Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut will face each other in Counter-Strike 2 for the first time since 2023. The legends of the discipline will meet as part of IEM Krakow 2026. Today, January 31, a match will take place between Team Vitality, the 2025 runner-up, and BC.Game. Both teams feature renowned snipers who will once again clash on the pro stage.
The players have met 24 times in total: s1mple has won 15 of those. s1mple’s rating against Vitality is 1.25, ZywOo’s rating against NAVI is 1.19.
Previously, in an elimination match during the first stage of the tournament, the team from Belize BC.Game secured a convincing victory over the Swedish organization Ninjas in Pyjamas. The 0:2 defeat proved fatal for NiP — the team leaves the tournament.
Notably, scout and analyst Alexey “OverDrive” Biryukov criticized the play of Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev. But just a few days ago (January 28), Alexey held the opposite opinion. At that time, he called s1mple’s and his teammates’ form “the first pleasant surprise of 2026” and confidently predicted their advancement to the main stage of the championship.
Also today the matches will take place (Moscow time):
Group A
- G2 vs The MongolZ — 16:00
- NAVI vs PARIVISION — 16:00
- Astralis vs Spirit — 18:30
- FURIA vs FUT — 18:30
Group B
- 3DMAX vs FaZe — 21:00
The event runs from January 28 to February 8. 24 teams will compete for a prize pool of $1.25 million.