Woxic: Aurora's trophy reach shrinking as roster settles after three months

Aurora's AWPer Özgür "woxic" Eker told HLTV at IEM Beijing that the roster is edging closer to silverware after three months of playing together, even though back-to-back tournaments have limited the squad's preparation time.

Asked where the team stood after a teammate, ash, had earlier remarked at Thunderpick that the "honeymoon period" was over, woxic agreed. "He was right about the honeymoon part. It's disappeared," he said, adding that the side has stabilised rather than swinging between highs and lows. "We're becoming more consistent at going further, making playoffs, or finishing second or third."

Aurora have reached the top four at several Big Events recently, but woxic pointed to a lack of practice as the obstacle between deep runs and titles. "I think we're lacking practice because we've been traveling to four tournaments in a row," he told HLTV, explaining that strategies are often built shortly before a match and tested for the first time against live opponents rather than refined in scrims.

He said the calendar was a problem across the scene, not just for Aurora. "This travel schedule isn't good for us, or for anyone," he said, while framing the accumulated stage experience with new teammates as valuable in itself, since trust between players builds through repeated high-pressure matches rather than practice alone.

Summing up the trajectory of the project, woxic said: "After some time, the trophy is not looking so far away."

Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo and Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski joined the Turkish trio roughly three months ago, and woxic described the switch to English as the biggest adjustment for the group, noting that after years in an all-Turkish lineup the change initially felt unfamiliar even to him, with Turkish occasionally still slipping out in familiar in-game situations.

He also pointed to cultural differences in how Turkish players communicate and need to be approached, saying the squad made a deliberate effort from day one to build friendships quickly, which he credited to the personalities of the two new signings easing the integration process.

Asked whether he still reacts in Turkish during clutch moments from his Turkish teammates, woxic said it happens occasionally given the emotional nature of the game. He said the team mostly keeps communication in English, offering phrases such as "Nice, bro. You did a good job," but that the same sentiment sometimes comes out in Turkish towards his compatriots, equivalent to "Bro, you're so good," or, "You did so well."