Aurora have broken their losing streak against The MongolZ, taking them down in the BLAST Open Rotterdam quarter finals. The victory, built largely on dominant CT-sides, showed the depth of firepower on the Aurora side, with İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş and Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın, proving particularly strong.
Team Rosters – Aurora vs. The MongolZ – BLAST Open Rotterdam
| Aurora | The MongolZ |
|---|---|
| İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş | Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren |
| Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli | Sodbayar “Techno4K” Munkhbold |
| Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın | Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch |
| Özgür “woxic” Eker | Ayush “mzinho” Batbold |
| Caner “soulfly” Kesici | Anarbileg “cobrazera” Uuganbayar |
| Sezgin “Fabre” Kalaycı (C) | Erdenedalai “maaRaa” Bayanbat (C) |
Match Recap – Aurora vs. The MongolZ – BLAST Open Rotterdam Quarter Finals
- Aurora removed Ancient
- The MongolZ removed Anubis
- Aurora picked Inferno
- The MongolZ picked Mirage
- Aurora removed Nuke
- The MongolZ removed Overpass
- Dust2 was left over
Inferno – Aurora smash The MongolZ on the CT side – 13-6
cobrazera’s alt-mid push kicked off The MongolZ’s CT side with a pistol win. Aurora, though, instantly came back in with a force-buy snatching the momentum. bLitz and company managed to steal away round six with a conservative investment, and that turned the economic battle around. But Aurora was just as deadly on the pistols, keeping The MongolZ in check. The half closed with the two teams neck and neck at 6-6.
XANTARES, who had gone absent in the grand finals of ESL Pro League Season 23, put his pair of Dual Elites to good use in round 13, mowing down three in middle. The Turkish terminator then bailed his team out of a disastrous round against Glocks to ensure an early 8-6 lead. Matching XANTARES kill for kill was the team’s other star rifler, Wicadia, as Aurora put together an unbreakable defence. With the stars all delivering, Aurora closed the map out 13-6.
Mirage – MongolZ’s attempt at a comeback denied by Wicadia – 13-9
With confidence soaring, Aurora headed to Mirage. And much like Inferno, their CT side started with another quick pistol mow down. This time it was Wicadia denying The MongolZ ramp control, and winning the round in the process. Four more rounds in a row followed, with cobrazera and 910 sitting on zero kils throughout. Even when The MongolZ broke into B for a round win, Aurora ensured that no guns would make it into the next round.
Another B site take barely cracked the door open for The MongolZ’s T-side half, but it was cobrazera finding three impactful kills, including a 1v1 knife to deny the defuse, that slammed it wide open. Even with that success though, The MongolZ only managed four rounds on their attack. A CT-pistol loss to a Rush B call was another big blow to the Mongolian side, as Aurora cruised their way to a 11-4 lead.
That was when a poorly timed A-rotation from Aurora allowed The MongolZ to finally win a round on their CT side, with elimination looming. Suddenly bLitz was reading the T-side well, as the defence moved fluidly across the map, calling every bluff. In the end though, the individual firepower was too high on the Aurora side, and XANTARES took the final kill to win the game 13-9.
| Player | Kills | Assists | Deaths | ADR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUR Wicadia | 37 | 13 | 27 | 89.2 |
| AUR woxic | 32 | 11 | 22 | 73.3 |
| AUR XANTARES | 31 | 15 | 25 | 88.8 |
| MNG mzinho | 31 | 6 | 32 | 78.8 |
| MNG bLitz | 31 | 9 | 30 | 71.1 |
| MNG 910 | 26 | 6 | 25 | 70.2 |
| AUR soulfly | 24 | 9 | 27 | 65.5 |
| MNG Techno | 24 | 5 | 25 | 64.0 |
| AUR MAJ3R | 22 | 21 | 32 | 63.8 |
| MNG cobrazera | 13 | 11 | 31 | 44.5 |
