NaVi announces W0nderful as s1mple replacement

The extraordinary, popular, and legendary Ukrainian organization, NaVi, announced the signing of Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov to replace CS:GO GO GOAT Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, who is currently on the team’s bench.

w0nderful comes from being Sprout’s starting AWPer in the last few months, so he has been very active after participating in many Tier 2 events. However, it is not the same to play under Sprout’s banner as NaVi’s and, much less, in place of the best player in CS:GO history, s1mple.

In any case, we can only wait and see how this talented and promising young Ukrainian will adapt to this lineup, which is now completely international.

NaVi announces the signing of w0nderful instead of s1mple

Through a post on its Twitter/X account, NaVi confirmed the rumors of the last few days by announcing the signing of w0nderful to fill the spot left by s1mple. Recall that the CS:GO GOAT decided to “take a break” from the competitive scene last October 26.

NAVI CS2 roster is complete and ready for the next event – BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023.

Welcome, @w0nderfulof!
📰: https://t.co/V342QnlIwz#navination #CS2 pic.twitter.com/TZQfRBBfVY

— NAVI (@natusvincere) October 31, 2023

Now, speaking specifically about the 18-year-old Ukrainian AWPer, w0nderful, we have that he made his name known on the scene last season when he played for Spirit. However, playing with Sprout in 2023, we have observed a mind-blowing level of play, which has left an excellent rating of 1.23, according to HLTV.

Similarly, this will be the first time in his young pro career that he can show his full potential against the best CS2 teams in the world.

In NaVi’s official press release, w0nderful mentioned that he is really happy to join such a popular, important, legendary organization as NaVi. Moreover, being Ukrainian, he said that since he started playing CS:GO, it was his dream to play for NaVi. On the other hand, he also mentioned that he has an extremely complicated task in replacing s1mple, but he stressed that he will give his best to lead the team to victory.

It is unclear whether s1mple will return to NaVi

While it is true that s1mple is on NaVi’s bench, it is unclear if the CS:GO GO GOAT will return to the team’s lineup. For now, the Ukrainian AWPer listens to offers from other teams while he is playing with friends on his streams.

On the other hand, w0nderful’s signing by NaVi is on a “permanent” basis, meaning the player will spend several months in the team’s starting lineup. As a result, it is likely that s1mple’s days at NaVi are over and that he will do so under the banner of a new team when he returns to compete.

w0nderful will debut as NaVi’s new AWPer starting November 22 when the Fall Finals 2023 kicks off. This will be the second time we see NaVi in an official CS2 tournament, but the first time with a full squad since, let’s remember that Andrij “B1ad3” Ghorodensjkyj, the team’s Head Coach, played for s1mple in Australia, at the IEM Sydney 2023.

Header: NaVi