m0NESY: “I was inspired by how smart…”

G2 Esports player Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov has revealed who his inspiration is

Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov made a remarkable entry into the top-tier Counter-Strike scene, showcasing incredible AWPing skills and aggressive gameplay. Joining G2 in early 2022, the prodigious talent has consistently amazed fans with his outstanding performances. The Russian youngster was instrumental in his team’s IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne success this year, so he deservingly claimed a spot in our Best Players of the Year pick. Who inspired him in his professional journey? The 18-year-old sensation has given us the answer at last.

m0NESY Reveals His Inspiration

In a YouTube conversation with his former teammate Evgeniy “Aunkere” Karyat, m0NESY Osipov discussed the comparisons made between him and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. He revealed that, at one time, he found inspiration in the Natus Vincere AWPer, marveling at how he manages to come up with ingenious moves all the time.

“I don't care if they say I'm copying s1mple. Because I don't do this. For example, I watched his stream and heard this music. I genuinely liked it and started listening to myself. But I don't do this to be like him. I don't like this approach. I don't want to be viewed as someone else's copy.”

Credit: Dot Esports

“But I can say I used some aggressive Sasha's moves. When I started playing, I was following FalleN. I started watching s1mple when he joined NAVI and became top 1 in 2018. Only because of Sasha, I [changed your style?] Yeah. I was inspired by how smart he played. I couldn't understand how he did that; I was curious. And it became a challenge to become better than him.”

m0NESY has been dubbed as the “Next s1mple” long before he joined his current side, and even G2 acknowledged the comparisons by stating, “he comes after s1mple” in m0NESY's welcome video. He earned the moniker “The Baby Goat” following his impressive debut for the German organization.

s1mple is also an admirer of the Natus Vincere academy graduate and extended his advice to him after NAVI's victory at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021.

“I’d recommend him to ask for a one-year loan move because in the future, he will definitely deserve to play for NAVI’s main team,” he said at that time in HLTV Confirmed.

“You never know what will happen in the future. Maybe someone will retire or something like that.

“He needs to get some more experience against better teams. In his place, I’d go somewhere for a year and see what happens. His English is okay, it’s not that good. He needs to practice it with people and talk to them about something other than CS.”

s1mple also confirmed that NAVI would not hinder m0NESY’s development by stopping him from joining another organization, which later turned out to be the truth.

“It’s NAVI. They always help the players.”