Turkish powerhouse Aurora will have to compete without their star player at one of the most prestigious events of the year. XANTARES is set to miss IEM Cologne, with former teammate xfl0ud stepping in as a stand-in.
Aurora to play in Germany with a stand-in
Aurora has announced that Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş will miss IEM Cologne 2025 due to family reasons. He will be replaced by Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç, who is joining the team on loan from HEROIC.
Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç will be playing for Aurora Gaming on loan as a temporal stand-in for IEM Cologne.
He’ll sub for İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş who will miss the tourney due to the family reasons. pic.twitter.com/JQQv1udOQy
— Aurora CS2 (@AuroraCS2_GG) July 10, 2025
This won’t be xfl0ud’s first time playing with Aurora’s core — he previously competed alongside them from 2021 to 2023. In June of this year, he was moved to the bench in HEROIC to make room for nilo. Despite that, he maintained solid form, averaging a 1.18 rating over the past three months, with strong performances at IEM Dallas and the BLAST.tv Austin Major.
Aurora suffers a major blow
Losing XANTARES is a significant setback for Aurora. Over the past three months, he has been the team’s top performer, boasting a 1.17 rating, 1.33 impact, 84.5 average damage per round (ADR), and only 0.67 deaths per round. His individual impact has been crucial to Aurora’s success throughout 2025, and replacing him with the less aggressive — albeit experienced — xfl0ud is likely to alter the team’s playstyle.
IEM Cologne is just around the corner
IEM Cologne 2025 will take place from July 23 to August 3 in Cologne, Germany. The event features a $1 million prize pool and will bring together the best teams in the world at the iconic LANXESS Arena, often referred to as the “Cathedral of Counter-Strike.” For Aurora, this will be their first event after the summer break — and they face an immediate challenge with the absence of their star player.
