All eyes are on the 16 teams that start their journey at the PGL Copenhagen Major on Sunday at the Opening Stage of the tournament. The biggest stars on the scene will enter the tournament in the next phase, where FaZe, G2, and the rest of the seeded teams for the Elimination Stage await. But until then, we will take a look at some of the players, that you should keep an eye on in the first stage of the tournament.

Filter: Against the top 50 teams (min. 15 maps) in 2024

1. João "felps" Vasconcellos (Imperial) – 1.19 rating (32 maps)

The 27-year-old Brazilian plays his sixth Major in his career. It’s been a while ago since the former SK rifler was part of any lineup that could win big tournaments, but in 2024 João "felps" Vasconcellos and his teammates have shown promising signs. The experienced Rifler is averaging a 1.25 rating overall, and a 1.19 rating against top 50 teams in the world.

2. Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing (SAW) – 1.19 rating (24 maps)

SAW is one of the most in-form teams that are going to the Copenhagen Major. With 9 wins in a row, the Portuguese fans are expecting their heroes to go far in the first CS2 Major in history. One of the key players for SAW will be Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing. The 21-year-old rifler has been amazing in the last couple of tournaments, where he has averaged between 1.21 and 1.32. Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing is one of the most in-form players at the tournament, and we can’t wait to see, what he brings to the server in Copenhagen.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/XANTARES_hsb0mh","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

3. İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş (Eternal Fire) – 1.19 rating (22 maps)

The Turkish Rifler is obviously going to feature on this list. İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş is now 28-year-old, but he can still shoot heads. The Rifler was great in Katowice but had issues performing against the likes of FaZe and G2. Against lesser prominent opponents, İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş is still lethal, and has a very respectable 1.19 rating in 2024.

4. Özgür "woxic" Eker (Eternal Fire) – 1.18 rating (22 maps)

We have long stopped counting the times that Eternal Fire changed their roster in the past. But now something seems to have clicked for the Turkish side, that are expected to be among the best teams in the opening stage of the tournament. One of the reasons is Özgür "woxic" Eker. The 25-year-old AWP’er has been fairly consistent for Eternal Fire, and sometimes we see glimpses of the player that were ranked in the top 20 of the world in 2019. At the IEM Katowice Play-in, Özgür "woxic" Eker gave one of the best performances of his career with a 1.51 rating. It will be interesting to see, how Eternal Fire plays at the event after nearly a month without competitive matches.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/yuurih_axkbad","originalWidth":4096,"originalHeight":2304,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

5. Yuri "yuurih" Boian (FURIA) – 1.18 rating (19 maps)

2318 days. That is the number of days, that Yuri "yuurih" Boian has been rifling for FURIA. The longest-standing member of the team is also the player in best shape before the start of the Copenhagen Major. The duo of Yuri "yuurih" Boian and Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato is always dangerous, and will without a doubt pose a threat to all the teams in the Opening Stage.

6. Michel "ewjerkz" Magalhães (SAW) – 1.17 rating (24 maps)

Another SAW player has found his way to the top of the ratings. Michel "ewjerkz" Magalhães has been very consistent in his performances for SAW with a minimum of 1.11 rating in the five events, that SAW has played in 2024. Michel "ewjerkz" Magalhães is 23-years-old and joined SAW in the summer of 2022. Can he bring glory to Portugal in CS2?

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/jkaem_Apeks_u88z2l","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1365,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: BLAST and Michal Konkol"}]

7. Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad (Apeks) – 1.17 rating (34 maps)

The Norwegian Rifler has played competitive Counter-Strike since 2014! Copenhagen will be the 9th Major in history for Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad, who went all the way to the Semi-Finals with Apeks at the last Major in Paris. At 30 years old, Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad will be one of the keystones for Apeks to replicate the impressive result from Paris.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"pgl-copenhagen-major-2024","isNewTab":true}]

8. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato (FURIA) – 1.16 rating (19 maps)

Often mentioned as the current best player from Brazil, Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato will once again be one of the key players for FURIA, if they want to succeed in Copenhagen. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato has been named among the best 20 players in the world by HLTV four years in a row. At the last Major in Paris however, Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato and FURIA were a long way from doing damage, so it will be interesting to see, what kind of FURIA we will see this time around.

9. Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren (TheMongolz) – 1.16 rating (16 maps)

TheMongolz has been the best team out of the Asian/Oceania region in the last couple of years. One of the stars of the Asian scene is 22-year-old Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren. The rifler plowed through the RMR tournament with a 1.46 rating and has greatly contributed to the fact, that TheMongolz is one of the teams to watch in the first stage of PGL Copenhagen.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/mopoz_mvbiph","originalWidth":4096,"originalHeight":2304,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: ESL Stephanie Lindgren"}]

10. Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández (KOI) – 1.15 rating (35 maps)

27-year-old Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández spent a lifetime (in Counter-Strike terms) playing under the banner of Movistar Riders from 2017 until the start of 2024. Now the team is named KOI, but it is still with the roots of Iberian Counter-Strike in mind, that the Spanish/Portuguese roster enters the first CS2 Major in history. As an entry-fragger, Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández has been an excellent spearhead for KOI in 2024, where he has averaged a 1.15 rating against the top 50 teams.

11. Henrique "HEN1" Teles (Imperial) – 1.15 rating (32 maps)

Immortals, Luminosity Gaming, FURIA, O Plano, 00 Nation, MIBR, and Imperial. The list of Brazilian teams that Henrique "HEN1" Teles has played on is long and windy, but recently Imperial has begun to climb up in the world rankings after the team has performed significantly better. Henrique "HEN1" Teles looks determined to prove his worth after a superb performance at the RMR averaging 1.62 on the four maps it took Imperial to qualify. The 28-year-old Brazilian is playing his only second Major in his career, after reaching the Grand Final back in 2017 at PGL Major Krakow with Immortals.

12. Denis "electroNic" Sharipov (Cloud9) – 1.15 rating (30 maps)

The Russian Cloud9 player is the only Major winner on our list. But since the switch from NAVI to Cloud9, the results have been lackluster, to say the least. The introduction of Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov as the new in-game leader has proven to be pivotal for the experienced rifler, who has seen a significant spike in his individual ratings. At IEM Katowice and the RMRs, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov once again showed that he is reliable as ever.

The opening round at PGL Copenhagen starts this Sunday.

electronic

HEN1

mopoz

bLitz

KSCERATO

jkaem

ewjerkz

yuurih

woxic

arrozdoce

felps

Whilst currently ranked number 34 in the world, according to the official HLTV rankings, Eternal Fire is a roster that almost any CS:GO fan will know. With flamboyant superstarts like "XANTARES" and "woxic", Eternal Fire have proven their ability to take down some of the biggest names in the professional CS:GO scene. With group D of ESL Pro League Season 18, about to kick off later today (September 20th.) the Turkish roster will look to prove themselves once more on the big stages. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"captain-returns-eternal-fire-month-after-announcing-retirement","isNewTab":true}]

We spoke to the Turkish captain of Eternal Fire Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli about the current status of the roster, as well as their chances of making it through a difficult group at the ESL Pro League Season 18. 

At the age of 32, "MAJ3R" is more experienced than most CS:GO players in the current professional scene. Whilst the experience is undoubtedly a strong suit for the IGL in-game, the preparation going into the event can be just as important. 

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Eternal_Fire_woxic_a6ccak","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

The ESL Pro League Season 18 is an event that any team within the CS:GO scene would be proud to win. This is perhaps even more true with season 18 having the possibility of being the last CS:GO event before CS2 takes over. "MAJ3R" had the following to say: 

The Turkish roster of Eternal Fire have gone through a tumultuous year in terms of roster changes. Star AWP'er "woxic" left the roster earlier this year, after being benched for 2 months, but is once again a part of the team. Hesitant to go international, "MAJ3R" touches upon some of the difficulties of having an all-Turkish roster. 

