Melih "pAura" Karaduran, a long-time player on the European VALORANT scene, has decided to retire from competitive play after more than six years.
"Today was my last day playing Valorant," he said. He added that he will share a video about what comes next, and thanked everyone, whether they were fans or not.
The in-game leader's announcement came after his team FOKIN was eliminated in the Round of 32 of Qualifier 1 in EMEA Kickoff's Türkiye Qualifier.
pAura made his debut in 2020. During his career he had two stints with Team Heretics, played for Papara SuperMassive, had two stints each with BBL Esports and S2G Esports, and competed for Misa Esports earlier this year. Over the years he played alongside the likes of AvovA, Izzy, RieNs, reazy and Elite.
He mostly played the Sentinel role but showed flexibility. In 2024 with BBL he primarily played Initiator, which carried over to the following season with S2G. With Misa he led the Turkish squad to two VCL EMEA appearances, and the team finished 5th-8th at the EMEA LCQ, bowing out in the group stage.