Woxic on Aurora’s Roster Refresh: “When You Think It’s the End, New Blood Brings Motivation”

Woxic on Aurora’s Roster Refresh: “When You Think It’s the End, New Blood Brings Motivation”

Özgür “woxic” Eker, the Turkish AWPer for Aurora, spoke candidly about his team’s recent roster change and the promising start they had with their new addition at IEM Kraków 2026 Stage 1.

Aurora’s winter roster update saw them replace Samet “jottAAA” Köklü with Caner “soulfly” Kesici, a player without prior LAN experience. Despite the uncertainty surrounding this move, the change paid off immediately: Aurora earned a comfortable victory over GamerLegion, avenging an earlier elimination in the online segment of BLAST Bounty.

In his HLTV interview, woxic described the importance of refreshing a lineup when momentum stalls. According to him, bringing in new players can reinvigorate the team’s motivation and outlook — especially after a plateau or disappointing results. He explained that this sense of renewed purpose was a key reason behind the roster switch.

Woxic also addressed the role-related friction that contributed to jottAAA’s departure. Both he and MAJ3R had acknowledged challenges in agreeing on roles within the previous setup, and the adjustment with soulfly has reportedly improved team harmony. While acknowledging jottAAA’s contributions and achievements with Aurora, woxic wished him well in his future endeavors.

Despite soulfly being known as a star performer in his earlier squad, woxic believes the current team structure — featuring established talents like Wicadia and XANTARES — will help the new member adapt without repeating past issues. He highlighted that chemistry and understanding between teammates take time, and that everyone is still learning how to mesh their individual strengths into the team’s collective strategy.

On the tactical side, woxic emphasized that positive team communication and a focused review of past mistakes were crucial to Aurora’s success against GamerLegion. Starting strong at a LAN event, particularly with a fresh lineup, gives the team confidence heading deeper into the tournament.

Looking ahead, woxic noted that while Aurora’s ambition is always to compete for trophies, realistic goals for the Kraków event — due to the new lineup and recent ranking drop — are to reach the playoffs. If the team continues to perform like they did in their opening match, woxic feels they are capable of advancing through the bracket and potentially competing in the arena stages.

Additionally, independent coverage of the series highlights woxic’s standout individual performance: he produced multiple multikills and consistently shut down the opposition’s T-sides on both Nuke and Dust2, further underlining his impact on Aurora’s result.