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The Turkish roster of Eternal Fire has always packed a punch when it comes to firepower and raw individual skill. Having had signs of success in the past two months, Eternal Fire might be on to a winning formula after all this time. Having just played a close match against Cloud9, although losing, Eternal Fire can look forward to, hopefully, starting their ESL Pro League Season 18 run strong. 

Eternal Fire are starting their run at ESL Pro League Season 18 by challenging the scary-looking Cloud9 once again. The battle takes place later today (September 20th.) at 19:30 (EST). 

You can watch the interview with "MAJ3R" in its entirety down below: 

MAJ3R

Eternal Fire

There were a lot of expectations and hype from the CS:GO community when Cloud9 announced the creation of their so-called ‘Colossus’ roster.

With Henry “HenryG” Greer and his pioneering way of running a team added with the signings of an experienced IGL Alex “ALEX” McMeekin, a superstar AWPer in Özgür “woxic” Eker and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen on the rifle, what could go wrong?  

Yeah, so why did this project end up being the failure it was?

That’s something es3tag has opened up about in a recent [link:{"url":"https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/ace-en-cs-go-podcast-episode-113-m-es3tag/id1520187852?i=1000591238396","isNewTab":true,"text":"podcast"}] called “Ace – a CS:GO podcast”, pointing towards several key factors including ego issues from a certain Turkish player.

- The project started a bit rocky because woxic did not perform very well on our team, es3tag said in the podcast. He had a playstyle where he always had to make the decisive peek that won us the round. For example, on Inferno where you jump past mid to spot an AWP and then you peek down there immediately. After all, he had been doing that for three years. And fair enough to him, he was a Top-20 player the year before using that peek. But everyone knew that now. But he kept doing it in Cloud9 and he kept getting punished for it. So, it's hard to play CS when you don't realize that what you're doing is so predictable.

- If we were going to play around the AWP, we needed someone we could lean on and not someone who is constantly dying and doing things solo. But there was just a cultural difference and language barrier that was difficult to overcome. Communication was not as good as it should be. We spent almost three months [working] on just that. (...) We had some problems from the start because when we worked really hard, we had some players who couldn't really realize their mistakes. And when we sat down and talked about it, they disagreed, even though there were five people saying that it was wrong. 

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es3tag explains in the podcast that Cloud9 began to show promise and a better level around February and March, in a period where he was playing the AWP. The Dane recalls a particular victory against FURIA at ESL Pro League S13, which provided them with a bit of hope for the future. Nonetheless, it was too late as the organization pulled the plug on the roster a few days later.

- I think it ended too soon. I can kind of understand it, but then again, I can’t. If you have thrown in so much money, then you have to keep it for more than six months, come on. But it was also difficult for me to say yes to Cloud9 in the beginning, and it was solely because of the salary they offered that I chose to join.

A salary that was around $1.4 Million dollars over three years (approx. 9 Mio. DKK), was confirmed in the podcast. The salary was also a topic that es3tag touched on in the podcast.

- If there are such huge salary differences in the team, it may well create some discord. I felt that if I get paid so much more than someone else, I have to work twice as much. Some of the teams and players who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, don't understand this. They don't understand that there can be discord if you get paid so much more and then you don't work at all.

If you want to hear the entire episode with es3tag then follow one of these links (it's in Danish which means the abovementioned quotes are translated by us).  

[link:{"url":"https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Gzo55s3I08S1LLNIZnkPK","isNewTab":true,"text":"Spotify"}] 

[link:{"url":"https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/ace-en-cs-go-podcast-episode-113-m-es3tag/id1520187852?i=1000591238396","isNewTab":true,"text":"Apple podcast"}]

es3tag

ALEX

Cloud9

Özgür "woxic" Eker announced on his Twitter that he has become a free agent and is now looking for new opportunities.

The 24-year-old helped Eternal Fire to create what back then should have been the Turkish superteam. The fast AWPer spent 16 months on the active lineup of Eternal Fire before sending himself to the bench after recent poor performances back in November. Eternal Fire and woxic found it hard to get success doing lan events, the team played well doing the online tournaments but when playing on lan the Turisk team had some solid wins over the top teams but no playoffs doing either ESL, Major, or IEM tournaments. 

woxic showed signs of great performance as he was averaging a 1.13 rating throughout his time in Eternal Fire. Where the well-known AWPer will play in the future is yet to be decided.

