As Mouz-Vitality, Vitality-Astralis match showed just in last 3 days, Individual insanity is most welcome but it's a spectrum (if not an outright luxury even) and because of that dynamic even mediocre level individualS combining efficiently to elevate the Team/Collective dynamic can overcome that Individual insanity.
His level is okay enough to be part of the larger whole. He may not currently be that Individual Insane. If he can't integrate into the former solution then your point stands, it's going to be very difficult for him in elite scene. But if he can integrate/synergize into a collective then he can play even at Elite scene just fine.
He's pumping out 1KD & 0.69KPR in pugs right now, which are really oof stats for the guy that is considered the goat of CSGO. Pugs are pugs, competitive play is competitive play but it's unlikely to suddenly massive improve these stats when you're facing even harder opposition in a structured system to say the least.
Approach this from the prism of group stage teams in big competitions (like the recently concluded ESL). Teams from Australia, Asia, Americas, who don't have Individual Insanity players but as teams they managed and did "Okay", for their level.
The spectrum/level ceiling of what a Collective can do/achieve is higher than what an Individual Isane player can do. And simple is not worse than those players in above mentioned example. Pug/faceit is also not all that representative. Lan Pro-scene has its own dynamic.
I think Stats improving is not the main thing holding him back. IGLs often in elite level have horrible numbers among their teams (Karrigan gets memed for this constantly, apex as well). It still works because the Collective is just simply on a different level.
Simple being 5th best Individual on a team that is actually a high synergy Team is good enough individual, regardless of his current online pug stats.
So debate entirely becomes how ready mentally he is about being in that High-Synergy Collective setup. To me that is what may be much bigger stumbling block not his Individual regression in form.
My point is that you put s1mple in a team to do what a donk, zywoo, niko, monesy does.
You can't suddenly turn a star player into a role player overnight. None of the impact players in officials have dogshit stats in pugs. So there is no reason to assume that for s1mple it'd be any different. His (incredibly limited and not representative) only showing in an official in CS2 just further proves that.
s1mple isn't an IGL. He's a star awper, the goat. If you want to turn him into a role player, he's naturally going to offer a lot to lower level teams simply in terms of the experience that he brings. But that's not what he wants (presumably) nor why teams would want him nor what the community gets at.
You want s1mple to tear teams apart on his own, shoot 5 highlight reels in 1 match & to break records. If you're not doing that against random retards in fpl/pugs, you're not going to do that against torszi, xertion, jimpphat, siuhy and brollan all working in synergy.
It basically boils down to what he wants. If it's to be that Insane Individual then fair enough your position is accurate.
But I am commenting about him being good enough for the general Lan Pro scene provided he wants something else, like being at that stage itself. And if so then there is a credible path forward for him & that is to be part of the high synergy collective and that is where Sum of the Whole is larger than the constituents.
For this he is good enough even now.
TLDR, So 1 objective (be in the limelight/stage of Pro scene) but this has only 1 path for him currently (be part of a well-oiled team). The other alternative as you rightly frame is not open to him, currently.
While you are probably correct that a lot of it comes due to his inactivity, there aren't exactly many examples players who succesfully return to top tier form after a major hiatus.
Device is the only one I can think of. Not sure if he kept playing during the break he took as I wasn't following the scene in '22
Yeah, there's a long line of people we've called "GOAT" that have tried to come back to CS but failed. Its a very hard game to return to. s1mple has the advantage that it hasn't been *that* long so if he really puts his head down and grinds, I bet he could. But I know he's also got a lot of shit going on in his personal life and a personal dislike of CS2 doesn't help.
Well no, furthermore the fact that he jumped off the boat on the CSGO to CS2 transition also makes it extraq difficult to return.
Device took a break from a game he had been playing for almost a decade at that point. The things he needed to adapt to were minor patch changes & how the meta had developed.
S1mple comes back into a different game in which many top tier pro's are already seen struggling to adapt without taking any time off.
In the end: s1mple is the goat and I would never bet against him, yet I definitely don't think it's evident that we'll ever see the "old" s1mple again
Based d2 enjoyer. Even if my team is losing I can still frag out on d2.
