MAJ3R: "Wicadia played like a padre"

The veteran in-game leader had high praise for Eternal Fire's youngest member after qualifying for PGL Major Copenhagen.

Eternal Fire have been on an upward swing ever since adding 18-year-old Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın to their lineup, ending last year with second-place finishes at PARI Please and ESL Challenger Jönköping as they climbed to their peak world ranking of No. 11.

After kicking off their year by qualifying for the RMR with ease and putting up a spirited showing at IEM Katowice, Eternal Fire arrived in Bucharest as a team many pipped to grab a Major berth. Despite suffering a tough draw that pitted the team against FaZe, G2, and Falcons, Eternal Fire managed to get the job done and book their spot in Copenhagen.

Fresh from an absolute demolition of BetBoom that sealed their place at the Major, Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli sat down with HLTV to discuss his team's RMR run, how they have risen in stature, what they need to do to take the next step, and their goals for the Major itself.

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Europe RMR A
14/02/2024	Eternal Fire Finished 13:11 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match
14/02/2024	G2 Finished 16:13 Eternal Fire	Match
15/02/2024	Eternal Fire Finished 13:5 Falcons	Match
16/02/2024	FaZe Finished 2:0 Eternal Fire	Match
17/02/2024	Eternal Fire Finished 2:0 BetBoom	Match

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How does it feel to qualify for the Major?

It's feeling very great, thank you very much.

You had a very, very tough run through this qualifier. Did it feel a bit like the odds were stacked against you? You played pretty much all the best teams that were here.

Yes and no, I think if you want to go to the Major you need to beat everyone here. But yeah, we had a difficult route but all good, I'm happy that today we won and we are in the Major.

Obviously you ran those top teams close, FaZe and G2. Why do you think you weren't quite able to get over the line against those very top teams?

A little bit of experience, I think. We just lack for maybe cold blood, I can say it like that, but we're gonna work on it. We work really hard, I have given a lot of my time for two years, I really give a lot of my time and my energy and I'm very happy that today is the payoff. I hope that we're going to fix these little mistakes when we play big teams like FaZe, G2 etc. and hopefully one day, with the work, we can win against these teams also.

Eternal Fire are getting into some really good form right now, you are, like woxic said, maybe nearly a tier-one team. How do you think you've been able to get so good?

Working. There is no secret, I think you need to work, you need to give some hours in the game. Like I say, for two years although I'm married and I have two kids, I sacrifice a lot of my time to watch demos, to work on myself because in Space Soldiers I was not so good individually, but I try nowadays to be good also individually because I think it's important. So yeah, I give a lot of my time and I'm really happy that it's paying off today because it was really an important day, for me and for my career.

Do you think this is the best Turkish team we've ever seen in Counter-Strike?

I don't know, I played in two in the history of Counter-Strike, I played with Space Soldiers and now with Eternal Fire. Both have an amazing story, but this team also has something special. I'm very proud of all my teammates and I hope that one day, maybe it's a dream to some people and maybe someone will laugh, but I hope that one day a Turkish team will win a Major. I think having this mentality, believing in this, is very important for me.

For a long time the community wanted the Turkish superteam, but you had some struggles finding which lineup you wanted to stick with. Why did you end up settling on these five players, and how did you settle down into this five-man lineup?

Yeah, we had some troubles to find good roles, even me, I was kicked one time and then I came back. As a leader, it's always important in my system for me to have good roles, and today I'm very happy that the roles of the team are way better.

We also had the chance to find Wicadia, who is a very special kid, and I want to congratulate him also because this is his first Major cycle and he played like a padre, I will say it like this, so I'm very proud of him. So yeah, the roles are good and the roles are very important for me as a leader, like I say, and nowadays in my team, I think it's pretty good. That's why it works.

Last question: The Major, how far do you think you can go?

How far we can go? I don't know, we will do our best and like I say, I want to win it. I think this mentality is very important, every time thinking you can be at the top, thinking we can be the number one, we can win it. We need to have this mentality, and I think as a leader also I need to show an example to my teammates, it's important. So, winning the Major!