The Eternal Fire line-up looks as follows after the departure of Woxic:

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A devastating blow to the Eternal Fire project was dealt today with the announcement of Özgür "woxic" Eker's departure from the team.

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In a Twitter post, woxic explains his reasoning for leaving the project.

- Due to being unstructured we have faced many problems inside of the team, which causes us to have more problems and we could not manage to solve them properly so we decided to continue updating our roster. After the changes, we did feel good for some time and felt on right track but we still could not manage get the results we hope and then we had new problems appear in such a short period of time. Staying in such situations/events, I felt that we need another 1 or 2 years to reach our potential, which affected my motivation deeply and I also had to consider my age therefore I felt that I could not give another try to this project.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Woxic_ig2ig9","originalWidth":4096,"originalHeight":2304,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

The 24-year-old AWP'er also shed a light on, what he hopes will be the next chapter of his CS:GO career.

- I wish to continue my career in an International team and will look for new opportunities for the upcoming season. I gave everything within my power and abilities, I wanted to succeed and I felt your support along the way, always. I appreciate your enormous support.

Özgür "woxic" Eker has previously played for international teams in Cloud9 and MOUZ with the latter being the most successful. 

In a post on Twitter, Eternal Fire announced that their AWP'er Özgür "woxic" Eker has requested to leave the team.

Özgür "woxic" Eker has been part of Eternal Fire since August 2021. Before that the AWP'er enjoyed success at MOUZ, where he created a reputation for himself. It is now known yet, where woxic will continue his career.

Eternal Fire has already said goodbye to Ahmet "⁠paz⁠" Karahoca, Canpolat "⁠hardstyle⁠" Yıldıran, and Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli during the fall of 2022, where Eternal Fire failed to qualify for the IEM Rio.

The three remaining players on the team at the moment are:

{cflag:TR} Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş 

MOUZ

Everything was on the line for both Aurora and Eternal Fire. Both teams had lost their two opening matches at the EU RMR and were facing elimination at the next loss. 

The dangerous duo of woxic and XANTARES did everything they could to help the Turks win the first map of Vertigo. Both ended the map above 100 in ADR, which was more than enough to secure a 16-9 win.

On Mirage it was Eternal Fire, who again won the first half. And again it was XANTARES and woxic leading the pack with another top performance. But Aurora found the momentum towards the end of the map, which was enough to secure overtime. Here KaiR0N and the rest of the CIS roster managed to take Eternal Fire down and win Mirage.

Nuke was the setting for the last map. Here Eternal Fire fought off the CIS team to win their first match of the event and stay alive at the RMR tournament. 

Aurora becomes the first team to be eliminated.

Eternal Fire - Aurora 2-1 | IEM Road to Rio RMR (Group A)

16-9 (Vertigo) | {cflag:TR} woxic – 1.56 Rating / 25–14 K-D / 105.7 ADR

15-19 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} KaiR0N – 1.30 Rating / 30–22 K-D / 92.2 ADR

XANTARES

Aurora

The last matches of the Group Stage at Roobet Cup saw MOUZ, Eternal Fire, 9z, and FURIA fight for the last spots in the playoffs. Two of the four would advance while the other two would be eliminated.

Group C's decider match saw MOUZ take on Eternal Fire. After a complete battering on their own map pick, Eternal Fire picked themselves up and made the comeback.

The action started out on Eternal Fire's pick of Nuke, but the Turkish squad would soon come to regret that. MOUZ obliterated the EF squad from start to finish in what was probably the fastest map of the tournament so far. Starting on the CT side, the duo of 'torzsi' and 'dexter' were completely flawless and the team as a whole was just miles ahead of their opponents.

