Natus Vincere today officially introduced new signing Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov, who will replace the team's star and three-time world player of the year Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev.
S1mple has previously announced that he will take a break from competition, and that although he has not considered leaving Na'Vi, he is open to offers from other teams, and is even ready to potentially switch to a different position, i.e. switch from sniper to rifle.
On the same day, rumors began to circulate that Na'Vi is negotiating with the Sprout team regarding the transfer of the Ukrainian player, and today the official confirmation of the transfer arrives.
The announcement states that w0nderful is coming in as s1mple's replacement, but there is no further indication that s1mple might one day return to the team. He spent a total of eight years in Na'Vi and it will be really strange to watch the team without the player who lifted them to the very top of the world CS:GO scene.
When it comes to his replacement, the 18-year-old w0nderful is one of the most talented young players in the CIS region, he has achieved a 1.29 rating on Sprout in the past three months and has drawn a lot of attention to himself in a short time. He started his playing career at the end of 2020, and before Sprout he played for Team Spirit and HellRaisers.
