If you play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, prepare to see a lot of guns being hurled over walls in the coming weeks thanks to a dramatic clutch victory by team Natus Vincere. During the ESL One New York semifinals, European team Natus Vincere (Na'Vi for short) squared off against Team Liquid—a team so fearsome even rapper Ice-T shook the dust off his shoulders to step into the spotlight to send a warning: "Don't fuck with Liquid 'cause they're going to bust that ass." Apparently, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostylev, a recent addition to Na'Vi and one-time member of Team Liquid, didn't get that message.
During the third and final game of the match, s1mple once again lived up to his reputation for stylish gunslinging. In the final moments of round five, he faced off solo against Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella. With nitr0 ready to plant the bomb inside bombsite B on Dust2 and s1mple stuck on the outside with no backup, things weren't looking great for Na'Vi. And then Kostylev did something ludicrous.
Just as Cannella planted the bomb, Kostylev approached the window leading into bombsite B, directly above Cannella, and hurled his AWP over the wall. Cannella, sensing movement, turned to face the flying rifle in a moment of confusion as Kostylev came through the window a split second later and planted a few pistol rounds in Cannella's head. The crowd went wild, the round was won, and the commentators were stunned. "What even is that?" asked one of them immediately following the play as both struggled to comprehend s1mple's strategy.
In CS:GO, throwing weapons isn't uncommon. Players will sometimes hurl a pistol around corners or over walls to try and make enemy players believe it's a flashbang, as Swag did so memorably a couple years ago. As enemies turn away to avoid the flash, players can rush and catch them off guard. But hurling an AWP is practically unheard of and certainly took Cannella by surprise. In the tight corners of bombsite B, the AWP wasn't going to be of much use to Kostylev, so using it as a distraction does make sense—but it's still bold as hell. "That is just him styling on nitr0," one of the ESL's commentators explained. "That is him just mentally breaking him, saying I'm going to utterly dominate you in this one on one."
And dominate s1imple did. Na'Vi would go on to secure the win over Team Liquid and eventually claim first place and a cool $125,000 cash prize—thanks in part to s1mple's ability to make amazing clutch plays. Even if you don't play CS:GO, I absolutely recommend watching some of the highlights from this weekend that can be found on the official ESL CS:GO Twitter account. S1mple also made another clutch play when he went toe-to-toe with four members of Virtus.pro using only a Desert Eagle. The CS:GO community has also put together some amazing videos following the tournament, including this highlight reel by YouTuber 'Virre CSGO' which captures all of the excitement of the weekend.