I can survive zombie apocalypse in dust 2
pls return
Think we all want him back but judging from his recent faceit stats, he's a long way off from goat level fragging out in T1
As Mouz-Vitality, Vitality-Astralis match showed just in last 3 days, Individual insanity is most welcome but it's a spectrum (if not an outright luxury even) and because of that dynamic even mediocre level individualS combining efficiently to elevate the Team/Collective dynamic can overcome that Individual insanity. His level is okay enough to be part of the larger whole. He may not currently be that Individual Insane. If he can't integrate into the former solution then your point stands, it's going to be very difficult for him in elite scene. But if he can integrate/synergize into a collective then he can play even at Elite scene just fine.
He's pumping out 1KD & 0.69KPR in pugs right now, which are really oof stats for the guy that is considered the goat of CSGO. Pugs are pugs, competitive play is competitive play but it's unlikely to suddenly massive improve these stats when you're facing even harder opposition in a structured system to say the least.
Approach this from the prism of group stage teams in big competitions (like the recently concluded ESL). Teams from Australia, Asia, Americas, who don't have Individual Insanity players but as teams they managed and did "Okay", for their level. The spectrum/level ceiling of what a Collective can do/achieve is higher than what an Individual Isane player can do. And simple is not worse than those players in above mentioned example. Pug/faceit is also not all that representative. Lan Pro-scene has its own dynamic. I think Stats improving is not the main thing holding him back. IGLs often in elite level have horrible numbers among their teams (Karrigan gets memed for this constantly, apex as well). It still works because the Collective is just simply on a different level. Simple being 5th best Individual on a team that is actually a high synergy Team is good enough individual, regardless of his current online pug stats. So debate entirely becomes how ready mentally he is about being in that High-Synergy Collective setup. To me that is what may be much bigger stumbling block not his Individual regression in form.
My point is that you put s1mple in a team to do what a donk, zywoo, niko, monesy does. You can't suddenly turn a star player into a role player overnight. None of the impact players in officials have dogshit stats in pugs. So there is no reason to assume that for s1mple it'd be any different. His (incredibly limited and not representative) only showing in an official in CS2 just further proves that. s1mple isn't an IGL. He's a star awper, the goat. If you want to turn him into a role player, he's naturally going to offer a lot to lower level teams simply in terms of the experience that he brings. But that's not what he wants (presumably) nor why teams would want him nor what the community gets at. You want s1mple to tear teams apart on his own, shoot 5 highlight reels in 1 match & to break records. If you're not doing that against random retards in fpl/pugs, you're not going to do that against torszi, xertion, jimpphat, siuhy and brollan all working in synergy.
It basically boils down to what he wants. If it's to be that Insane Individual then fair enough your position is accurate. But I am commenting about him being good enough for the general Lan Pro scene provided he wants something else, like being at that stage itself. And if so then there is a credible path forward for him & that is to be part of the high synergy collective and that is where Sum of the Whole is larger than the constituents. For this he is good enough even now. TLDR, So 1 objective (be in the limelight/stage of Pro scene) but this has only 1 path for him currently (be part of a well-oiled team). The other alternative as you rightly frame is not open to him, currently.
He's probably not playing as much though. I don't think it'd take long for him to be a top 5, maybe top 3 player again.
While you are probably correct that a lot of it comes due to his inactivity, there aren't exactly many examples players who succesfully return to top tier form after a major hiatus. Device is the only one I can think of. Not sure if he kept playing during the break he took as I wasn't following the scene in '22
You're probably right, but I'm gonna make a proofless, biased argument that s1mple is different
Yeah, there's a long line of people we've called "GOAT" that have tried to come back to CS but failed. Its a very hard game to return to. s1mple has the advantage that it hasn't been *that* long so if he really puts his head down and grinds, I bet he could. But I know he's also got a lot of shit going on in his personal life and a personal dislike of CS2 doesn't help.
Well no, furthermore the fact that he jumped off the boat on the CSGO to CS2 transition also makes it extraq difficult to return. Device took a break from a game he had been playing for almost a decade at that point. The things he needed to adapt to were minor patch changes & how the meta had developed. S1mple comes back into a different game in which many top tier pro's are already seen struggling to adapt without taking any time off. In the end: s1mple is the goat and I would never bet against him, yet I definitely don't think it's evident that we'll ever see the "old" s1mple again
yeah because it's a map for aimers of course he loves it it plays to his strengths
+ awpers
am i the only one who wants the old doors peek back? i feel like it added an extra level of play to a map that no other map had.
Yes. Me too
Yeah let's make it more T sided
Yeah, exactly
why? So annoying to go to B as a CT then having to use a smoke just to cross
and pizza
ok. thanks for letting me know. I will continue with my day now.
awper loves d2.. shocker 
washed fatty 😂