Top 20 players of 2024: XANTARES (15)

Turkey’s brightest star becomes the first player to ever debut in the top 20 at 29, ending a decade-long pursuit for individual recognition thanks to fantastic raw statistics and EVP nods at the Copenhagen Major and EPL Season 20.

Top 20 players of 2024: Introduction

Counter-Strike has taken Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş on a long and windy road in the ten years since his HLTV debut representing Turkey in 2014. Now 29, he has earned the recognition he so dearly deserves by cracking the top 20 players ranking by 1xBet and Skin.Club at last.

"I believe this is where I belong," XANTARES tells HLTV. "All those years of hard work finally paid off."

XANTARES' first encounter with the game series that would soon take over his life came as a child, playing Counter-Strike 1.3 at an internet cafe with some friends. "Although our economic situation was not very good, I convinced my family to buy me a computer," he recalls.

"After buying a computer, I played Counter-Strike until late after school. Counter-Strike became a part of my life and I made my professional debut in 2012."

The route to the professional scene was one that swung open as he made his name playing in the local Istanbul LAN circuit. Before long, a new team called Space Soldiers was formed and XANTARES accepted their offer.

"I thought it would be a good stepping stone for my career. From the very beginning, I knew what potential I had and I believed I could prove myself in Space Soldiers."

That, he certainly did. Playing alongside long-time (and current) teammate Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın, he made his first LAN one to remember by averaging a 1.38 rating at Copenhagen Games 2015. Playing against TSM and FlipSid3, this LAN was a warning of what was to come in 2017 as XANTARES and Turkish CS broke through their glass ceiling.

XANTARES' rise was also punctuated by his form in FACEIT Pro League, where his signature wide swings earned him a Steam group, 'XANTARES PEEK,' that reached well over 300,000 members. But it was not just cultural impact XANTARES earned; he was a demon in officials too.

At WESG Finals in January 2017, he top-fragged as Space Soldiers took down Envy to secure a top-four finish.

Six months later, XANTARES' name was in the headlines again as he and Space Soldiers caught an even bigger fish, beating world number one SK 16-14 on Cache at their very first Big Event.

That proved to be a solitary upset, and the Turks had to endure another six months in tier two before they could give the top scene another bloody nose during an even more important run at the European Minor (a precursor to the RMRs) for ELEAGUE Major Boston.

At the Minor, XANTARES averaged a 1.32 rating, and Calyx 1.33, as Space Soldiers trounced Envy, OpTic, and Envy to become the first Turkish team to qualify for the Major.

"It was a time when I was really devoting my whole life to Counter-Strike, and all I wanted was to be successful in the game," XANTARES says.

And this Major, where Space Soldiers went on to beat MOUZ to qualify for the Major proper with a 3-1 record in the Challengers Stage, was the early highlight of XANTARES career — even after making the WESG final a month later.

Here's what he had to say: "Playing the Final at WESG, performing as a top-fragger in matches against big teams [like SK] was really important, but going to the Major with an All-Turkish team for the first time was a really proud moment. It was a dream come true. Firstly for me, then all Turkish fans."

It ended in heartbreak, as Space Soldiers fell in the rematch with MOUZ in the 2-2 pool, leaving the Turks three rounds away from Major playoffs, but they had made their mark.

Space Soldiers made a good few more Big Events in 2018, and the more XANTARES was tested, the more he impressed. They won DreamHack Open Austin, made top six at ESL One Belo Horizonte, and ended the year by appearing on home soil at BLAST Pro Series Istanbul. At the end of it all, XANTARES boasted a 1.21 LAN rating while averaging 30.5% opening attempts, and kept it up with a 1.13 rating against top 20 opponents.

After parting ways with Space Soldiers at the end of 2018 because he believed his compatriots were "unmotivated", the international scene beckoned. Offers had come XANTARES' way before from international early birds MOUZ and FaZe, but a friendship with Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik was key in XANTARES choosing the small German organization BIG over the more prominent names.

"The fact that everyone in BIG was so friendly accelerated the signing process," XANTARES said at the time, and British AWPer Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield could barely contain his excitement.

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smooya: "If XANTARES improves his English, he will at minimum be a top 5 player in the world"

"XANTARES, if he improves his English, he'll at minimum be a top 5 player in the world," smooya said. "His skill is just so undeniable. In practice so far, he puts up a minimum of 35 kills in every game. That sort of stuff you can't teach, you know?"

His first year in BIG was a learning process, as he got to grips with three equally daunting tasks: Learning English (and German, moving to a new country, and adapting to gob b's system.

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It was only in 2020, after the pandemic struck and Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz took over as in-game leader, that XANTARES started to realize his potential. BIG won DreamHack Open Leipzig on home soil to start the year, and after the scene went online-only they reached the top spot on HLTV's rankings in July — and stayed there for eight weeks.

He earned four EVPs and was the MVP at DreamHack Summer in August as BIG beat HEROIC for another online title, enough to reach a rough position of 24th on the Top 20 players list at the end of the year, the closest he had come to making the ranking up to this point.

