MAJ3R on finding playoff form: "Matches on the stage and matches in the studio are completely different"

Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore caught up with Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli ahead of his Aurora side's debut at the BLAST.tv Austin Major Stage 3.

MAJ3R commented on his team's impressive playoff streak, their pre-Major preparation, and taking their group stage form into the playoffs.

The entire interview is available below in text or video form. The questions and answers have been slightly edited for clarity.

How was your trip to America?

It was good. We came two days ago to try to fight the jet lag and be ready for the match tomorrow. It's the Major, so one of the best tournaments of the year in Counter-Strike. We will give everything for it.

A little less stresfull than coming straight from Astana to Dallas, right?

Yes, we came from Astana and we played the same day, but now we did a bootcamp in Serbia and we came two or three days ago and it was way better.

Heading into the Major, you've had an unbroken streak of playoff appearances throughout 2025. With that in mind, is that the goal here, and are you confident you can replicate your playoff form and make the playoffs here?

The format is different; it's more BO1s here, but I think we have the capacity to make playoffs again here. We want to have success again, make the playoffs again. The first objective is making the playoffs, then once we're in the playoffs, the goal is to win [the tournament].

In Dallas, you told HLTV that one of your big issues in the team is Train. Were you able to work on Train at all in your bootcamp?

Yeah, we did a lot of work on Train. Hopefully, we can show a good face on the Train. Last tournament, it was one of our weaknesses, but I think we did well.

What were your other priorities during your bootcamp in Serbia?

I think it was more about doing better on all the maps, trying to fix some tactics; and just playing Counter-Strike. It's important to keep warm as a player. The goal was to fix some maps, we did that, and play Counter-Strike a lot.

We talk about your playoff performances and how you guys have consistently made playoffs. One thing that's been getting attention recently is that Thorin believes that the team has a mental weakness in the playoffs, and you don't show the same form.

What do you think about his comment on the team's mental state right now, and are you working to solve that?

I think he has his opinion, that's all, I respect it. For us, we have made the playoffs every tournament this year. The first one, we didn't play the best CS, but tournament to tournament we try to fix the mistakes we face in the playoffs.

Matches on the stage and matches in the studio are completely different atmospheres. Last year, we didn't make a lot of playoffs, so it's just about experience, and I believe in my team that we will be better in the future.

You, XANTARES, and w0xic are extremely experienced having played as pros for a long time. Do you think that evolution is going to come from the younger guys sooner rather than later?

I think, yeah, we have long careers with experience, but it's the first time for me playing in a lot of playoffs in a row. I did play in a lot of playoffs in my caree,r but not as much as this year. We are trying to be better, and I really believe that we can be way better and show it with time.

Tomorrow, you will be taking on FaZe; you currently have a 1-1 record against them in 2025. How are you feeling about that matchup?

FaZe is a good team, they brought in one of the best players in the world from a couple years ago. They are good individually, it will be a really good BO1 match, I would prefer it to be a BO3 against them. It would be more spicy but BO1 is the rules of the major so we will give everything.

Aurora defeated FaZe in their first match in Stage 3 of the BLAST.tv Austin Major.