Shocking Transfer of Eternal Fire to Aurora: Reasons and Context of One of the Biggest Deals in 2025
On April 5, 2025, the Counter-Strike community was shaken by major news: the entire main roster of the Turkish organization Eternal Fire, one of the brightest teams in CS2 at the moment, transferred to the Serbian organization Aurora. This transfer marked the end of an era and simultaneously the beginning of a new one. To understand the scale of what happened, let’s examine the reasons for the departure, the team’s history, the community’s reaction, and what lies ahead for them.
Eternal Fire: Symbol of Turkish CS
Eternal Fire was founded on August 13, 2021, by Turkish legends XANTARES and woxic. After various successful performances in mixed teams, these Turkish CS diamonds decided to start a project with an ambitious goal: to put Turkey on the map of the global Counter-Strike scene. The team developed by attracting various legends of the Turkish scene from the Space Soldiers era, while simultaneously building an academy and nurturing young stars like Wicadia, jottAAA, xfl0ud, and others.
Eternal Fire Fans: Enormous Support
Eternal Fire is not just a team – it’s a symbol of national pride for Turkish fans, whose passion for esports knows no boundaries. Their support was especially evident at major tournaments, where thousands of fans gathered for viewing parties across Turkey. At one of the most memorable events in March 2024 at the Grand Pera shopping center in Istanbul, more than 2,000 fans filled the hall to watch a match against Vitality. People in team jerseys, with flags and banners, chanted slogans and erupted in applause after every successful play.
Such viewing parties became a tradition. In cities like Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, fans rented cinemas, shopping centers, and even open venues to cheer for their heroes together. At ESL Pro League Season 20 in September 2024 in Ankara, around 1,500 people gathered, and the broadcast of the final against NAVI attracted a record 50,000 online viewers for Turkish CS, despite the Twitch block. Eternal Fire CEO Furkan Guven noted in an interview with HLTV in March 2024: “Our viewing parties grow with each tournament. We want to show the world the power of esports and our fan base.”
Government Issues: Financial Difficulties
However, the successes on the server and in building a community were overshadowed by serious problems outside the game. In Turkey, esports, especially CS2, faced strict limitations. Legislation prohibits sponsorship from betting companies and various roulette sites, which sharply reduces team revenues. Authorities repeatedly threatened to block Steam due to advertisements for such platforms, adding uncertainty to the lives of players and organizations.
Cultural peculiarities also played a role. In Turkey, many companies avoid associations with CS2 because of the word “Terrorists” in the game, considering it a reputational risk. The situation worsened in 2024 when Turkey blocked Twitch and Discord due to disputes about content regulation. These platforms were critically important for streamers, players, and fans, providing communication and broadcasts. In October 2024, the organization made the forced decision to relocate to Hungary, but even this didn’t solve all the financial problems, pushing the team toward a radical step – the transfer to Aurora.
Aurora: A Bold Step Out of the Shadows
Aurora, a Serbian esports organization founded in 2022, had long remained on the periphery of the top CS2 scene. Their previous rosters showed decent results, but none could break into the elite. Most of the noise around the tag comes from the organization’s owner, Valery “L3rich” Kharitonov, known for his ambitious statements and who repeatedly expressed a desire to acquire a world-class team.
On April 5, 2025, the dream became reality: Aurora benched their Russian-speaking roster and signed Eternal Fire in its entirety. The rapidity of the announcement just hours after benching the previous roster suggests that negotiations had been ongoing for months and were very thorough. One of the popular Russian streamers, Shadowkekw, revealed on his stream that he had known about this deal for a long time and was supposed to announce it on his Twitch channel.
There’s no reason to doubt this because Aurora had just started a media story with another Russian-speaking streamer, StRoGo, a couple of months ago, inviting him to play for their team. At that time, it seemed risky and questionable, but now it’s becoming obvious that the former roster already knew about the upcoming changes.
Why Aurora?
The decision to sign the entire Eternal Fire roster is not just a strengthening move but an immediate transition to the elite. The organization immediately found itself in the top 5 of the world rankings and guaranteed slots at all tier-1 events in the near future, including the Major.
Also, Aurora will finally get their stickers, which not only fulfills the owner’s dream but allows them to recoup a lion’s share of their investment in the roster. According to some information, the deal amounted to between 2 and 2.5 million dollars, while the Turkish players definitely received improved financial conditions.
The "Kebab Incident" of 2023
Interestingly, the organizations had an unpleasant history of interaction in 2023 at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B. During a match, viewers noticed that Aurora’s tactical sheets depicted a kebab with the inscription “Turkish Food.” This moment was broadcast and caused a mixed reaction. Some Turkish fans and players, including woxic, considered it disrespectful and provocative, especially given the national pride associated with Eternal Fire. Others called it a harmless joke, comparing it to depicting pizza for Italians or sausages for Danes.
Aurora, facing a wave of criticism, issued an official apology, reporting that they had fined the “guilty employee” and transferred the fine amount to Turkish Philanthropy Funds to help those affected by the recent earthquake in Turkey. The fine amount was not disclosed, but many considered it more of a PR move than sincere regret. This incident added tension to relations with Turkish fans, making the transfer of Eternal Fire to Aurora an even more ironic twist of fate.
Community Reaction: Patriotism vs. Reality
Turkish fans, for whom Eternal Fire was a symbol of national pride, took the news painfully. On social network X, their reactions ranged from anger – “They betrayed Turkey for money” – to sadness – “Eternal Fire was our soul, and now it’s just business.” Some even called for a boycott of the new roster under the Aurora tag. However, some fans acknowledged that Turkey’s financial realities left the team with no choice and expressed support for the players in their pursuit of stability.
The global CS2 community reacted with interest and surprise. Analysts compared the deal to high-profile transfers in traditional sports, noting that a complete transfer of a top team is rare not only in esports.
What's Next?
For the roster, this will be a serious test: new structure, new leadership, new responsibilities. But this time, perhaps they have everything needed not just to compete but to start winning trophies. Their first attempt will be this week at PGL Bucharest, but they decided to skip IEM Melbourne 2025 to give themselves a break. In 2025, the team hasn’t missed a single event and has repeatedly mentioned accumulated fatigue. Perhaps this is also part of a new approach from the new organization, which is more accommodating and doesn’t intend to make players appear at every event.
The story has turned out to be very interesting, and it will be extremely fascinating to follow. In any case, the transfer will be a turning point in the players’ careers, where the outcome could be absolutely anything. It’s worth remembering that MAJ3R is already 34 years old, and XANTARES and woxic are not young either, so it’s not excluded that this is simultaneously a pragmatic transition from a financial perspective and an adventurous one from a career standpoint, hoping to lift the coveted trophy for the Turkish public.
As stated in their farewell post: “This is not the end — this is a new flame.”
