Space Soldiers (esports)

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Space Soldiers
Space soldiers esports logo.jpg
Full nameSpace Gaming A.Ş.
Short nameSpaceS
SportCS:GO
FIFA 17
Founded2014
DisbandedOctober 2018
LocationIstanbul, Turkey
ColoursYellow and Black
CEOBünyamin Aydın
Head coachCanpolat "hardstyle" Yıldıran
CaptainEngin "MAJ3R" Küpeli
Main sponsorByNoGame.com

Space Soldiers was a professional esports organization founded in 2014. The organization consisted of a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division and a FIFA division.

Having attended two Major championships, ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 and FACEIT Major: London 2018, the Counter-Strike team was the most successful of these two. The team most notably was a runner-up in WESG 2017. It also had an academy team, with the purpose of guiding young Turkish players into good teams.

The organization ceased operations on 13 October 2018 after it controversially parted ways with its Counter-Strike team.

History[]

In 2014, the organization was founded as Space Gaming A.Ş. by Turkish investor Bünyamin Aydın.[1]

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive[]

Space Soldiers announced its first CS:GO team in 17 January 2015.[2]

In September 2017, Space Soldiers won the GeForce Cup 2017.[3] During the same month, the team qualified for ESL One Cologne 2017.[4] The team finished the tournament 12-14th, but managed to beat SK Gaming, the number 1 ranked team at the time.[5]

In January 2018, Space Soldiers qualified for ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 and became the first Turkish team to qualify for a Major.[6] As a result of this, so-called in-game "stickers" of the team were released.[7] Even though they beat Cloud9 in the second game,[8] Space Soldiers lost to mousesports and was eliminated without making it to the play-offs.[9] The team finished 2nd in WESG 2017 after losing to Fnatic in the grand-final.[10][11] In March 2018, Space Soldiers was ranked as the 12th best team by HLTV's weekly updated rankings.[12][13] In June, the team won DreamHack Open Austin 2018 after beating Rogue in 2–1 the final.[14]

On 13 October 2018, it was announced that the organization parted ways with its CS:GO team.[15][16] The decision was made a month prior, on 15 September.[17]

Roster[]

Prior to disbanding, the organization had the following players under contract:

Space Soldiers CS:GO roster
Players Coaches
Handle Name Nationality
XANTARES  Dörtkardeş, İsmailcan   Turkey 
Calyx  Arkın, Buğra   Turkey 
paz  Karahoca, Ahmet   Turkey 
MAJ3R  Küpeli, Engin   Turkey 
ngiN  Kor, Engin   Turkey 
DESPE Substitute player  Sedef, Çağatay   Turkey 
Head coach
  • Canpolat "hardstyle" Yıldıran
Legend
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness

FIFA[]

The organization had Emre "Riv9" Kayır under contract, who participated in World Cup qualifiers in December 2017.[18] In March 2018, he went to Barcelona to participate in the FUT 18 Champions Cup.[19]

Achievements[]

In the last 3 years of existence, the team has stayed with the same core players, with the following achievements:

Tournament Tier Placement
DreamHack Austin 2018 A-Tier 1st[14]
ESL Pro League Season 7 Europe S-Tier 5th
WESG 2017[10] S-Tier 2nd
ELEAGUE Major 2018 European Minor A-Tier 1st
ESEA MDL Season 25 Global Challenge A-Tier 1st
GeForce Cup 2017 B-Tier 1st[3]
WESG 2016 S-Tier 4th
WESG Middle East Championship 2016 B-Tier 1st
ASUS Rog Summer 2016 B-Tier 1st
Copenhagen Games 2016 A-Tier 3rd-4th

Controversies[]

ESL ban[]

In September 2017, Space Soldiers' 6th and reserve player, Çağatay "DESPE" Sedef got banned for 2 years by ESL,[20] making him unable to stand-in in ESL tournaments in case it was needed. Space Soldiers made an announcement on Twitter, saying that they were in talk with the German organizers.[21] Eventually, the ban was lifted by ESL, saying that the ban was unwarranted.[22]

Spitting incident[]