On the second map of Mirage, Eternal Fire did to MOUZ almost exactly what was done to them on the previous map. The Turkish squad played a dominant CT side where they did not allow MOUZ to take consecutive rounds at any point. One of the things that made this doable was the outstanding performance of 'XANTARES'. The Turkish rifler showed exactly why he is considered one of the most mechanically gifted players in the world. MOUZ were down 4-11 at halftime.

MOUZ played a very decent CT half and were able to get back within reach of the EF squad, but fell just short of the mark as the Turks managed to capitalize on the enormous lead they had at halftime.

The series had to be decided on the classic decider of Inferno, and it seemed like 'woxic' was really happy about that. Starting on the CT side, 'woxic' was delivering flashbacks from his time in MOUZ, as he was hitting ridiculous flicks on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, the rest of the team could not keep up with the talented AWPer, allowing MOUZ to claim seven T-side rounds.

Eternal Fire grabbed the second-half pistol round, and with a bit of regained confidence won the T side 8-6 against a MOUZ that at times really struggled on the defense. 

The loss sees MOUZ eliminated from the tournament while Eternal Fire could hold their heads high as they had qualified for the playoffs.

MOUZ - Eternal Fire 1-2 | Roobet Cup 2022

16-2 (Nuke) | {cflag:AU} dexter - 1.92 Rating / 23-9 K-D / 116.6 ADR

12-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:TR} XANTARES - 1.53 Rating / 26-15 K-D / 105.4 ADR

13-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:TR} woxic - 1.61 Rating / 32-15 K-D / 111.0 ADR

MVP: {cflag:TR} Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş - 1.35 Rating / 63-49 K-D / 94.0 ADR

It was a South American brawl when 9z and FURIA fought in the Group D decider match. 9z got off to a bad start but recovered and took down the series in style.

'KSCERATO' was extremely hot from the first whistle on Overpass, and the star rifler quickly sat at 10-1. His captain, 'arT', soon took over with a flurry of impactful double-kill rounds which netted the Brazilians a 9-6 CT half. 

9z put up a good fight and at times looked very dangerous, but they were always just lagging a bit behind their South American brothers, who won the map at 16-11.

9z absolutely manhandled FURIA on the second map of Ancient. The Brazilians, who started on the offense, didn't stand a chance against the 9z squad who was firing on all cylinders. 'dgt' and 'max' in particular were just swatting the FURIA players away like flies, and the 9z squad took a crushing 16-4 win.

On the final map of Mirage, 'dgt' was once again doing an amazing job on the CT side. The rest of the 9z squad however were not able to perform on his level, and on the other side of the map FURIA had a double-up of players who were hot. 'saffee' and 'yuurih' were racking up the numbers for the Brazilians, and double the number of top-fraggers gave double the number of rounds for FURIA who led at 10-5 at the end of the half.

After arriving on the T side 9z took nine rounds in a row, two of which were incredible consecutive 1v3 and 1v4 clutches by 'dav1d'. Even after the impressive and almost intimidating second-half start from 9z, FURIA were the ones who found map point. 9z managed to force the map into overtime, and as a fairytale story won it and eliminated their South American "big brothers".

11-16 (Overpass) | {cflag:BR} KSCERATO - 1.33 Rating / 22-12 K-D / 82.4 ADR

16-4 (Ancient) | {cflag:UY} dgt - 1.77 Rating / 22-9 K-D / 113.7 ADR

19-17 (Mirage) | {cflag:BR} saffee - 1.27 Rating / 32-22 K-D / 82.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:CL} David 'dav1d' Tapia Maldonado - 1.29 Rating / 69-53 K-D / 83.9 ADR

FURIA

We guess that there is no safe place to hide anymore after having seen this incredible headshot performed by Eternal Fire's sniper Özgür "woxic" Eker.

Against ENCE on Dust2, the Turkish AWP'er lands a shot through the ground on ramp. An impossible shot!

Eternal Fire took ENCE to the distance in the match at Roobet Cup, but ended up losing the match on the decider map. The Turkish roster will be back in action tomorrow when they face Imperial.

The B-stream of PGL Antwerp Major kicked off with an early key match between Bad News Eagles and Eternal Fire. Both teams are expected to be in the pool of teams that could go 3-1 or 3-2 at the Challenger Stage of the Major.

