Before the start of the playoffs, we took a moment to speak to Aurora’s newest addition, soulfly. What’s it actually like playing on a team with woxic and XANTARES, and how has he adjusted to the big arena events?

Aurora’s only recently picked you up, and it’s your first move to a big team like this. How have you dealt with the pressure so far?

Especially breaking into a team like Aurora, with not only established players of the Turkish scene with MAJ3R, XANTARES, and woxic, but also a team that has been together for so long - how do you prevent yourself from becoming that extra “fifth” player and breaking into these established relationships?

They were really welcoming. When I joined the team, it kind of felt like they were going to be my second family, you know. You see their faces so much more than your family. I especially want to point out woxic, because when I joined, he was really close to me, and he was always asking if I needed something and how he could help me. In-game, XANTARES was also really welcoming, answering questions when I didn’t know stuff. They didn’t really put pressure on me, and they welcomed me in the team like it will be a family.

You talked about your first arena win at EPL recently, talking about all the emotions you felt and especially how hectic it can get in the voicechat sometimes. Is that something you feel better prepared for now ahead of the tournament?

I don’t know if you guys remember Krakow, but it was my first big event and it was really a lot of people, and I also had an issue with the headset. So I was kind of saying “is it normal to hear the crowd so much?” but obviously it was not because my headset was broken. But after this we went to Cluj, and I got used to playing with the pressure and winning on stage. It’s a big thing and sometimes I don’t know how to react, you know? I was just imagining myself winning the final in front of the many fans, and how amazing it would be. I hope this tournament we can do well, because we’re in Rotterdam and there’s a lot of Turks coming to the arena so I don’t want to upset them. I want to win, jump up on the stage with them and celebrate.

So you would say you have a little bit of a home advantage, while away?
Yeah, but I think we can figure something out.

Placing second [at EPL], it must’ve felt like being so close yet so far. How have you dealt with that yourself, and how do you shake it off before starting a new tournament?
After EPL there was a lot of pressure coming from social media. They said we were still losing, but they forgot that we still managed to play the final, you know? Spirit failed, other teams failed, but we did it. But so many people don’t think that way, they only think about our loss. But there’s upcoming tournaments which can be close for us, so we have to forget and we shouldn’t be that emotional about this loss. Obviously, we can be sad, but we also should remember that when we wake up tomorrow, we’re going to face another team and face another tournament. We’re really good at adapting to the next step.

MAJ3R also talked about taking revenge on NAVI at EPL. Now you’ve lost to them for a place in the semis during the groupstage, and - if you manage to win against The MongolZ and Vitality, no pressure - you could face them in the finals of this tournament. Obviously, for other players, this rivalry has existed for longer, but do your teammates carry over this feeling to you as well?
I don’t want to feel that way because when I feel that way I’m putting in emotion. For example when you get three kills in a row, but you know that if you want to get that fourth kill too much you will make a mistake and you will stay at three kills. So I try not to put emotion into my game and I don’t care honestly if they are my rivals, or if I lost to them before, because if I just think that I have to win, I have to win. So I’ll put a lot of pressure on myself that way. I would rather just think of them as a normal team that we’re going to face, I don’t really care if they are good, or our rival. I don’t care, I just want to beat them.

Now that Aurora has been doing steadily better whilst representing Turkey, do you feel the Turkish scene is on the rise?
If you look at the Russian scene for example there are a lot of young talents coming up, but in Turkey there are also a lot of these players. They are just not getting enough value. When I play FACEIT, I see like 16 or 17 year old kids playing and they are really good, shooting hard and really intelligent as well. But there should be some team to sign them, we need an academy team. But first, you need to have a really good and experienced coach to teach them how they are supposed to play, which is something we are missing. These kids are getting more emotional, and some kids like more of a babysitter, others want a harsher way. Basically, we have a lot of talent, but we don’t have the coaches to teach them the game.

So you’re saying the Turkish scene needs a healthier environment in the tier two scene and lower, for the younger players?
Yes, because in a toxic environment you cannot show what you are capable of. For example, you might know that some moves could be wrong, but if you’re going to do it with confidence it will work out. But at the end of the day people are scared because if you die in a stupid way your team is going to destroy your confidence by saying some bad words. You need a healthy conversation, and if teams are not that toxic I think it would be better for the scene.