Aurora lose MAJ3R while he pauses his CS2 career

The Turkish veteran said he wants to spend more time with his family, and Aurora said his next role will be announced soon.

Angel Kicevski July 2, 2026

86 1 minute read

Aurora have moved on from MAJ3R, with the Turkish veteran stepping down from the active Counter-Strike 2 roster and pausing his professional career to spend more time with his family.

In a statement on X, Engin Küpeli said the break was not an easy decision and that he wants to put more focus on being a father and husband. Aurora added that he will remain part of the Aurora Gaming family and that a new role for him will be announced soon.

MAJ3R leaves after more than a year as the captain of Aurora’s starting five. He joined the organization in April 2025 alongside Ali ‘Wicadia’ Haydar Yalçın, Ismailcan ‘XANTARES’ Dörtkardeş and Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker, after building his reputation on Eternal Fire.

During that run, Aurora stayed near the sharp end of the scene. Their best results included second place at Esports World Cup 2025 and ESL Pro League Season 23, a top-four finish at the recent IEM Cologne Major, and a title at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025.

The change also adds another layer to Aurora’s rebuild after coach Sezgin ‘Fabre’ Kalaycı left. The roster now lists XANTARES, woxic, Wicadia and Caner ‘soulfly’ Kesici.

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Counter-Strike 2 is a free-to-play multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed and published by Valve. Released in September 2023, it is the fifth main entry in the Counter-Strike series and serves as a direct replacement for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Steam. Two teams, Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, compete in objective-based rounds across modes such as bomb defusal and hostage rescue. Built on the Source 2 engine, the game introduced volumetric smoke physics, revised weapon handling, and a new sub-tick server architecture. It inherited all cosmetic items from its predecessor and features both a map-specific Competitive mode and a numerically ranked Premier mode.