Following the recent announcement of Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev as a stand-in for FaZe Clan, the community has been abuzz with discussions regarding his potential eligibility to receive an autograph sticker at the upcoming BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025.
Many fans have been speculating on whether the legendary CS:GO player known as the GOAT will be granted this coveted item. However, due to certain rule complications, it appears that s1mple will not be receiving a sticker after all.
According to the official rules, substitute players such as s1mple are not entitled to autograph stickers. This is further complicated by the fact that s1mple was added to the roster after the deadline set for the Major tournament. This situation has occurred previously in esports events, as seen in the case of interz standing in for Cloud9 at the Shanghai Major but not receiving a sticker.
Despite hopes raised by BLAST extending the roster deadline for teams qualified through MRQ, FaZe Clan remains bound by the lineup they initially qualified with, which includes broky. Even if they were permitted to add a substitute player, s1mple's stand-in status would not change the outcome since the core lineup deadline was on April 11.
For s1mple to potentially obtain an autograph sticker, one scenario could involve Valve revising their procedures to allow active substitutes to receive stickers. However, this is considered unlikely as it would deviate from the established norms and could be seen as rewarding players who did not participate in the qualification process. Additionally, reports from flameZ suggest that the players' signatures were already submitted to Valve before the substitute deadline.
Another intriguing possibility could arise if FaZe Clan emerges victorious at the Major, earning an additional capsule. Valve might consider including players like s1mple post-event in such circumstances to align the capsule names with the actual winning lineup. Nevertheless, this remains mere speculation as such a scenario has not been witnessed before.
