MAJ3R Interview: IGL Talks Leadership Aurora, Soulfly, Istanbul, and more

Before IEM Krakow kicked off, CS.MONEY Blog had a good chat with Aurora’s in-game leader, Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli. A Counter-Strike veteran, renowned leader and expert in complex mechanisms Türkiye spoke about:

Plans and goals for 2026
Challenges that need to be overcome
Soulfly entered the lineup
Anubis is back
Making Turkish esports great
Calling Major Istanbul
and much more

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2026 Goals & Notable Aurora

Hello, MAJ3R! How are you? How does 2026 start for you? How is everything?

I think last year we had a good season overall. Of course, the last major tournament was not very good for us, but overall it was a good season. This season we had a lot of goals, but I don’t think we started well. The first tournament was not good, we didn’t show a good face. So IEM Krakow is very important for us. Hopefully, we can reach our level here, and we can keep going. We worked hard for it. And I hope my teammates and I can show a good face on the server.

Talking about targets, what is your target for 2026? Team goals first.

I think the team’s goal is to win the S-level tournament. We did it last year, but there was no Vitality or Spirit, no Final Four. We won tournaments that were normal for us to win. Last year we got to two or three finals, losing twice to Spirit. I think this year, the team’s main goal is to win as many S-level tournaments as possible.

So what about personal goals?

I just want to make my team play Counter-Strike well. If I can put all my teammates in the top 20 next season, I will be very happy. But my main goal is to make my teammates play well, better, and make my team play well as a whole. This is my main goal, my individual goal.

As an IGL captain, it must be very difficult to make your teammates perform well. Is there a secret on how to make your players shine?

I think in life… it doesn’t matter when you want… Yes, you yourself can’t choose to be captain. You can’t say, “Okay guys, I’ll be captain. Now listen to me.” It doesn’t work like that. People choose you. So when I came here, they chose me to be the leader, so I’ve been at the helm for seven years, eight years.

But the most important thing is to find a balance to keep everyone on the team happy. You can’t make everyone happy at the same time, so you have to balance it, which is the hardest thing to do. I think, as a captain, when you find balance, achieve it – and make people happy – they will follow you, they will respect you, and it will be better for everyone.

Soulfly, the neophyte: Roles and Adaptations

Talking about keeping your team happy, can you tell us about Soulfly?

This is just the beginning with him, it’s only one tournament, and we’ve only been working for a month. So we have to find, as I said, the balance. I think the most important thing [chuckles] things in life. So I have to make him comfortable with the way we play, but he also needs to adapt to our system, within the team’s system. And I try to make it as comfortable as possible. He’s a very good player. He has great potential. As time goes on, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be very good, and it’s about finding a balance between him and our system.

What unique powers and powers does Soulfly have?

He’s so cold-blooded, so cold, and that’s very important to us. He also has good communication, and he is strong in his position… And he is also intelligent. Sometimes he calls good things, calls good things. Yes, he is intelligent and cold-blooded.

Do you have to rebuild your structure for it or is, for example, Soulfly a suitable replacement for jotAAA?

Of course, changing one player can’t change much, because Counter-Strike is currently very difficult. If you change things, you will fall. If he comes here, he has the same role as Jota, everything. But there are things we have to do.

I’ll give you an example. In Dust II, he played Long on his old team, but now he has to play B because jotAAA plays B. So he has some things to fix. This will take time, as this is a new position for him on the CT side. And on the T side, of course, I have Xantares and Wicadia, two players who like to take over the zone, and Soulfly should be more passive. So he needs to adapt to that, because in his old team, sometimes he played more aggressively on the T side. But tactically, he is our Entry. He likes being Entry, being first, like FlameZ in Vitality.

We tried to use him like Entry so we could have Xantares and Wicadia late in the game, in the clutch. It was important for my coach and myself to have our star players at the end of the round, playing clutch. So Soulfly is an Entry on the T side. But by default, he plays more passively. On the CT side, he’s got a new position but I’m very confident he’s doing a good job at it, because he’s smart, he learns very quickly which is very important in Counter-Strike, learn quickly. And he did it very well.

Anubis returns & New map

Maybe you could share your and your team’s thoughts on Anubis since it’s one of your signature maps in the past.

