MAJ3R: "I wish players here to [enjoy] this time because Counter-Strike is an asshole game, everything changes in one month"

MAJ3R is sorry that Eternal Fire didn't "show they were a tier-one team" at the RMR.

Day three of group B of the European RMR spelt heartbreak for Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli and Eternal Fire after they were eliminated at the hands of Astralis.

The game was in their hands, leading 10-6 and 11-7 on the T side of Inferno in map three against the Danes, but strong utility usage stunted the Turks' offence.

"Tactically, some rounds are on me," MAJ3R tells HLTV. "But in general my teammates were not at the same level that they used to be in this tournament."

It's a fair criticism for the in-game leader to make, with Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker ending the RMR on a 0.86 rating, Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın 0.99, and even star player Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş on a 1.10 — 0.10 below his 2024 average.

But that will be little consolation to MAJ3R as Eternal Fire fly home wondering how and why the form that got them top-eight in Copenhagen and silver medals at ESL Pro League left them so suddenly at the season's most important event.

If you cannot see the Soundcloud embed above, listen to the interview here.

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What went wrong?

The whole tournament we didn't show the full face of Eternal Fire. A lot of issues, individual performance, also team performance, tactically, some rounds are on me, but in general my teammates were not at the same level that they used to be in this tournament. The new monitors also, but this is something all teams have. It's not an excuse, I think we played pretty bad Counter-Strike, to be honest.

First day against Aurora it was okay. Then, 3DMAX on Nuke, it was a lot of details about clutching, we lost five clutches and lost in overtime. Sashi, it was a really bad face, really really bad CS.

Today, we played a good Vertigo but really bad on Dust2 T side. The last map, Inferno, was really close. On CT side there was lot of economic stuff, forcing and winning, forcing and winning, then we lost 7-5 and had to try and come back on T side. We got the advantage [leading 11-8], and we threw the advantage. They kept a lot of utility, they didn't let us take Banana fast, so it was really complicated from my point of view. There was not a lot of money.

But, in the end, overall, bad performance I think from us this tournament. It wasn't meant to be, and that's fine.

Do you think Astralis are a tough matchup for you guys? It's the second 11-13 loss to them on Inferno after Rio.

I don't know, the utility. In the last round, 25 seconds, they threw three Molotovs and three smokes. Individually, we weren't doing enough pressure to draw them. From our point of view, big picture, if all of them are holding utility until 20 seconds, it means that we aren't making enough pressure, we aren't scaring them enough. When you try to execute on A and there are two Molotovs and everything coming on your face, it's so hard. It's VP style, you know?

Maybe I should call more fakes against them, or fast control. I did it, we did an A rush in the first weapon round and it went really well because they started three B. I thought they would start doing two B and three A because we punished them on A, but they kept going three B maybe. In the end, we played really bad and they played really well, utility-wise.

On your season overall, it was tough at Challenger as well, what do you think threw you guys off-kilter after that really good Pro League run?

Now, after the loss, I'm not sure. Sometimes we show a really good face, and sometimes, this season, we show a really bad face. We are not very good in BO1 also because we make a lot of mistakes in the game. In BO1, that's instantly paid off. Overall, sometimes good, sometimes bad. It's irregular. This is the keyword.

We need to have a standard level, but we can't show this standard level because between the final of ESL Pro League and the match against NAVI and today, all the tournaments in between, there is a big difference. This is very hard to find out why there is this difference. For me, maybe individually, my players didn't have the same level in this tournament so it was harder for me to find the better call. I was not enough, and we lost.

Like you said with the individuals, when people are saving utility that's when you want your players to make their own plays and things. Why do you think the confidence wasn't there to do that? Was anything lacking in the preparation? Jetlag?

A lot of factors here. First of all, jetlag. Second, the table was standard at 76cm, and we couldn't go down. All of us play at 73cm. For all players, they need to adapt to the monitor. We play at 540Hz, all of the season was 360.

Every team has these settings and the better team here, who will win this Major, is the team that will adapt well in this kind of situation. The season is over now, we will see what is next. We did really well in the middle of the season, and then some really bad showings. We need to find the middle. Now, I will just take this loss, get my reception, and think about what is next. It was not to be here.

The last run, in the Copenhagen Major, was really awesome. I wish all the players here can go to the playoffs and live their dreams, to just [enjoy] this time because Counter-Strike is an asshole game because everything changes in one month, two months.

A lot of details, like if we didn't lose to 3DMAX, a lot of clutches, we go 2-0 and play Passion or BIG on 3-0. There's a lot of small details, but I congratulate all the teams we played, they played way better than us, and deserve all the win.

Thank you to all the fans, for all the messages, and I apologize that we didn't show that Eternal Fire was a tier-one team [laughs].