XANTARES: "Right now we're not our best; if we can play at 100% it's impossible to lose games"

After making it to the next stage, Eternal Fire's veteran star says the team has some way to go to reach its peak in Copenhagen.

Eternal Fire have advanced to the Elimination Stage at PGL Major Copenhagen on their second attempt following a 3-1 run through the Opening Stage.

The Turkish side recovered from a tough loss to HEROIC in the previous round, in which they couldn't convert a 12-9 lead on Vertigo and then lost 13 rounds in a row on Mirage, and a slow start against GamerLegion to win a nail-biting Vertigo decider where a smoke defuse tipped the scales in their favor.

Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş spoke to HLTV following Eternal Fire's qualification for the top-16 stage about their run so far, admitting the team has a way to go to reach their best level at the Major. "Right now it's not our best version," he said. "A lot of people in the team are off right now, so I hope we can fix it for the next stage."

You can read or listen to the full interview, in which the 28-year-old star also spoke about the HEROIC loss and the team's and Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın's potential, below:

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Here with XANTARES after confirming qualification to the next round. Tell me about that smoke defuse, that was a pretty big pop-off from you guys after that.

I feel amazing. I was just scared in that last round, something happened and we didn't trade the Site guy, but somehow we managed to defuse the bomb and win the round. I'm just happy to win, glad to be in Elimination stage.

It feels like a really good energy around the team over the last few months, coming into the event as a lot of people's 3-0 picks, do you feel like it's a good run of form?

Right now it's not our best version, but we want to fix it for the next games. A lot of people in the team, they're off right now, so I hope we can fix it for the next stage. We just beat very good teams, if we can play at 100% it's impossible to lose games. I'm pretty sure we will match very good teams at the next stage.

Tell me a bit about the recovery. I think you lost 23 rounds in a row including yesterday, how do you bounce back from that?

The Heroic game? Our coach, he wrote us on WhatsApp and we had group talks, we fixed a lot of things. It wasn't a fight in the team or anything, everyone was just mad about how we lost the game. Especially Vertigo, it was very close, we were 12-9 up, and somehow we lose impossible rounds. We made good entries, and didn't close rounds. Our coach, he's a very good guy, he's very smart. He knows everyone in the team very well, he made some team talks, he fixed a lot of things, that's why everyone was mentally recovered.

Is it hard to prepare for GamerLegion, considering how late they swapped with 9 Pandas?

No, it wasn't the issue. We watched all their games, we knew the veto, we prepared. We tried to adapt in the game, since they played a bit differently to what we watched. The first map was terrible, I played very badly and we didn't adapt very well. Everyone just played one by one everywhere.

Also they took some really good space, I respect how they play Overpass, they beat many good teams on it. After we lost, we talked and said 'okay, second and third map we will win,' and we just did it. I'm glad that nobody was mentally weak, and then we did our job and won the game.

You've shown a lot of loyalty to the Turkish scene over the years. Do you feel validated by that now this team is really kicking on?

Definitely. For two years I tried to make this team very high, a strong team. Somehow, it was just hard to make something good, but when woxic and Wicadia came back, we said 'okay, we can make it now, we are really strong now.' Somehow in EPL we beat some really good teams like Liquid and Astralis, three or four tier one teams. At some point, we just said 'we can beat any team right now.' We just need to focus and make good preparation, work a lot. As a team, we're working a lot and want to do some damage here.

Is it still a learning process? What's the extra 10% you're missing? Is it the emotional side?

We have mental issues in the team. Sometimes, everyone focuses on their crosshair a lot and then we don't get every info. We have some calls in-game, 'there's nobody there, they must be your site.' Sometimes, people are not in the right mood, not listening, focusing on crosshair, not blocking enemy with utility. If we do these things well, we can level up again, and be a S-tier team. In the game we're off a bit at this event. At EPL it was really good, but here we need to get back to our best performance.

You've got one day off, is that the goal then? To get back to your best?

We will probably practice, make some theory, talk about our mistakes, and play five or six scrims. We want to be in the best mood. We will do everything to fix it.

One thing on Wicadia, he's the new young talent. There are some questions about consistency, but overall he's really the third star you were lacking. Do you want to say a few words about him?

When he came, he was very good. He has no fear in the game, all the time he's rushing with no fear, and we are trying to teach him. At some point in the process he gets a lot, and then at some points when you learn a lot, you're a little bit sleepy in the game because he doesn't know what he needs to do right now. But at some point, he will learn this as well and he will be a better player. Right now he's a very good, talented player, but at some point he will be more consistent in playing better.

Looking from a wider lens, is this the year you can get into the top 20? Will this team stick around the top 10 all year? Do you feel confident in that?

Safely, yeah. We can make top five easily, we've beaten a lot of good teams. Right now we're not in the best mood, but I hope now for the Elimination stage, we want to make our best performance and if we make it, we can make it to quarters, we can make it to the final. I just believe everything, we can make it easily. I believe in myself as well, I know I can beat many teams.