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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
Can it?
It’s playoff time in Rotterdam, and thanks to our man on the ground, you can expect to be hearing from us a lot this weekend. We’re kicking it off with an interview with Aurora’s newest member, soulfly, who has some choice words for the younger generations of Turkish players coming into the scene. Yikes.
The MongolZ versus Aurora.
Neither team is the most tactical team in the world - you’ll have to wait for PARIVISION to play for that - but man, they do both have a lot of firepower.
XANTARES and Wicadia are both playing some incredible CS right now, and soulfly has taken to Aurora far better than jottAAA ever did. If woxic can also get firing, and MAJ3R can call even five good rounds (yeah, hard for him, we know) it’s easy to see Aurora heading through to the semis to face defeat at the hands of Vitality.
And yes, we just are that confident in Vitality.
But it’s not that simple, is it?
Well, the losing to Vitality part is, but that’s just a given at this point. For any team.
In the opposing corner is The MongolZ. A team with cobrazera, Techno, Mzinho - three players who will fly round a corner and headshot you quicker than you can say “the bi-weekly TLDR newsletter are the two best moments of my week.”
Add 910 onto that, especially with the impact he’s having this year, and that’s a recipe for disaster for the Turks.
Especially when you consider their not-so-great record against the Mongolians.
Of course, with maaRaa not in attendance, and The MongolZ not wanting to take timeouts as a result, there is something to be said about Aurora potentially having a tactical edge in the arena, but The MongolZ have proven now that they’re so drilled it doesn’t matter, because they’re going to outplay you anyway.
Given that potential advantage, though, this might be the time that Aurora do manage to one-up their rivals. Once XANTARES makes it through the hail of bullets, it’s anyone’s game, and if Wicadia can mop up after him, it’s almost certainly Auroras.
Typically, we’d tell you how it’s going to go, but honestly? This time, we don’t know.
We know it’ll be a good time, though, so maybe we just enjoy it for what it is. Counter-Strike in its most pure form:
A point-and-click adventure game.
If at first you don’t succeed…
For the third time in 2026, Falcons will face off against PARIVISION in a playoff game. So far, Jame has had the number of kyxsan, with only a single one out of the six maps they’ve played going the way of the Saudi organisation.
PARIVISION bounced back from a weak showing in ESL Pro League by beating NIP and Spirit in the group stage, the latter later being knocked out in the lower bracket to The MongolZ.
They then lost to Vitality in the winners’ match, but let’s be honest, who wouldn’t?
Falcons had it rougher to say the least. First, NAVI denied them playoffs, then they had an elimination scare after losing a map to TYLOO, and by the smallest margin, they got past FURIA in the decider, despite a relatively deflated molodoy.
It didn’t exactly look good throughout, in fact, it looked very messy. NiKo thinks they’re making PARIVISION look better than they really are every time they lose to them, but frankly, Falcons are just terrible.
Only m0NESY has been delivering much star power so far. kyousuke seemed inconsistent in the group games, and NiKo has been pretty sh-t in more or less every match so far.
You know something is wrong when TeSeS is taking you over the line.
Although, Falcons have been able to bring the losses quite close in the previous games. PARIVISION also struggle to squeeze consistent star performances out of their players, and seem to instead rely on the power of friendship.
This smells like a three-map banger.
Regardless, we think this one is the more interesting of the quarter-finals, as the winner might actually put up a fight. Rather than walking straight into the open jaw of Vitality, the victor gets to face NAVI for a spot in the grand final - a game both quarter-final teams should very much be able to win.
Will Jame be able to lead his crew of meddling kids to victory for a third time, or will Falcons finally break through on sheer rage alone?
We’re about to find out.
Illustration byFuffy, Source StarLadder
Should Jame move to Spirit? Should donk move to PARIVISION? Who is the most mid team of all time? Jack and Sam are back debating (again), but this time, they actually come to some solid conclusions. For once.
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.
Watch full interview
