Eternal Fire “Turkish super team” forms with CSGO stars XANTARES, w0xic, more

Luís Mira
XANTARES playing for BIG

A new CS:GO “super team” is in the works at Eternal Fire. The new organization has signed Turkish heavyweights like Ismailcan ‘XANTARES⁠’ Dörtkardeş and Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker in a final push ahead of the 2021 Major.

The Space Soldiers are back but under a new name. Eternal Fire is looking to rekindle the “Turkish super team” project with faces, new and old.

The organization, founded by former mousesports AWPer woxic, comes after rumors of the super squad reforming following XANTARES’ departure from BIG.

The squad features veterans of the Turkish scene woxic, XANTARES, and Buğra ‘Calyx’ Arkın.

21-year-old rising star Ömer ‘imoRR’ Karataş is getting an opportunity with the squad, having been a part of the old Space Soldiers core following their break-up in 2018.

Jordanian player Issa ‘ISSAA’ Murad is the only non-Turkish player on the team. Formerly of OG and Hellraisers, ISSAA has previously played with woxic and has plenty of experience across his five-year career.

“We made the decision to fulfill XANTARES’ wish and to prematurely dissolve his still-active player contract,” BIG CEO Daniel Finkler said in a statement following XANTARES’ departure on August 13.

“Thereby, we would like to contribute to helping XANTARES continue his playing career with a Turkish team.”

The Turkish super team has been teased since June when woxic announced he was “ready to compete and grind in CS:GO” again after taking a break following his Cloud9 stint.

They were originally looking for an organization to represent but failed to find backing.

Eternal Fire will be eligible to make a last-minute sprint to the PGL 2021 Stockholm Major, with two European RMR events still to play.


This article was originally published as “BIG releases XANTARES amid ‘Turkish super team’ rumors”.

Additional reporting by Dexerto’s Andrew Amos

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About The Author

Luís was formerly Dexerto's Esports editor. Luís Mira graduated from ESCS in 2012 with a degree in journalism. A former reporter for HLTV.org, Goal and SkySports, he brought more than a decade of experience covering esports and traditional sports to Dexerto's editorial team.