On August 4, 2016, Natus Vincere signed 18-year-old sniper s1mple, replacing Zeus in their roster. Before joining NAVI, s1mple played for Team Liquid, reaching the semifinals of MLG Columbus 2016 and the finals of ESL One Cologne 2016. His legendary double no-scope moment on Cache became graffiti on the map.

NAVI’s success with s1mple began in October 2016 with their first major trophy at ESL One New York 2016, where s1mple earned his first MVP medal. One of the most emotional moments was winning StarSeries i-League Season 5 in May 2018 in Kyiv, with s1mple again earning MVP. In 2018, HLTV named him the best player in the world for the first time, despite not yet winning a major.

NAVI’s dominance peaked in 2021 under coach Andrey ‘B1ad3’ Gorodenskiy, with s1mple leading the team to victory at PGL Major Stockholm 2021 without losing a single map, earning another MVP. That year, NAVI also won the Intel Grand Slam Season 3, earning $1,000,000 for victories at IEM Katowice 2020, IEM Cologne 2021, DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, and ESL Pro League Season 14. During his time at NAVI, s1mple won three HLTV Player of the Year titles (2018, 2021, 2022), 21 MVP medals, 17 top event trophies, and one Intel Grand Slam.

In mid-2023, s1mple left NAVI’s active roster and had loan stints with Team Falcons and FaZe Clan before signing with BC.Game.