Natus Vincere CS2 player Justinas jL Lekavicius commented on the forced substitution in the team's lineup at IEM Sydney 2023. In an interview, the Lithuanian esports player noted that without Aleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev, it will be much harder for NAVI to fight for the championship.

I was super disappointed [absence of s1mple], to be honest. Outside the game, you can see my disappointment and I'm not the same guy. I just prepared super hard for this tournament and it's just... painful that these unfortunate circumstances arose, and because I did see us winning IEM Sydney at this time.I feel sad. I still think we can beat a lot of teams, I think we can make it to the playoffs, but in playoffs it's going to be harder teams, better opponents, better prepared. I don't think we're at 100%, even though we won our opening game, we could have got lucky, I could have played a life game. Individual players can never win tournaments, just because teamplay wins tournaments. Without a fifth player, a solid AWPer, it's going to be super hard to advance even to the semi-finals or finals.

Justinas jL Lekavicius

Rumors have it that s1mple could not participate in IEM Sydney 2023 due to obtaining residency in Europe. This could have caused problems with Kostyliev's return to the European Union had he gone to Sydney for the tournament. His place in the team was taken by the team's coach, Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy.

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Without s1mple, NAVI managed to defeat Apeks but lost to MOUZ in Group A at IEM Sydney 2023. Despite this, the team still has a chance to make it to the playoff of the tournament. You can follow the championship's progress through the link.