The summer of 2020 was the high point, the obvious watermark that BIG later failed to match. In August of 2021, XANTARES was released in order to pursue his true dream: a Turkish superteam.

Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker, the 12th best player of 2019, was the key piece as he, XANTARES, and Calyx helped create the "player-founded" Eternal Fire. In early 2022 Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli, a French-Turkish 1.6 veteran signed for EF as their new in-game leader.

XANTARES, as ever, had other offers. But the one he made had to do with national identity.
"For me, it is much more important to achieve something with a Turkish team,” he says. “When we first discussed the idea back in 2021 with woxic, I was sure he was feeling the same, and we made a decision there. Later on, MAJ3R joined us with the same mentality, and I am delighted to know I walk this path with people who share the same ideals as me."

Eternal Fire made the Challengers Stage of the Antwerp Major, but roster instability plagued the project as it spluttered on the starting line. At the end of 2022, MAJ3R was benched, and woxic made the decision to enter free agency with an eye towards an international project.

But, five months later, after the squad failed to qualify for the Paris Major, the duo were back in the lineup. The roster underwent 19 changes in 12 months.

"We always knew what we had, what our potential was, and never gave up," XANTARES says about this period. "During our journey, we tried many rosters in order to achieve our goals, and this brought instability of course, but also potential. The best team is not the one that consists of the five best individuals but five great parts of a whole. We try to find what works and what not and are very open-minded about it."

As well as the return of MAJ3R and woxic, 2023 saw the addition of young gun Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın from the academy team, and it was this missing piece that provided the spark for Eternal Fire to catch flame.

"Wicadia brought a different perspective to problems we had. We needed a fresh air like him," XANTARES explains."His approach to certain situations is sometimes very unique and this solves a lot of problems for us. His playstyle contributed a lot to our teamwork. He is younger than us and he looks at problems from a different angle. Once you can see more about a problem, you start to understand it better, and you are more likely to bring new solutions to it."

At ESL Pro League Season 18, the proof of concept was made even more clear as Eternal Fire won four matches 2-0 to make quarter-finals before they fell to Natus Vincere.

Going into 2024, two and a half years into the EF project, Turkey's superteam was stable at last.

XANTARES began 2024 with the IEM Katowice group stage, where Eternal Fire lost to FaZe and Natus Vincere in three-map series; nothing special, but a good foundation going into the Major cycle.

Next came the RMR. XANTARES was ordinary for once, but he stepped up against BetBoom to ensure qualification to the Copenhagen Major’s Challengers Stage.

A few weeks later, in Denmark, XANTARES was the opposite of ordinary. The MongolZ, paiN, and GamerLegion felt his wrath as he ended the stage with a 1.35 rating. Eternal Fire were ramping up, and their star was red-hot.

On day one of the Major proper, XANTARES hit 114 ADR against Vitality. The following day, he and Eternal Fire smashed FaZe 13-1 on Overpass. In the 2-1 pool, EF faced the beatable Virtus.pro and, despite losing map one, rallied for 13-6 and 13-7 wins to become the first-ever Turkish team to make the top eight of a Major.

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Back home, fans gathered in cinemas to cheer on their compatriots. Though the Major run would end against eventual champions Natus Vincere, XANTARES and EF had made history.

"We felt everyone's support back home," he says. "They are what fuels us. For them, we wanted to achieve more at the Major, but unfortunately it stopped only at making playoffs. Still, that was a milestone for Turkish Counter-Strike, and I believe in our potential to win it one day."

A disappointing ESL Pro League campaign followed, and without partnership slots Eternal Fire had to dip to a tier below for game time at the end of the season.

They won online at CCT's global finals, but suffered disappointment at YaLLa Compass and Skyesports Championship — smaller LANs they entered as favorites, and with XANTARES as the best player in attendance.

Their next Big Event was IEM Cologne, after the summer break, but Eternal Fire were unceremoniously dumped out by Complexity and The MongolZ, the latter featuring a heartbreaking overtime defeat on the decider where EF had a 9-4 lead on Nuke.

Another medium event was next, the second iteration of BB Dacha Belgrade. XANTARES, a favorite for MVP beforehand, was below his yearly average — like he had been at YaLLa Compass — and could not make a dent against Spirit in the grand final.

Still, second place was a good result as Eternal Fire got their year back on track. A trip to Malta followed for ESL Pro League Season 20, and XANTARES was primed for his best event of the year.

Easy wins over FlyQuest and Sangal put them into the round of 12, where XANTARES was top of the scoreboard as EF edged out The MongolZ 2-1.

In quarters, the Turks won a second big upset of the year over Vitality during a three-map thriller. Map three, Inferno, went to triple overtime and, in a server with Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi, only XANTARES made it to 40 frags as he ended the 22-20 marathon with a match-winning 1.63 rating.

MIBR had also made an underdog run to the semi-finals, but Eternal Fire swept them aside with little resistance. And just like that, XANTARES' troops had made history again by becoming the first Turkish team in history to make a Big Event grand final. With a 1.26 rating before the final, XANTARES was in contention for his first-ever Big Event MVP and title.

