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

woxic

Bad News Eagles

Eternal Fire

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. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"turkish-superteam-is-official","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"eternal-fire-wins-first-tournament-1","isNewTab":true}]

Cloud9

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

XANTARES

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.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"turkish-superteam-wins-first-official-match","isNewTab":true}]

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.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"eternal-fire-introduction-fragmovie","isNewTab":true}]

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.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"turkish-superteam-is-official","isNewTab":false}]

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. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"happened-turkish-superstar-awper","isNewTab":false}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"media-cloud9-bench-entire-roster","isNewTab":false}]

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.

s1mple

EliGE

NBK-

shox

apEX

The former mousesports and Cloud9 player Ozgur woxic” Eker has been without a team since he split with Cloud 9 in January.

He has been streaming on twitch ever since and has been producing some exceptional moments, for example in today’s stream, where he got an ace after 4 kills with a sniper.

The right offer hasn’t been there for woxic, so he is still without a team.

Watch the fantastic ace from woxic´s stream here:

[twitchClip:FriendlyFunDumplingsTheRinger-d3EyJ7qX3Hfai50h]

Özgür "woxic" Eker is a fierce and powerful AWPer who throughout his career has been equivalent to a very rare and flashy type of play, performing plays only he can do.  Despite the AWPing superstar having represented some of the biggest teams in the world in mousesports, Cloud9, and HellRaisers, he now stands as a free agent. 

This hasn't stopped woxic. Quite the contrary in fact - And today, he's behind our Pley of the day!

He was once one of the brightest stars on the CS:GO scene with an entire community looking at him with its admiring eyes. The name is Özgür "woxic" Eker.

A fierce and powerful AWPer who throughout his career has been equivalent to this very rare, stylish and flashy type of play, which he has represented at some of the biggest teams in the world.

But he is nowhere to be seen and no longer at the top - So what has happened with the Turkish superstar?

[twitchClip:HardFamousBottleGingerPower-U0zCeCYEs2JPYzOA]

Team history: Dark Passage (2016–2017) - HellRaisers (2017–2019) - mousesports (2019-2020) - Cloud9 (Sep 2020 – Jan 2021)

After having put Turkish CS on CS:GO landmark with his impressive showing with Dark Passage in 2016-17, woxic joined the profiled team HellRaisers. On the Ukrainian team, woxic quickly developed into a profile by presenting one stellar performance after another. Alongside the likes of ISSAA and Hobbit, the AWPer had a phenomenal 2018 season, as woxic concluded the year with a staggering average rating of 1.25.

After that year it was completely unthinkable that woxic shouldn’t represent a tier-1 organization. And three months into 2019, the prophecy became a reality, as the iconic mousesports org decided to sign the uncharacteristic but talented sniper.

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/nip-steal-victory-over-mousesports-esl-pro-league/","text":"Read also: NiP steal the victory over mousesports in ESL Pro League "}]

It was also at mousesports, woxic had his best time both regarding trophies and individual accolades. Because, through his immense talents and extremely high mouse sensitivity, he managed to cement his name on the top of CS:GO.

He could out-play some of the best players, batter the strongest AWPer player in 1v1 duels, and also help his team to impressive victories. And it was not small victories. woxic and company grabbed huge trophies at for instance ESL Pro League Season 10 and at Asia Championships 2019.

The good times at mousesports did not last forever, as their levels increased drastically, especially woxic’s individual performance. Something, that eventually ended up being his downfall and exit at the German org.

However, his time at the highest-stage of Counter-Strike wasn’t over.  

A fresh and reshaped Cloud9 organization had sat their sight on woxic for their new “Colossus” lineup, with AWPer being given a central and key role on the roster. The deal between mousesports and Cloud9 mounted up to $300.000 worth of transfer money, with the actual contract deal valued at $1.65 Million.

Money, that quickly proved to be more or less wasted.

Because, the match between woxic and Cloud9 was not a so-called “match made in heaven”, even though woxic stated “I’M GOING TO BRING BACK THE REAL WOXIC”, right after the signing.

And after 3 months, 11 official matches and millions of dollars spent, woxic were once again without a team, and with a rather bleak future.

HellRaisers

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. 

It’s not long ago that Cloud9 decided to change up their AWP-role, as the self-dubbed Colossus picked Alex “ALEX” McMeekin as their primary AWPer due to the release of Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker back in mid-January this year.

