Woro2k got his revenge against s1mple after Monte stunned NAVI at the BLAST Paris Major, putting the Ukrainian giants on the brink of elimination.
The last time Volodymyr ‘Woro2k’ Veletniuk and Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev shared the server in an official CS:GO match, he promised that, one day, he would “destroy” his idol.
The pair had just played together in the grand final of Kinguin Legends 2022, a showmatch tournament with over $50,000 on the line. After a 2-1 loss, they exchanged a few heated words on Twitter, with s1mple calling Woro2k “stupid” and urging him to “start making progress”.
Almost a year later, their paths crossed again, and Woro2k made good on his promise as Monte breezed past NAVI in the Legends Stage of the BLAST Paris Major.
The result puts NAVI on the brink of elimination at the Major and with a potential match against FaZe or G2 Esports on the horizon.
At the same time, it confirms Monte’s status as one of the feel-good stories of the Major. The young team had no prior tier-one LAN events and was perceived as having only an outside chance of getting out of the Challengers Stage. All of a sudden, they have secured a top-eight finish at the Major, even without the guidance of their coach, Sergey ‘lmbt’ Bezhanov, who could not leave Ukraine due to the country’s restrictions amid the war against Russia.
But it wasn’t just Woro2k who had a bone to pick with NAVI. Kicked by the team at the end of last year, Viktor ‘sdy’ Orudzhev put in a series-high 1.47 HLTV rating against his former teammates, all while leading Monte in the server.
Monte are the third team through to the Champions Stage, joining Heroic and Vitality in the single-elimination bracket. The team has made huge strides since picking up sdy in January and is currently ranked 22nd in the world.