Natus Vincere duo Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Egor “flamie” Vasilyev are locked in talks to join SK Gaming’s team, HLTV.org has learned.
The Brazilian giants are believed to be keen to revamp their roster following a disappointing start to the year that culminated with a group stage exit at the WESG Finals – which team member Marcelo “coldzera” David had described as “the best tournament” while at the ELEAGUE Major.
Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Egor “flamie” Vasilyev, Natus Vincere‘s two big hitters, have been earmarked as key targets for SK‘s team, who are looking to off-load Epitacio “TACO” de Melo and their most recent recruit, Ricardo “boltz”Prass, with talks having already been initiated.
HLTV.org knows that negotiations for s1mple are at a more advanced stage than those for flamie, with Na`Vi’s asking price for the Russian player being a significant stumbling block at the moment. According to Flickshot.fr, the lineup could join Immortals in the future and play under the famed name Made in Brazil – a brand that was recently acquired by the North American organisation.
flamie has been on Natus Vincere‘s books since April 2015, when he signed a permanent deal with the organisation following a trial period, while s1mple was recruited in August 2016. Both players are tied to Na`Vi until the end of 2019 after penning two-year deals in December.
TACO has been part of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo‘s team since November 2015, when the squad still represented Luminosity, and was part of the roster that won back-to-back Major titles in 2016. boltz joined the team in October on loan from Immortals and helped the squad to win EPICENTER, BLAST Pro Series and the ESL Pro League S6 Finals.