S1mple showed flashes of his old form in Dallas, but struggled mightily in a match FaZe needed to win to stay alive.
Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev's highly-anticipated return to Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) with 
FaZe Clan has ended in disappointment as the team got eliminated from the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Dallas 2025 Group Stage on Thursday (22 May).
After struggling all throughout 2025 following the departure of 
Robin “ropz” Kool for
Team Vitality in January, FaZe signed s1mple on loan from 
Natus Vincere (NAVI) to replace 
Helvijs “broky” Saukants in a last-ditch attempt to bolster the squad ahead of IEM Dallas 2025 and the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025.
Despite the addition of the player many consider to be the Counter-Strike G.O.A.T., FaZe were still expected to face a lot of adversity in Dallas. S1mple was coming off a six-month hiatus from competitive play, with his last appearance being a disappointing stint in the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 with 
Team Falcons in November. In addition, FaZe had to play with 
Felipe “skullz” Medeiros as a stand-in as 
Håvard “rain” Nygaard had to sit out the tournament to be present for the birth of his child.
Despite some flashes of potential, FaZe's short campaign in IEM Dallas 2025's GSL format Group Stage ended in a 1-2 loss to 
HEROIC in the lower bracket semifinal of Group B.
S1mple's debut with FaZe in IEM Dallas 2025 ends in disappointment
FaZe stumbled in their first official match with s1mple in the lineup, as the team suffered back-to-back 10-13 losses to 
Team Liquid in Ancient and Inferno. Despite the admittedly expected loss to a Top 10 team, s1mple notably shined in his debut and top-fragged for FaZe in the series.
S1mple recorded 17 frags and two assists on 18 deaths in his first official map with FaZe in Ancient. In Inferno, the Ukrainian superstar put up 21 frags and two assists against 13 deaths, including a 4K in the second half's pistol round and a 3K to clutch round 19.
FaZe's loss to Liquid dropped them to the lower bracket quarterfinals, where they faced off against a Tier 3 team in 
BC.Game Esports. S1mple showed glimpses of his old form against BC.Game to lead his new team to their first match victory together off a 13-10 win in Mirage and a 13-4 stomp in Anubis.
Mirage saw 
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski top frag, but s1mple still had a stellar performance with 18 frags and two assists on a map-best 10 deaths. FaZe's new star even closed out the map in style, getting the entry kill with his signature AWP then following that up with three more frags to defend the bomb.
Anubis was another s1mple highlight reel, as he recorded 19 frags and six assists on two deaths in the first half en route to finishing with 21 kills, eight assists, and six deaths for a stellar 2.23 rating in the series.
While s1mple's performance versus BC.Game was certainly impressive and an exciting glimpse into his potential impact with FaZe, it's worth noting that it came against a vastly inferior team. FaZe's next match versus a Top 20 team in HEROIC saw s1mple look like a player coming off a six-month hiatus and whose prime years are now past him.
FaZe opened their lower bracket semifinal match against HEROIC with a surprising 13-9 win in Ancient. After leading the way for the team in the past two matches, s1mple failed to have much of an impact and bottom-fragged with just nine kills and four assists against 13 deaths. Instead, it was FaZe's legendary IGL, 
Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who stepped up for the win with 23 frags and six assists on 18 deaths.
S1mple had another lackluster performance in Anubis, only managing 10 frags and three assists on 13 deaths, as HEROIC dominated the map 13-7 to force the series to a decider.
Game three at Mirage saw HEROIC dominate early on and build up a 8-4 lead to end the first half as the T side. FaZe then went on an insane run in the second half, as EliGE, karrigan, and 
David “frozen” Čerňanský sparked a five-round streak from rounds 18 to 22 to put the team within series point. However, HEROIC managed to stop the bleeding and win the next two rounds to force overtime.
FaZe seemed to have run out of steam come overtime, as HEROIC edged them out 4-2 in the extra rounds to knock them out of IEM Dallas 2025 well short of the Playoffs in 9th-12th place. S1mple notably bowed out of his first tournament with FaZe with a middling 17 frags and nine assists on 22 deaths.
FaZe look ahead to Austin Major
With their early exit from IEM Dallas 2025, FaZe now look ahead to the Austin Major in June. Back when the team first announced their signing of s1mple, karrigan admitted that this move was a “Hail Mary at the Major” and that “long term we have no idea yet what's gonna happen."
“Unique opportunity and I’m looking forward to play with this GOAT at the Major. This is an all-in move, we are going for the trophy at the Major even if [s1mple] is only a stand-in. I know we can win,” karrigan said on s1mple's move to FaZe.
With rain set to return and the team dedicating a boot camp for Austin, FaZe should improve in time for the Major. But with the likes of Vitality, Falcons, and 
Team Spirit as their competition, it's fair to say that FaZe–even with s1mple on their roster–are looking like dark horses at best. But considering FaZe's storied history in CS, they just might channel their old magic to somehow pull out a win in Austin. And having the CS G.O.A.T. in s1mple should help in that regard.
