- Woxic initially left the team in late 2022, citing the lack of cohesion as the reason
- Eternal Fire has been performing quite poorly in the past few months
- The organization failed to qualify for the BLAST Spring Showdown or the BLAST Paris Major
Eternal Fire’s roster changes continue as the Turkish CS:GO organization has re-acquired 24-year-old AWP-er Özgür “woxic” Eker.
Woxic Rejoins Eternal Fire
Eternal Fire has been going through a ton of turmoil in the past few months, with the team suffering a drastic downturn in form since their victory at CCT Central Europe Malta Finals. Since then, the team has been eliminated from ESL Pro League in 17-20th, and also failed to qualify for either the BLAST Spring Showdown or the BLAST Paris Major. Their latest flop was finishing 9-12th at the $330 000 online tournament Brazy Party.
Now, with the team in desperate need of change, it turns its gaze to one of its founders – Özgür “woxic” Eker. Eternal Fire announced that it is re-signing the 24-year-old AWPer, who first joined the team back in 2021. He quickly took the mantle of in-game leader and helped his team make it to the PGL Major Antwerp and also achieved their peak ranking of No. 18 in the world.
It’s interesting to note that woxic’s reason for initially leaving the team was he benching himself after the team’s fortunes turned for the worse in late 2022. Eternal Fire crashed out of ESL Pro League in 17-20th and failed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major, which resulted in the player leaving the starting lineup. Woxic cited the “unstructured” nature of the project as a problem and stated his desire to continue his career in an international team.
The player’s words stem from the fact that the Turkish team has undergone a whopping 19 changes over the past 12 months. Most recently, Eternal Fire put Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç up for transfer after the organization failed to qualify for the BLAST Paris Major. An organization that constantly changes its composition simply does not give enough time for its players to build a cohesive playstyle and dynamic.
Despite that, woxic decided to come back to Eternal Fire. It’s also interesting to note that he is not the only player to temporarily leave the organization, only to return a few months later, as Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli, xfl0ud, Buğra “Calyx” Arkın have also either left it or been benched, only to rejoin the lineup at a later date.
It’s unknown if Eternal Fire is planning any more roster changes for the near future, but their lineup currently looks like this:
- Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş
- Buğra “Calyx” Arkın
- Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli
- Özgür “woxic” Eker
- Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın (stand-in)
- Sezgin “Fabre” Kalaycı (coach)
- Ömer “imoRR” Karataş (benched)
Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç (benched)