On 13 June 2018, Space Soldiers played the opening match of ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018 against home heroes SK Gaming.[23] In the opening ceremony, the players passed through the fans. After the match, Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli said on Twitter that some of the fans spat on them.[24] Players of SK Gaming responded saying that they are sorry for what happened. 2 days later at signing day, MAJ3R received a letter of apology from multiple fans.[25]

Disbanding[]

In May 2018, all CS:GO players changed their profile pictures on Steam to completely black, instead of the logo of Space Soldiers.[26][15] There were rumours about the low salaries of players long before this.[27] In September 2018, the two sides agreed to part their ways, but not before they attended a major tournament in home soil Turkey, BLAST Pro Series Istanbul, for the last time.[17] In an interview later, former Space Soldiers captain Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli said that the organization "didn't fulfill the promises made" and that "it was run by amateurs." He added that he really liked the Aydın family, but said that they hired people who didn't have any experience in esports and that Bünyamin Aydın was busy with his clothing company.[28]

References[]

  1. ^ "Space Soldiers". January 24, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-01-24.
  2. ^ "Space Soldiers go official". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  3. ^ a b "Space Soldiers'tan bir başarı daha!". www.hurriyet.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2020-11-14. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  4. ^ "Space Soldiers'tan büyük başarı!". www.hurriyet.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2021-10-13. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  5. ^ "MAJ3R: "For me, [the win over SK] is not a surprise, to be honest"". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  6. ^ "Soldiers hayallerine ulaştı, Türkiyeyi gururlandırdı!". Fanatik. Archived from the original on 2020-11-14. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  7. ^ "Space Soldiers Bir Gururu Daha Yaşattı". Fanatik. Archived from the original on 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  8. ^ "Space Soldiers, Cloud9'ı devirmeyi başardı". Fanatik. Archived from the original on 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  9. ^ "mousesports edge past Space Soldiers to qualify for Major playoffs". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  10. ^ a b "CS:GO WESG'te Space Soldiers ikinci oldu!". www.hurriyet.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2021-04-06. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  11. ^ "Space Soldiers şampiyonluğu son anda kaçırdı". www.hurriyet.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2020-11-14. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  12. ^ "Space Soldiers büyük oynuyor". www.hurriyet.com.tr. Archived from the original on 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  13. ^ "HLTV.org - The home of competitive Counter-Strike". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-07-17. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  14. ^ a b "Bir Space Soldiers klasiği!". Milliyet. Archived from the original on 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  15. ^ a b "Space Soldiers dağıldı, detayları XANTARES paylaştı". October 13, 2018. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  16. ^ "Space Soldiers players part ways with organization". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  17. ^ a b "ex-Space Soldiers: "We unilaterally rescinded our contracts on September 15"". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  18. ^ "Emre Kayır Riv9dan bir ilk!". Fanatik. Archived from the original on 2021-03-30. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  19. ^ "Space Soldiers Ekibinden Riv9 Barcelona Yolunda! | GameXNow.com". January 25, 2018. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  20. ^ "Space Soldiers comment on DESPE's ESL ban". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-08-28. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  21. ^ @SpaceSoldiersTR (21 September 2017). "We are in touch with the ESL about the false accusation towards our club and our player "DESPE", who allegedly violated ESL rules" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  22. ^ "DESPE ban lifted by ESL". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  23. ^ "HLTV.org - The home of competitive Counter-Strike". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 2020-11-18. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  24. ^ @Maj3r_ (15 June 2018). "I let him my team down on d2 but seriously that was the first time in my career since 1,6 i feel new emotion my god…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  25. ^ "MAJ3R Receives Apology Letter From Brazilian Fans After Spitting Incident at ESL One Belo Horizonte". dbltap.com. June 17, 2018. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  26. ^ "Space Soldiers dağıldı mı? İşte son açıklamalar | Steam Rehberi". May 21, 2018. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  27. ^ "Space Soldiers CS:GO Takımı Neden Dağıldı?". October 15, 2018. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  28. ^ Kaya, Burak (July 28, 2019). "Maj3r: "Space Soldiers verdiği sözleri tutmadı"". Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
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