Paz and hardstyle part ways with Eternal Fire

The Turkish CS:GO team Eternal Fire is set to undergo a massive CS:GO roster shuffle as a result of the poor RMR campaign, starting with the departure of Ahmet “⁠paz⁠” Karahoca and Canpolat “⁠hardstyle⁠” Yıldıran.

Following a poor Rio Major campaign, the Turkish organization has parted ways with entry fragger paz and head coach hardstyle. As announced by the Turkish organization, the entry fragger Paz requested to be benched for personal reasons and performance issues. He will transition to an inactive role for an undetermined period of time, while his exact next step is still unclear.

Having joined the Turkish team in July, paz and hardstyle were both a part of Eternal Fire for three months. Even with the highly skilled veterans from their region joining the side, Eternal Fire was unable to succeed during the recent CS:GO tournament. Their short time on the team began with failure at ESL Pro League Season 16, where the team was eliminated from the group stage after a 2-3 record. The Turkish team did succeed in reaching the ESL Challenger Rotterdam 2022 semifinals, but their success was fleeting as they were unable to advance to the Blast Premier: Fall Finals following a poor performance at Blast Showdown.

Eternal Fire rebounded in the third open qualifier after a lackluster showing in the first two open qualifiers to progress to the Europe RMR for the Rio Major 2022, where they ultimately lost after taking only one series. The lackluster RMR campaign ultimately forced the Turkish team to make changes, which included the dismissal of their entry fragger and head coach.

Eternal Fire’s roster following the departure of hardstyle and paz:

• Ismailcan “⁠XANTARES⁠” Dörtkardeş
• Özgür “⁠woxic⁠” Eker
• Ömer “⁠imoRR⁠” Karataş
• Yasin “⁠xfl0ud⁠” Koç
• Ahmet “⁠paz⁠” Karahoca (inactive)

Paz and hardstyle failed to reap any rewards from their return

Paz and hardstyle left CS: GO in late 2021 and competed for an Istanbul-based Turkish esports team named Digital Athletics. Together, they participated in professional Valorant tournaments in 2022, but they were unable to achieve any success. Even with all of their efforts, the squad was unable to generate noteworthy results at the VRL 2022 Turkey: Birlik Stage 2 – Closed Qualifier, which forced the organization to drop the whole roster on July 5.

In addition to their Valorant explorations, the two Eternal Fire members were old associates of player and co-founder Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş. Nearly four years ago, they all participated in esports competitions under the Space Soldiers banner and went to two CS: GO Majors as a team. Paz and hardstyle, who were supposed to take the Turkish team to new heights, sadly came up short. As a result, they had to leave the organization and look for a new place to call home.

Header: ESL Gaming