However, now it seems that Cloud9 are ready to try out a third option, with Patrick “es3tag” Hansen taking over the important AWP duties, the NA org has told HLTV. Something, which may have happened owing to the rather disappointing campaign at cs_summit 7 and their missing qualification to IEM Katowice.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"teams/team vitality /Copyright-joe-brady-Alex_TeamVitality_viuadr","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: ESL |Joe Brady","alt":"CSGO, Counter Strike"}]

ALEX will give up the AWP at Cloud9 after a series of bad results 

Cloud9 and General Manager Henry "HenryG" Greer made no secret that they were pleased with the signing of es3tag, as HenryG announced the signing with "The Colossus plucks the brightest star from the Danish night sky". His role was clearly outlined as an "Aggressive rifler", however only four months into his tenure, the former Astralis player has moved into a new and arguably more vital role. 

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/cloud9-release-turkish-awper/","text":"Read more: Cloud9 release Turkish AWPer"}] 

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/cloud9-sign-former-chaos-star-1/","text":"Read more: Cloud9 sign former Chaos star"}]

es3tag

ALEX

Yesterday, it was announced that Henry “HenryG” Greer and Cloud9 has terminated Özgür "woxic" Eker’s contract, in what allegedly was a mutual agreement. The shocking parting occurred only four months after the deal was made, with woxic looking like a cornerstone acquisition for the American organization. However, that wasn’t the case, and the 22-year old player is now history at the self-dubbed Colossus’s.

Read more. “Cloud9 release Turkish AWPer"

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/cloud9-release-turkish-awper/"}]

As said, The Turkish player was destined to be the star of the show, at the newly established Cloud9 roster. The contract given to woxic was therefore also a staggering 3-year deal worth up to $1.365 million. A contract which now has been torn in two.

woxic himself has given a statement, thanking HenryG and Cloud9 but also explaining that news of his future, will come soon.

“Thanks for everything bro, even though it was a short run, I'm glad of what you have done for me and for the team. It was also a real pleasure working with the people at Cloud9. Good luck! For people who want to know what I will do in the future, I'll explain everything soon!”

The Turkish AWP'er has played his last match for the "Colossus". The General Manager of Cloud9, Henry "HenryG" Greer announced on Twitter, that they have parted ways.

- As a team, we were unable to overcome various challenges that affected his performance that included an unreliable high ping and not to mention a compromising time zone.

The GM further revealed that the decision to part ways was mutual. He also announced, that there will be more information about the roster later this week.

The Turkish AWPer has been benched by the organization due to non-performance related issues according to a report from Rush B Media.

The 22-year-old’s benching after just over three months helps explain Cloud9’s recent interest in the American star Erick “Xeppaa” Bach, who was first linked as a replacement in reports by 1pv.fr.

woxic has been a part of the North American organization since mid-September, when he signed a deal worth nearly $1.4 million, a number that includes salary over three years and the buyout fee from his transfer from mousesports.

[link:{"url":"https://www.rushbmedia.com/post/cloud9-look-to-bench-w0xic-for-incoming-xeppaa"}]

While Turkey has had Özgür "woxic" Eker ranked as one of the best players in the world last year, the nation now has a new possible addition to that list.

İsmailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş have been part of a well oiled BIG machine, who has had a lot of success in 2020. The Turkish riffler has been among his team's most consistent players. Against top 10 teams in the world, the BIG player ranks as the 10th best overall in rating.

[twitchVideo:BLASTPremier/clip/CourageousCogentBobaNotATK]

His aim is on point, as Nicolai "device" Reedtz told in an interview, where he named XANTARES the best aimer in the world. When you look at the headshot stats from 2020, it all makes sense.

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	10	35
Maps count	19	60

woxic

Player stats

Articles mentioning woxic

Bad News Eagles win crucial victory against Eternal Fire

ISSAA parts ways with Turkish super team

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

New Superteam wins the battle of Turkey

Pley of the Day: XANTARES dominates on his new team

Turkish Superteam wins first official match

Eternal Fire introduction fragmovie

Turkish Superteam is official!

The story of woxic: A freak with the AWP

Turkish superstar is back with a new 5-man lineup

Video: Pro's Answer - Who Is The Most Entertaining Player To Watch?

Video: woxic still got it with an incredible ace

WOXIC IS BACK! - Pley of the day 06/04

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