Natus Vincere could be without Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev for the BLAST Premier Fall Groups and is readying junior player Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov to start in his place, if necessary, Dexerto reported Saturday.

The 18-year-old headtr1ck will attend the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team’s bootcamp in advance of the tournament, which is scheduled to start Friday in Copenhagen.

Per the Dexerto report, s1mple, 24, could be out for personal reasons. Earlier Saturday, he shared this in his Instagram story: “Big announcement soon.”

While headtr1ck most recently has played for the NaVi junior team, he played for the youth team for five months in 2021 until his promotion to juniors last August.

Both players are from Ukraine.

The BLAST Premier Fall Groups is a 12-team tournament, with NaVi placed in Group B with Complexity, Team Liquid and G2. Complexity is the first opponent for G2.

Six teams will move on to the Fall Finals. Total prize money in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups is $177,498.

–Field Level Media