Before IEM Krakow kicked in, CS.MONEY Blog had a great chat with Aurora’s in-game leader, Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli. A Counter-Strike veteran, renown leader and the chief tuner for the complex Turkish mechanism spoke about:
- Plans and goals for 2026
- Challenges needed overcoming
- Soulfly fitting into the lineup
- Anubis coming back
- Making Turkish esports great
- Calling for an Istanbul Major
- and much more
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2026 Goals & Leading Aurora
Hello, MAJ3R! How are you doing? How has 2026 started for you? How is everything?
I think last year we had a good season overall. Obviously, the last major was not very good for us but overall it was a good season. This season we have a lot of goals, but I think we didn’t start very well. The first tournament wasn’t that good, we didn’t show a good face. So IEM Krakow is very important for us. Hopefully, we can reach our level here, and we can push. We work hard for that. And I hope that my teammates and I can show a good face on the server.
Speaking of goals, what are your goals for 2026? Team goals first.
I think the team’s goal is to win the S-tier tournament. We did one last year, but there was no Vitality or Spirit, no Big Four. We won a tournament that was normal for us to win. Last year we did two or three finals, losing two times to Spirit. I think this year, the main objective, the goal for the team is to win as many S-tier tournaments as we can.
And what about personal goals?
I just want to make my team play good Counter-Strike. If I can put all my teammates in the top 20 next season, I will be very happy. But my main goal is to make my teammates play good, better, and make my team play good overall. This is my main goal, my individual objective.
As a captain, an IGL, it must be really hard to make your teammates look good. Are there any secrets about how to make your players shine?
I think in life… it’s not important when you want… Well, you can’t choose to be captain yourself. You can’t say, “Ok guys, I will be the captain. Now listen to me.” It’s not working like that. People choose you. So when I came here, they chose me to be the leader, so I’ve been leading for seven years, eight years.
But the most important thing is to find the balance to make everyone in the team happy. You can’t make everyone happy at the same time, so you have to balance that, which is the most difficult thing to do. I think, as a captain, when you find the balance, reach it — and make people happy — they will follow you, they will respect you, and it will be better for everyone.
Soulfly, the new guy: Roles and Adapting
Speaking of making your team happy, can you tell us about Soulfly?
This is just the beginning with him, it’s been one tournament, and we’re just been working for one month. So we have to find, like I told you, the balance. I think the most important [chuckles] thing in life. So I have to make him comfortable in how we play, but he also needs to adapt in our system, in the team system. And I try to make him as comfortable as I can. He’s a really good player. He has big potential. With time, I’m pretty sure he will be very good, and this is just finding the balance between him and our system.
What unique strengths, strong sides does Soulfly have?
He’s very cold-blooded, very chill, and it’s very important for us. He has good communication also, and he’s strong in his position… And he’s intelligent also. He’s calling good things sometimes, calling good things. Yeah, he’s intelligent and cold-blooded.
Did you have to rebuild your structure for him or did, like, Soulfly fit right in the place of jotAAA?
Obviously, when you change one player, you can’t change a lot of things, because Counter-Strike nowadays is very difficult. If you change a lot of things, you will fall down. When he came here, he had the same roles as Jota, everything. But we have things to do.
I will give you an example. On Dust II, he was playing Long in his old team, but now he needs to play B because jotAAA was playing B. So he has some things to fix. It will take time, because it’s a new position for him on the CT side. And on the T side, obviously, I have Xantares and Wicadia, two players who like to take the zone, and Soulfly needs to be more passive. So he needs to adapt himself for that, because in his old teams, sometimes he was playing more aggressive on the T side. But in tactic, he’s our Entry. He likes to be the Entry, to go first, like FlameZ in Vitality.
We’re trying to use him like Entry so we can have Xantares and Wicadia in late game, in clutches. It’s important for my coach and myself to have our star player at the end of the round, playing clutches. So Soulfly is an Entry on the T side. But by default, he plays more passively. On the CT side, he has new positions but I’m very confident that he’s doing a good job for that, because he’s intelligent, he’s learning very fast which is very important in Counter-Strike, learning fast. And he’s doing it very well.
Anubis return & New maps
Maybe you can share your and the team’s thoughts about Anubis since this was one of your signature maps before.
