Eternal Fire have parted ways with Sergiy “DemQQ” Demchenko and Rigon “rigoN” Gashi, cutting both players from their CS2 roster as the Turkish organisation continues a restless search for a stable, competitive lineup.
The dual departure strips Eternal Fire of the international core they assembled at the start of 2026. DemQQ, a Ukrainian rifler who joined from Passion UA in January, had already been benched before the split was formalised, while rigoN arrived from ENCE as part of the same winter rebuild that saw long-serving Turkish players moved aside. Neither stint lasted six months.
A Club Still Looking for Solid Ground
The context makes this more than a routine roster swap. Eternal Fire was founded in August 2021 by XANTARES and woxic with the explicit goal of building a Turkish super-team, but that project effectively ended in April 2025 when the club sold its entire star roster to Aurora Gaming, citing Turkey’s legislative climate and poor sponsorship conditions. Everything since has been reconstruction.
The international experiment that followed never found its footing. Eternal Fire failed to qualify for IEM Cologne 2026 and sat as low as 68th in Valve’s official CS2 rankings before the latest changes. Turkish player Emrecan “EMSTAR” Çalışkan was also demoted to the academy squad around the same time, underscoring just how significant a reset this is.
It is worth noting that DemQQ and Woro2k were part of the Monte lineup that reached the quarterfinals of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 – a run that genuinely shocked the scene – so there is no shortage of pedigree leaving the building.
What Comes Next
No replacement signings have been announced yet, with Eternal Fire describing the move as part of a broader restructuring ahead of the new season. The next Major qualifier cycle will be the first real test of whatever lineup they put together – and right now, that lineup is still very much a blank page.