Eternal Fire took revenge on MOUZ with a 2–0 victory in the BetBoom Dacha Belgrade Season 2 consolidation final and advanced to the title match against Spirit. After the win, kyotostxr spoke with Turkish AWPer Özgür woxic Eker about the team’s mindset, his individual preparation, the roster’s current form, and his expectations for Eternal Fire’s first major LAN grand final in a long time.
Congratulations on the victory! Why were you able to beat MOUZ this time, and what mindset did you approach the match with?
Thank you.
— woxic
After losing the first meeting, we still knew that we were capable of beating them.
It was the consolidation final: if we lost, we were going home, so there was no time for us to relax at any point during the game.
We stayed fully focused and did not change our mindset regardless of whether we were leading or trailing. For us, the score was always effectively 0–0.
I think it happened because of our mentality. The players were also shooting at a high level today, and personally, I was as well.
How do you manage to maintain your form? Is it your love for Counter-Strike or some kind of secret training routine?
I think it is primarily my love for Counter-Strike.
— woxic
Of course, we all have our individual training routines, but sometimes you need to show even more passion and stay fully focused on working on yourself and the team without making excuses.
We are being rewarded for that work now. I think we have won seven or eight maps in a row.
We lost to MOUZ in the first meeting, but we learned from our mistakes on Nuke, where they completely smashed us last time.
Now we have taken our revenge, and I am happy about that.
What does your daily training routine usually look like? Do you prefer practicing against bots or playing Deathmatch?
I prefer playing retakes, and I sometimes play on KZ servers.
— woxic
I do not like Deathmatch because I use high sensitivity, and my arm starts hurting after around ten minutes.
That is why I mostly use retakes and KZ to warm up.
Before matches, when we do not have an internet connection, I also play on Aim Botz.
So before the game, I use bots, and when we are in the practice room, it is mostly retakes and KZ.
How would you rate Eternal Fire’s current form on a scale from zero to ten? Earlier this year, you said that the team was close to tier one. Can you call yourselves a tier-one team now?
I do not want to jinx it because we still have another match tomorrow.
— woxic
If we beat Spirit and win the trophy, then I can call us a tier-one team.
I would rate today’s performance around eight or nine out of ten.
I am taking one point away because we made a few silly mistakes that we were not supposed to make. They may have come from the atmosphere and pressure of the game.
But in the end, we still managed to win.
We were already at a tier-one level earlier in the year, but then we had two or three tournaments in a row without good results.
Now, through our individual work, our work as a team, and rebuilding our confidence, I think we can reach that level again.
What are your expectations for the match against Spirit? You beat them in a best-of-one a year ago, although they did not have sh1ro at the time.
A best-of-one result is not something you can seriously use to judge the upcoming final.
— woxic
This time it is a best-of-five, which is completely different.
Everybody wants to win, and everybody will be ready to make insane plays.
Players can win one-versus-three, one-versus-four, or even one-versus-five clutches—it does not matter.
It is going to be a really tough game.
But if we want to win it, we have to be fully ready for it.
