XANTARES banned on Twitch following $600,000 charity stream

BIG rifler İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş has been banned from Twitch for unknown reasons.

This marks XANTARES’ second Twitch ban in 2021, with his first one coming in April. The exact cause of the ban has yet to be publicly announced and likely will not be. According to his social media, even XANTARES himself doesn’t know what breached Twitch’s rules. The announcement comes just after BIG earned a $600,000 donation for the International Medical Corps at Gamers Without Borders 2021.

XANTARES’ first ban on the streaming platform was never explained by Twitch, but fans generally believe it stemmed from XANTARES responding with a rude threat after being insulted in a CSGO match. No similar incidents have taken place recently, making the ban even more mysterious.

XANTARES is one of the most popular Turkish-speaking CSGO streamers on Twitch. His streams have peaked at over 20,000 concurrent viewers. His stream has also grown wildly popular over the past few months, gaining 135,000 Twitch followers since the start of 2021. 

Though bans are often brushed off by fans, they can be a major financial hit for streamers. With two bans under his belt now, XANTARES is also in a precarious position where he could receive longer bans or possibly even a permaban. The streaming platform is notoriously cryptic about its penalty system, and is criticized frequently for its uneven distribution of punishment. XANTARES will eventually get his account restored, but he’ll be walking a fine line when it comes to anything even mildly controversial.

What is XANTARES famous for in CSGO?

XANTARES’ lightning-fast reactions and impeccable sense of timing have made him one of the scariest entry fraggers in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He played a major role in BIG’s 2020 renaissance with his strong aim. 

Any gun is deadly in the hand of XANTARES, but many of his most famous plays involve pistols. The Desert Eagle is the perfect gun for bulldozing enemy rush attempts, something the Turkish pistol master demonstrated against OG at Spring Sweet Spring 2.