MAJ3R: "We always pick CT, but this time I decided to take fate in my hands and start T"

The Turkish captain says that a change of strategy helped the Turkish squad end their stage-win drought.

Aurora have been one of the most consistent teams across 2025 and have qualified for their seventh playoff in a row at PGL Astana, but their road usually stops when they enter an arena.

That was not the case in Kazakhstan, however, as they defeated The MongolZ with a 2-0 scoreline and ended a streak of five first-round playoff defeats, and Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli attributes that to a change in strategy.

"The goal was to not start CT, to feel the pressure of the opening match first, and to have the pressure more on me and on my calls," the 34-year-old told HLTV straight after the victory in Astana.

You can read the entire interview below or listen to it through the Spotify embed below.

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Congrats on the win, you ended the loss streak in the playoffs. How does it feel to finally get a win on the stage?

It feels great. Every tournament [we take it] step by step, like I said in all the interviews, we just gain experience about playoff matches. Today I think we played a good Counter-Strike and I'm very happy about the way we played. It was a good win.

Talking about the series. On Mirage, it felt like you got a lot of clutches, especially in the first half. Do you think that good start helped you get going and then just close it out?

I think the clutches we had, only one was really difficult, jottAAA's 1v2 in the last round. It made it 8-4 I think, otherwise it would have been 7-5, a trap score. 8-4 also, but 7-5 is harder.

Like you say, the clutches that we had in the first half helped us a lot. In the studio we won these clutches, and here I'm very glad also that in the playoffs we were able to keep our cool blood and win these clutches, because it's important, this is what makes the difference in the game.

Then on Anubis it felt like woxic couldn't miss a shot. How big of a factor is that? This is a very like aim heavy team, right, so how important is it that you get a 30 bomb out of one of your players?

When woxic plays like this, it's very difficult for us to lose, so I'm very glad about his performance. I'm very proud of him today, hopefully he can keep doing things like this in future matches.

The last time you faced The MongolZ was in Katowice, where they got the better of you. How nice was it to put that one right?

Today, we chose a different game plan with my coach against them. When they pick Mirage, we always pick CT, but this time I decided to take fate in my hands as a leader and start T. I told my teammates, 'We have to start T now, because I have the control, and we feel more confident.' We did it, and I think it paid off today. I'm very happy.

Do you think that taking a bit of pressure off your younger teammates and taking it upon yourself was needed?

Yeah, it was a decision with my coach, not only me. But the goal was to not start CT, to feel the pressure of the opening match first, and to have the pressure more on me and on my calls. It's okay, I like the pressure, I really enjoy that, and I'm glad that today I did well and played also well individually.

When I spoke to woxic, he said he believes that the team is leveling up with each game after the long break. Do you feel that as well?

The whole tournament here is a fight, a tough fight. We started really badly against BIG, then we just stepped up our game a little more every match, and today was the best BO3 that we played at this tournament. But this is just one match, so yes, we are happy, but our main goal is obviously the trophy. But there are a lot of really strong teams now, so we're just gonna rest and keep focused for the next one.