woxic on beating NAVI: "It was time to get revenge"

"The main goal right now is to get this trophy to show people that we can win trophies and that we're not a second-place team," the Turkish AWPer said after taking down NAVI.

Eternal Fire are straight through to the semi-finals of BLAST Open Lisbon following a 2-0 victory against Natus Vincere, ending a five-match losing streak against the international side.

It was the third straight 2-0 victory from the Turkish team in the group stage. The previous wins, against Liquid and G2, had given Eternal Fire confidence that they'd finally be able to take down NAVI.

"We were feeling comfortable, we understood each other and we played our game and followed our plan," Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker told HLTV after the match.

The win against Natus Vincere allows Eternal Fire to skip the quarter-final stage and avoid what can described as the tougher side of the bracket, with Spirit and Vitality. The question right now is whether they will be able to slay their demons and finally get over the hump that is performing on a big stage in front of a crowd.

"It's not something about one person in particular; it's team experience you need to have, and I think we have got enough of it, in my opinion," he said about the team's stage woes.

"I hope we will show really great Counter-Strike and reach the final this time."

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Congratulations, woxic. A 2-0 victory and you're top of your group and straight into the semi-finals. Heading into this match, you had five matches against NAVI and five losses. What changed today?

I think it's the same thing that happened to us against Falcons in Cluj-Napoca. You keep winning and winning, and then you're going to lose one day. Today it was something similar. We had lost, as you said, five times in a row. And now it was, I think, time to get revenge. We played really great Counter-Strike today. That's also why I'm happy.

In the pre-match interview, XANTARES had said, 'This time, we will probably win.' What made the team so confident you'd finally be able to win?

When we started to play great Counter-Strike at the start of the tournament, also beating G2, we were so confident about going up against NAVI. And basically there was no pressure on anybody because it was not an elimination game. We were feeling comfortable, we understood each other and we played our game and followed our plan. I think everyone did their part. We were so confident.

One of the most impressive aspects of your run here in Copenhagen is the fact that everyone is contributing; everyone is putting in good numbers, even MAJ3R had some carry games earlier in the tournament. That shows the insane individual level that this team has, where you don't have to rely on XANTARES putting in carry performances.

Yeah, I think that when MAJ3R did that, we just told him, 'That was like a pracc performance, brother. Good job.' We were laughing about it, but he really did a good job. Everyone on the team is doing well, so you don't need one person to carry. We are doing great, helping each other in this tournament. That's why there's not one person who needs to carry all the time.

How would you compare the team now and at BLAST Bounty? At Bounty, you had just added jottAAA, you still had that kind of honeymoon factor, and other teams didn't have a lot of material on you. How would you compare the team then and now?

I think, as you said, it was kind of a honeymoon, and also, when you're getting a new person, everything is going to be different. And I wasn't expecting a result like that, actually, in that short amount of time. We didn't have too much time to prepare and show everything to jottAAA, but whatever. There were small things that we showed him and he just showed great effort to improve himself and adapt to this level of Counter-Strike and the team. He is now really adapted to the team. It's not a honeymoon anymore. Three tournaments ago, I said we would be in every playoff, and we're doing it.

In Cluj-Napoca, MAJ3R told us that the team sometimes has issues on stage showing the level of CS you normally do when you're playing, for example, in a studio. Now that you're going to play in a big arena, in front of a big crowd, how do you think the team will react? Have you talked about ways to deal with this?

We haven't talked about it, but we just said we need to improve our communication, how we are playing and adapting our game on stage. As you said, when we came on stage in previous tournaments, we had a little pressure. But it's not something about one person in particular; it's team experience you need to have on stage, and I think we have got enough of it, in my opinion. I hope we will show really great Counter-Strike and reach the final this time.

Date	Matches
BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
29/03/2025	Eternal Fire 17:30 MOUZ	Match

Second place at BetBoom Dacha, second place at EPL, second place at BLAST Bounty. Is this the tournament, you think, where you can finally win a big trophy? And how important would it be to do it?

The goal this year is to win as much as we can. This time we can be really close because we've reached the semi-final, we're showing great Counter-Strike, and the atmosphere on the team is really great. I think it's possible this time, and it would be a good thing to do it before the Major invitations. The main goal right now is to get this trophy to show people that we can win trophies and that we're not a second-place team.