All that stood in their way was the small matter of Natus Vincere — the world’s number one team halfway through a streak of six grand final appearances in a row.

It seemed an impossible task, but Eternal Fire kicked the BO5 off with a woxic-inspired win on Nuke to give themselves a chance. Anubis, EF's trusty pick, fell by the wayside, however, and their usual permaban of Ancient (floated so that they could veto NAVI's imperious Mirage) also went the way of Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and company.

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Even with their gamble failing to pay off, EF were not done yet. Inferno was a stomp, the most convincing map of the grand final — and in their favor. They dragged the best team in the world to a map five decider on Dust2, and talk of Aleksib's best-of-five record was dominating the airwaves. One map stood between XANTARES and glory.

It started well, too, as EF raced to a 4-1 lead on Dust2. But as their economy stabilized, Natus Vincere's system kicked in and the game quickly got away from XANTARES. Captain MAJ3R won two 1v2 clutches in the second half to bring the score from 5-10 to 9-10, but in equal scenarios EF had met their match. There would be no fairytale ending. The MVP instead went to Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius, and XANTARES finished second in the race.

"It was a tournament that we really wanted to win. We did everything we could," XANTARES says. "It was a very close match, but unfortunate events happened for us on the last map and we lost. Frankly, it was a good experience, we once again saw what we can achieve when we want. If we had won the tournament, I would probably be MVP, but unfortunately it didn't happen. [EPL] is still a place waiting to be conquered for me, and I will be there for the championship next season."

Malta proved to be Eternal Fire's zenith, followed by a middling performance at IEM Rio and a shock failure to qualify for the Perfect World Shanghai Major. The RMR was a heartbreaking way to end what had still been a fantastic year for Turkish Counter-Strike, with losses to 3DMAX, Sashi, and the Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz-less Astralis — three matches EF proved they should be favorites in.

Individually, XANTARES struggled, as did the whole team. MAJ3R delivered a damning verdict: "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."

But the last event should not overshadow a year in which XANTARES' loyalty to his country's scene finally paid off. The individual ability he has shown for so long in years gone by as his team let him down was on show in 2024 for all the world to see. Against the best teams in the world, at prestigious tournaments, XANTARES was as good as ever.

Like with Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato or tabseN, there will always be those who question XANTARES' loyalty to his scene. In this off-season, as any other, there will be teams banging down his door. But there are no signs XANTARES will waver.

"There were offers, and there still are offers from "bigger teams" but now establishing a strong Turkish Counter-Strike scene is my first goal," XANTARES says. "Money and fame are not my priority. We came a long way to achieve our goals in our third year and I have no intention to give up now."

"When I look at both myself and my team, I see a process in which we were successful [in 2024]," he adds when asked to reflect on the year overall. "Of course, there were tournaments that slipped out of our hands, we could have achieved better success, but now 2024 is over. We will focus on 2025 and do our best to have a more successful year."

Why was XANTARES the 15th best player of 2024?

XANTARES, at 29, finally cracked the Top 20 players of the year ranking thanks to putting up fantastic raw numbers against top competition, recording a 1.17 rating at Big Events this year (4th highest) and a 1.16 rating against top 20 opponents at notable events (6th).

He also made the most of Eternal Fire's deep runs when they came, earning an EVP nod at PGL Major Copenhagen and coming second in the MVP race at ESL Pro League Season 20. These two peaks were crucial in his top 20 placing — the missing piece he so often lacked in previous years when his individual numbers were similarly impressive.

The Turkish rifler was a game-changer all year with his aggressive play, recording 82.7 ADR (7th) and 1.26 Impact (5th) in addition to consistent excellence in round wins with 1.02 kills per round win (9th) and 105.9 damage per round win (7th). This translated into map-winning form, and XANTARES ended 55.8% of maps above a 1.15 rating (5th) to further prove his consistency.

With Eternal Fire skipping some events and failing to qualify for others — such as Cologne and Shanghai — his sample size paled in comparison to the players around and above him. Playing just two arena maps all year (at the Major in Copenhagen) also did not aid his case; 10 of his 12 big match maps came in front of a small crowd at ESL Pro League Season 20.

Combined, this left him with a sample of matches where he faced lower-ranked opposition and was under pressure less often compared to the majority of players in top 20 contention.

XANTARES also failed to strengthen his case at the smaller events where he was among the most skilled players in attendance, not recording an EVP at either BB Dacha or YaLLa Compass.

Bold prediction by 1xBet

XANTARES plumped for 18-year-old GUN5 rifler Vladislav "⁠xiELO⁠" Lysov in his bold prediction. An aggressive rifler in XANTARES' elk, xiELO has a 1.19 rating in the last three months and 31.4% opening attempts.

"He is very brave," XANTARES says. "He does not shy away from fights that a lot of the players would consider madness. He has good stats for his explosive playstyle. In my opinion, he has great potential, and I believe he can achieve it if he works hard and understands certain aspects of the game better."

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Stay tuned to our Top 20 Players of 2024 ranking and learn more about how the players were selected in our introduction article.