S1mple went on an indefinite break from competing on Oct. 26, causing Natus Vincere to fill his spot with Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov. While CS fans wait to see how the move pans out, Justinas “jL” Lekavicius explained the differences between them in an interview with HLTV on Nov. 16.
The expectations around w0nderful are pretty high, not only because he’s a talented youngster who deserved a shot at the highest level of CS2 pro play but also because he’s filling in for none other than CS:GO’s very own GOAT. While jL acknowledged what everybody knew—that w0nderful isn’t exactly s1mple—he believes the 18-year-old has what it takes to evolve and become a great player.
“It’s a different player, even though he has s1mple’s sensitivity and video settings and all that stuff, he does not play like s1mple, s1mple is a phenomenon you cannot really repeat,” jL said during the HLTV Confirmed podcast on Nov. 16. “He understands the game in his own way, you cannot copy that, this is not the book. w0nderful also understands the game in his own way, and I think the best player should have that understanding. I think he has all the talent and all the will to overcome all the obstacles and become a great player.”
Though the roster change was confirmed at the end of October, NAVI have opted to not play any CS2 matches before the $425,000 BLAST Premier Fall Final. The tournament will run between Nov. 22 and 26 in Copenhagen, Denmark and w0nderful will essentially have a baptism by fire as the best teams in the world will be in attendance, including the No. 1 squad FaZe Clan.
When w0nderful debuts on Nov. 22 against Cloud9, it’ll be the first time NAVI will play without s1mple as the official primary AWPer in almost four years. The GOAT had filled that role since December 2019, when GuardiaN played his last match for NAVI, and only missed a couple of matches over the past few years.
