took the time to support Banks, who lost his partner during the PGL Major Stockholm. At the time, Banks said the pain was “unbearable” but noted that s1mple was there for him during that tough time.
s1mple gives Major-winning mouse to James Banks
While it wasn’t part of the official broadcast, s1mple continued to support Banks by gifting him the mouse he was playing on when he won the event. After handing his mouse to Banks, s1mple told him that it was from the Major, making it all the more important. s1mple had been waiting to win a major for a while, so the mouse had a lot of meaning to the CSGO legend.
The CSGO community caught the kind gesture, calling s1mple one of the most wholesome players in the scene. It seems that s1mple has matured significantly throughout his career, earning him a lot of respect beyond his skills despite being involved in a number of controversies during the early years of his career.
Some fans were also surprised to see that s1mple’s mouse was wired. mouses have improved over the years to not have lag when wireless, which has seen a number of pro players switch over. But it seems that s1mple has continued to go with what gets the job done for him, although he has switched over from a FK1+ mouse to a Logitech model.