Aurora woxic at IEM Kraków: “When I was in mousesports, I was like molodoy.”

CS2 Writer

Publish Date: February 5, 2026

The IEM Kraków 2026 playoffs are set to kick off shortly, with Aurora being one of the teams in the running for the trophy.

We got to speak with Ozgur “woxic” Eker on media day, ahead of their quarter-final bout against FURIA.

Bruno: Hello woxic, congrats on making it to the playoffs.

What are your thoughts on your team’s performance so far in this event?

woxic: I think it’s great since we made it to the playoffs. We’re playing much better than practices right now, and I’m happy about that. But the previous game that we played against Vitality was a bit individual. I hope on the stage we’ll show our real best version of everyone.

Did you expect Vitality to play Ancient against you?

woxic: Yeah, we kind of expected it, and we were just kind of ready for it. We also have been making preparations silently, but it didn’t work out for us. We had so many rounds that we were able to close it, but we couldn’t.

Bruno: You’re coming into this year with Caner “soulfly” Kesici as your player replacing Samer “jottAAA” Koklu.

What does he bring into the team in this lineup?

woxic: He’s calm, we feel like he’s not feeling the pressure. He just had some pressure in the first stage when we were playing against tier 1 teams. But I think when we started to play on the second stage, he just started to show what he had inside, but what he couldn’t show. And now what we felt in the previous matchups against Falcons, Mousesports, and Vitality, he has been like this in the scene for five or six years. That’s what we felt. I hope he’s going to do more improvements for himself, and he’s going to do a much better job for the rest of the team.

Overall, he’s smart, and his communication is great. And as I said, we feel like he doesn’t feel the pressure, and we can trust him.

Bruno: You did well as a team at the beginning of last year, then in the second half it was a bit worse, and now you’re back in the playoffs.

What did you work on during the winter break?

woxic: We basically just started to talk about our mistakes, what we have been making wrong, and why things are not going well like before. We thought we could burn out because we have been traveling a lot and attending the events. But everyone is doing it, our opponents are also doing it. You need to push your limits. These kind of talks that we made. I think we’re also bringing in new guys, like a new blood and honeymoon team, and it just gives everyone more work to do. So I think that’s why.

Bruno: You were quite good last year on Train, but Anubis came back into the map pool.

Aurora lifting the PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 trophy.

Credit: © PGL

Are you happy with the change overall?

woxic: I’m happy that Anubis is back, but I’m sad that Train is gone. I expected Mirage to get removed because it has been there forever. Probably everyone is playing a lot in the faceit and regular games. Also the new officials, I think that’s why they’re not removing it. But I think it’s time to remove it, time to make some changes.

Maybe just bring back some different maps like Cache, Cobblestone, maybe even Tuscan. It was sometimes a topic there, like rumors, but it never came out. But I think if you want to make it more interesting every time, I think you need to remove some maps that have been playing for a long time, so a new map can come out and we can do more work on it, like new nades, new tactics, new strats.

Overall, I’m happy about Anubis, but sad that Train is gone.

Bruno: Your opponents in the quarterfinals will be FURIA.

What do you think about that matchup for you?

woxic: They are really one of the strongest teams right now. Also their previous year’s performance was really well. This is just the first year of the event, some teams are maybe not going to show their best performance.

For example, I think Falcons has the best lineup, but they couldn’t make it.

It’s not like they are worse than the other teams, it’s like maybe they just couldn’t start in a great shape to the new season. Time will show, but for FURIA, they are a pretty good team and pretty good friends as well. And a pretty great opponent as well. It’s going to be a great matchup, I think. I hope we can show really great highlights to the people, and I hope in the end we can win.

Do you think this team has the capabilities to reach the same heights as the Mousesports lineup you were part of in 2019?

woxic: Yeah, actually, what I’m seeing on them is exactly the same timings of my younger age. When I was in mousesports, I was like Molodoy, picking everywhere, re-picking again. You know, you have a feeling that you are much faster than everyone, and you just can kill. And also, same for the in-game leader, FalleN, that’s like Karrigan. Basically, if you compare the players, it’s kind of the same feeling. And also, they are probably having a great relationship to each other, I think, like we had in mousesports. So I think they are doing a successful thing. It’s all about chemistry and also personal happiness, you know, about how the team works, how you trust your mate, how you love your mate, you know?

Bruno: Thank you, woxic, and good luck in the playoffs.

woxic: Thank you.