Eternal Fire have been a strong CS2 team since September 2023. Initially, they climbed from 34th place to 13th place in the global rankings, and then maintained their good form for a long time.
In 2024, EF finished 5th – 8th at PGL Major Copenhagen, 9th – 12th at IEM Katowice, and now, 1st at CCT Season 1 Global Finals. This is the story of how they won their first S-tier trophy in Counter-Strike.
Eternal Fire’s Path To Victory
EF started CCT Season 1 Global Finals in group A, where they had two strong opponents: Aurora Gaming and SAW. However, because Aurora played their first match against SAW, EF had the opportunity to play against PARIVISION, a Russian team with no real chances at this level.
The match proved to be more challenging than expected but in the end, the Turks won. The scores were 13 – 7 on Vertigo and 13 – 11 on Mirage. Ali “Wicadia” Haydar was the best player on the server.
In the second match of the group stage, EF defeated SAW after making a comeback on the first map, Anubis. The score was 8 – 4 after the first half and 13 – 16 at the end. On the second map, SAW were clearly demoralized and lost 7 – 13. Once again, Wicadia played much better than everyone else.
Thanks to these victories, Eternal Fire won the group and then had a relatively easy path in the playoffs. Their first match was against BetBoom Team.
The first map, Mirage, was a disaster: 3 – 13. But on Vertigo (13 – 8) and Dust II (13 – 4), they played much better and no longer had to rely on one player to carry everyone else.
In the semifinals, EF defeated GamerLegion: 13 – 10 on Anubis and 13 – 7 on Mirage. This victory must have felt great for Wicadia and his crew, who finally had the opportunity to compete in the Grand Final of a prestigious CS2 LAN event that offered $500.000 in prize money.
In the final match of the tournament, played against Team Liquid, EF won the first maps with ease: 5 – 13 on Inferno and 10 – 13 on Anubis. On the third map, they had a huge advantage after the first half (3 – 9) but ended up losing 16 – 14.
The match was won on the fourth map, Nuke, which had perfectly equal scores until the end of overtime: 6 – 6, 12 – 12, 14 – 16.
Header image credit: Eden Esports, Eternal Fire
