by in
Aurora Gaming have announced their official Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, which consists of the players that qualified for the IEM Rio Major Europe Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament after competing in the open qualifiers under the organization’s name.
The lineup includes young players like Aleksandr “KaiR0N-” Anashkin and Evgeny “delus1onn” Plottsov, both of whom played for VP.Prodigy and Team Spirit Academy, respectively. KaiR0N was Team Spirit Academy’s star player during his stint on the team.
Veteran player Amin “sugaR” Azimov was also announced as part of the team’s roster. The player was a part of the European RMR during the last Antwerp Major.
Aurora also listed former Entropiq player Viktor “Lack1” Boldyrev as part of their roster. The player is famous for his success during his time with the Czech team. In his yearlong stint with Entropiq, the team rose to ninth in the world rankings, and during the PGL Major Stockholm they finished in 9–11th place.
Artem “RAiLWAY” Gradovich will continue in his role as Aurora’s in-game leader, while veteran Sergey “starix” Ischuk will carry on as the squad’s head coach. Evgeny “bullet” Batkin will be the team’s assistant coach for the upcoming event. Delus1onn is the team’s dedicated sniper, with KaiR0N, Lack1, and sugaR occasionally taking on rifling duties.
Starix is a well-known name in the esports community as a result of his stint in Natus Vincere during Counter-Strike 1.6 as well as CS:GO. He was also NaVi’s coach from 2015 to 2017. However, in 2020, the Aurora coach was suspended along with 36 other CS:GO coaches by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC). The coaches were accused of taking advantage of the CS:GO spectator coaching bug.
The 34-year-old was not allowed to participate in competitive esports for 10 months, and, as a result, he was unable to partake in two CS:GO Majors. The PGL Antwerp Major in May signaled the end of starix’s ban, and the player was allowed to participate in the Valve-sponsored events.
Aurora brought the roster together at the start of August in time for the Rio Major’s first set of qualifiers. In the first open qualifiers, the team nabbed a spot in the European RMR set to take place in October.
The Turkish team pulled off an upset during their round-of-16 match against Astralis.
Aurora went on to play against teams like Monte and then the BLUEJAYS in the quarter-finals. The team defeated BLUEJAYS in a reverse sweep, which earned them their spot in the European RMR. The European RMR will see Aurora compete alongside 15 other CS:GO squads in order to qualify for the November IEM Rio Major.
At the moment, Aurora are competing in an online CS:GO event in Europe, the CCT Central Europe Series 1. Their next match will be against 1WIN in the round of 16 on Friday, September 2. Aurora are pegged as outsiders on BetOnline at odds of +104, with 1WIN as -135.14 favorites.