Well, of course, I’m very, very happy. But at BLAST Bounty we didn’t choose Anubis because I wanted to play more difficult maps against HOTU, so I didn’t pick Anubis. But then we played GamerLegion, and they first-banned it. [Here, at Krakow, they] also ban Anubis, but we are very confident there. So I’m very happy. We’re working on it.
As an expert in Anubis, what do you think about the changes that Valve made to the map?
Good changes overall, but not for us. [laughing]
Because of the CT side fix?
Maybe a little, but we don’t know actually if there will be a lot of aggressive plays from the CT side with this new gap.
The strength that we had in Anubis last year was in Xantares, who was taking mid control very well. And now, with this gap, CTs can surprise. They can jump on water very fast, et cetera. So we have to adapt. We don’t know if people will play very aggressively or play passively. We don’t know. We’re working very hard on Anubis.
The main problem last year that we had in our team, like, why we lost the BO5 finals against Spirit or against other teams, is because of our map pool. We have a normal map pool, you know? We don’t have a very, very good map that we can trust. We play average on all maps. So the goal this year is to have very strong maps. Anubis is a strong map, so if I can have another one, very strong, we can be confident.
Do you believe that they will release Cache or Cobble after Major?
Yes, I think after the Cologne Major, it will be Cache for sure. And they will remove… They will remove, you know what? Not Mirage, because it’s playing a lot. Maybe, I don’t know, Inferno? Because Inferno is always the third map, no one is picking a lot of Inferno.
Istanbul Major & Esports in Türkiye
Speaking of a Major, do you think Istanbul can become a good Major host?
Bro, I can tell you if Valve decides one day to bring the Major to Istanbul, it will be crazy. Very, very crazy. It will be very beautiful, because Istanbul is a very beautiful city, and people from outside, they don’t know it. They hear bad things about Istanbul, about people there. But when you go there and you visit Istanbul, and you meet some people, they are very kind, very helpful people. The food is very good, the weather is very good, the life is good.
And I think people also love esports there. We have a very big fan base in Türkiye—in Counter-Strike and also in Valorant. But in Türkiye, every man, every, every man has played Counter-Strike in his life. There are a lot of internet cafes, we had those for more than 20 years in Istanbul. So to every man, when you say, “Do you know Counter-Strike?” They say yes. Imagine if Valve does a Major there? It will be very, very good.
Making his father like esports and CS
Last thing for the fans. Do you have one advice for young Turkish kids who are now grinding pubs in internet cafes? What should they do to become great?
Working hard is the only solution. In Türkiye, being a professional player in esports is not easy. Because of people’s mindset. When a kid is playing on the computer, people don’t like it. They always say, like my father, “Go find yourself a real job. Don’t play video games.”
But they’re mistaken. First of all, young people in Türkiye should not give up. They need to believe in their dream. They need to work very hard for that. But when you live in Türkiye, you also need a plan B. You can’t only be a professional player, because it’s not easy. You have to do that as your hobby, and if one day you can do it, it’s good, but you need to have a plan B. From my age, I can only say “work hard, don’t give up,” and that’s all.
Do you think that you guys, playing for Aurora and previously Eternal Fire, had a lot of impact on how older people’s minds shift?
Yes. I think we played a very important role in that, and I will tell you my story if you want.
My father, since [I was] 10 years, was never supporting me playing computer games. Never supported me, never was behind me. And it’s just now, after a very good year with Eternal Fire, then with Aurora, after two years [of work], we have a lot of people who opened their eyes on what esport is in Türkiye, what computer games are. What Counter-Strike, Valorant, and other games bring to fans. It’s good things. It’s like sports. Like watching football. And I think doing very well as a Turkish team, five Turkish men, helped a lot.
And also, I want to thank Aurora, because they’re doing a very, very good job. When we transferred from Eternal Fire to Aurora, there was a lot of chaos in Türkiye. They didn’t let us move from a Turkish organization to another, international organization. But Aurora did a fantastic job to regain our fans, to always communicate with them, to create a Turkish Twitter, support the community, et cetera. They did a really good job, and because of that, now we have a lot of support in Türkiye. When I go to Türkiye, everyone knows me, people are kind. And that’s very good.
MAJ3R, together with his Aurora boys, is already playing IEM Krakow. Go watch and support them!