Dust2 was chosen as the fighting ground for the rosters, who have faced each other one time before with the Turks in the driver's seat.

It was however Bad News Eagles, who found themselves ahead early on. A 6-1 lead was established after a superb start from Dionis "sinnopsyy" Budeci. The Major debutants from Kosovo could not hold on to the big lead, and had to settle with an 8-7 score at the break.

In the second half, the Balkan Eagles stepped up again. With the margins on their side, BNE began to extend its lead once again in a very intense half. Eternal Fire did everything they could to hang on, but Bad News Eagles prevailed in the end and won the map and match.

Both teams will be back in action later today.

Bad News Eagles – Eternal Fire 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

16-14 (Dust2) | {cflag:TR} Özgür 'woxic' Eker – 1.37 Rating / 23-16 K-D / 89.7 ADR

sinnopsyy

Bad News Eagles

In August this year, the two CS:GO superstars Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker and Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş joined forces with a new five-man roster, under the new banner of Eternal Fire. However, after only two months together, the Turkish team has lost its first member.

Eternal Fire has put out a Tweet explaining that the two parties have decided to part ways, owing to the former OG player having troubles adapting to his new life in Turkey.

- Because he couldn’t adapt to Turkey and decided to return to his own country, we decided to separate ways. Thanks for your hard work. Good luck in your career, Eternal Fire state on Twitter.

It looks like Eternal Fire has brought in Sabit "mirbit" Çoktaşar as a temporary stand-in, in the absence of ISSAA. On HLTV, you can see that mirbit is set to play as a stand-in at Pinnacle Fall Series 2. The 24-year-old rifler has previously played for Sprout and Nordavind, and possess dual citizenship from both Germany and Turkey.

{cflag:TR} Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş

{cflag:TR} / {cflag:DE} Sabit "mirbit" Çoktaşar (Stand-in)

ISSAA

Özgür "woxic" Eker has in previous years represented top teams like Cloud9, HellRaisers and mousesports, where he at mouz showed an incredible strength from time to time. The 23-year-old AWPer is now playing with Eternal Fire alongside some of his countrymen from Turkey.

In a match yesterday against INFINITE GAMING, woxic showed some of his incredible talents, which made Cloud9 sign him for a massive [link:{"url":"https://twitter.com/HenryGcsgo/status/1307399633669414912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1307399633669414912%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwin.gg%2Fnews%2Fwoxic-signs-dollar-1-dot-3-million-contract-to-join-cloud9s-csgo-team%2F","isNewTab":true,"text":"$1.65 Million contract"}] back in September 2020. Watch the outstanding ace by woxic in the video below. 

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mousesports

Eternal Fire who became official just a week ago is ready to fight for the battle of Turkey. Eternal Fire defeated Sangal in three maps before they could rejoice in being in the finals in the ESA Supremes Vestel Cup 2021.

Eternal Fire was the better team on the first map Vertigo and took the lead 16-5. On Mirage the playing field was much more even and Sangal made a comeback after trailing 14-11. It was tight until the end, but Sangal went all the way and got 5 rounds in a row.

On the last map inferno, it was pretty tight. The first half ended 9-6 in Eternal Fire favor. Issa "ISSAA" Murad was absolutely ruthless and dropped 28 kills during the fight on the upper final that ended 16-12.

MVP: {cflag:JO} ISSAA 67-49 K-D / 88.0 ADR / 1.31 rating

Calyx

imoRR

Today's Pley of the Day is made by the Turkish superstar [link:{"url":"https:/pley.gg/players/xantares","isNewTab":true,"text":"Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş"}]. The former BIG rifler has recently joined forces with some of his countrymen at the star-studded Eternal Fire, led by [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/woxic","isNewTab":true,"text":"Özgür 'woxic' Eker "}]. At one time in their debut match yesterday, XANTARES presented this outstanding 1v3 clutch on Dust2.

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The new Turkish Superteam, Eternal Fire got off to a good start with a clear 2-0 win against Istanbul Wildcats.