Yes, of course I am very, very happy. But in BLAST Bounty we didn’t choose Anubis because I wanted to play a harder map against HOTU, so I didn’t choose Anubis. But then we played GamerLegion, and they banned it first. [Here, at Krakow, they] also banned Anubis, but we are very confident there. So I’m very happy. We are working on it.

As an Anubis expert, what do you think about the changes Valve has made to the map?

The changes are good overall, but not for us. [laughing]

Due to CT side repair?

Maybe a little, but we don’t really know yet whether there will be a lot of aggressive play from CT with this new gap.

The strength we had in Anubis last year was in Xantares, who took control of the middle very well. And now, with this gap, CT can surprise. They can jump on water very quickly, and so on. So we have to adapt. We don’t know whether people will play very aggressively or play passively. We don’t know. We worked very hard on Anubis.

The main problem we faced last year in our team, like why we lost in BO5 finals against Spirit or against other teams, was because of our map pool. We have a normal set of maps, you know? We don’t have very good maps that we can trust. We play averages on all maps. So the goal this year is to have a very strong map. Anubis is a strong map, so if I can have another very strong map, we can be confident.

Do you believe they will release Cache or Cobble after the Major?

Yes, I think after the Cologne Major it will definitely be Cache. And they will delete… They will delete, you know? Not Mirage, because it is often played. Maybe, I don’t know, Inferno? Since Inferno was always the third map, no one picked Inferno in large numbers.

Istanbul Major & Esports in Turkey

Speaking of the Major, do you think Istanbul could be a good host for the Major?

Bro, let me tell you that if someday Valve decides to bring Major to Istanbul, that would be crazy. Very, very crazy. It will be very beautiful, because Istanbul is a very beautiful city, and people from outside don’t know about it. They heard bad things about Istanbul, about the people there. But when you go there and visit Istanbul, and you meet some people, they are very nice people and very helpful. The food is very good, the weather is very good, life is good.

And I think people like esports there too. We have a huge fan base in Turkey—in Counter-Strike and also in Valorant. But in Türkiye, everyone, every, every person has played Counter-Strike in his life. There are many internet cafes, we have had them for more than 20 years in Istanbul. So to everyone, when you say, “Do you know Counter-Strike?” They said yes. Imagine if Valve did a Major there? That would be really, really good.

Made his father like esports and CS

Last thing for fans. Do you have one piece of advice for young Turks who are now busy looking for pubs in internet cafes? What do they have to do to be great?

Working hard is the only solution. In Turkey, becoming a professional player in esports is not easy. Because of society’s mindset. When a child plays on the computer, people don’t like him. They always say, like my dad, “Get a real job. Don’t play video games.”

But they were wrong. First of all, the young generation in Türkiye must not give up. They must believe in their dreams. They need to work very hard for it. But when you live in Türkiye, you also need a plan B. You can’t just be a professional player, because it’s not easy. You have to do it as a hobby, and if someday you can do it, that’s great, but you need to have a plan B. From my age, all I can say is “work hard, don’t give up,” and that’s all.

Do you think playing for Aurora and previously Eternal Fire had much of an influence on changing the minds of older people?

Yes. I think we played a very important role in that, and I’ll tell you my story if you want.

My father, since then [I was] 10 years, never supported me playing computer games. Never supported me, never had my back. And that just happened, after a really good year with Eternal Flame, and then with Aurora, after two years [of work]we have many people opening their eyes about what esports is in Türkiye, what computer games are. What Counter-Strike, Valorant and other games bring to fans. That’s a good thing. It’s like exercise. Like watching football. And I think doing well as a Turkish team, five Turkish players, really helps.

And also, I want to thank Aurora, because they did a very, very good job. When we moved from Eternal Flame to Aurora, there was a lot of chaos in Türkiye. They didn’t let us move from Turkish organizations to other international organizations. But Aurora is doing a great job to get our fans back, to be in constant communication with them, to create Turkish Twitter, support the community and so on. They did a very good job, and because of that, now we have a lot of support in Türkiye. When I went to Türkiye, everyone knew me, the people were nice. And it’s very good.

MAJ3R, along with his Aurora kids, are already playing IEM Krakow. Come watch and support them!