The match was in the opening round of ESA Supremes Vestel Cup 2021, where the winner will advance to the TWR Eastern European Masters Fall, where there is a ticket to BLAST Premier on the line.

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It was the two stars [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/xantares","isNewTab":true,"text":"Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş"}] and [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/woxic","isNewTab":true,"text":"Özgür 'woxic' Eker"}] who topped the rankings after the match. Eternal Fire won 16-10 and 16-5, and will now face the winner of Sahangiller vs Otherside in the Upper Semi-Finals.

Istanbul Wildcats

On Friday, it was announced that woxic and XANTARES will be representing a new, player-created organization, also joined by Calyx, imoRR, and ISSAA. They are all some of the most renowned Turkish players and will compete together as Eternal Fire in the future. The Turkish Superteam will be coached by Timur “bishop” Sengül, while the in-game leading duties will be taken by XANATRES.

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The oldest player in the lineup, 26-year-old XANTARES, has released a fragmovie with some insane plays by each of the players in the squad. Watch it right here:

With Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş being officially released by BIG earlier this day, the road was paved for a new Turkish Superteam.

For a long time the rumours had linked XANTARES with the other Turkish CS:GO Superstar Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker. Today the rumors turned into reality.

- Hulk is real! We are coming to breathe new life into Turkey and the world, the team announced on its Twitter account.

Former OG player Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad will join as the team's fifth man. The other two spots are filled by the two Turkish players Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın and Ömer "⁠imoRR⁠" Karataş.

The in-game leader role will fall on Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş. 

You can watch a video with the new team here.

Back in September 2021, woxic signed with Cloud9 in a deal worth nearly $1.4 million, a number that includes salary over three years and the buyout fee from his transfer from mousesports. But at the beginning of 2021, the Turkish AWPer got benched for reasons unrelated to his performance. And just a few days after the announcement, he got released. “This decision may come as a shock to many of the fans, but allowing this to continue wouldn’t have been in the best interest of the squad in the long run” the team’s General Manager, Henry “HenryG” Greer wrote on Twitter. 

Since then, the 22-year-old Turk has been without a team and just been playing FPL while practicing on his own. 

In every game, there are mavericks – players who have their own signature way of doing things. Ridiculous oddballs and ingenious innovators who make us question everything we know about the games we love. 

"woxic" is one of those. The Turkish AWPer plays CS:GO in a nearly-unbelievable way. And despite the ridicule he receives for his unconventional approach to CS, he’s emerged as one of the scene’s fastest rising stars. 

ex-Cloud9

That’s the words from the former mousesports and Cloud9 AWPer Özgür "woxic" Eker, who in a Tweet this Sunday has announced his return to competitive CS:GO. The skilled sniper has been out of the scene for six months after being benched on Cloud9 in January. 

In the announcement, woxic states that he and four other unidentified have joined forces in a new team and that they are “are ready to compete and grind on CS:GO and for now we are looking an organization”.

woxic developed into a true superstar when he played under the iconic banner of mousesports, where he from 2019-2020 was one of the most promising and profiled players in the world. The 22-year-old player moved on to join the highly ambitious Cloud9 "Colossus" roster, which only lasted few months. 

You can read more about woxic and the surprising downfall of Turkey's most profiled CS:GO player. 

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We will follow woxic and the new team closely in the next time, if the team decides to reveal the lineup. 

It's fair to say that the Counter-Strike superstars have great knowledge about their co-pros, as they all play each other day in and day out. They meet in several tournaments but also on the FACEIT server, where they battle each other in mixed star-packed rosters. 

Rivalry CS:GO has sat down with some of the CS:GO elite, to ask them which players are the most entertaining individuals to watch. The answers goes from flashy players like s1mple to more emotional players apEX from Vitality. You can see the answers in the video down below.

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woxic

Player stats

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Pley of the Day: woxic gets an excellent ACE on Vertigo!

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Pley of the Day: XANTARES dominates on his new team

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Eternal Fire introduction fragmovie

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The story of woxic: A freak with the AWP

Turkish superstar is back with a new 5-man lineup

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