Aurora Go Official

Russian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Aurora have officially announced their CS:GO squad on Wednesday, August 31. The announcement follows the team’s successful Road to Rio qualifying tournament run.

On Wednesday, Aurora have officially formed a CS:GO team, retaining the five players that fought through the European Regional Major Ranking tournament, securing a spot in the European RMR A. The announcement confirms Artyom “RAiLWAY” Gradovich, Aleksandr “KaiR0N-” Anashkin, Viktor “Lack1” Boldyrev, Amin “sugaR” Azimov, and Evgeny “delus1onn” Plottsov as the official members of the team that will compete for a spot at the upcoming Major.

The CIS roster came together in early August, ahead of the first open qualifiers for IEM Rio Major, and the Russian squad did not need long to lock in a spot at the Europe RMR. Even though Aurora haven’t won the first open qualifier, they have done enough to lock in a top-four spot, securing an invite for the European RMR by the skin of their teeth.

Aurora kicked off the qualifying event with a 16-12 victory against Anonymo Esports, adding a closely-fough but well-deserved win against Monte (22-20). In Round of 16, Aurora stunned Astralis with 16-11, adding another convincing victory (2-1) against BLUEJAYS in the quarterfinals.

Unfortunately, Aurora couldn’t reach the big stage, as they were outclassed by Team Falcons (13-16), who knocked them out of the upper bracket in the semi-finals. And even though Aurora also lost their third-place match against MOUTR (6-16), they’ve done enough to qualify for the European RMR.

Shortly after their impressive performance in the IEM Road to Rio 2022: European RMR – Open Qualifier #1, Aurora decided to go official and formed a team that will compete for a Major ticket in October.

The squad will consist of the same five players that competed under Aurora’s banner through the qualifier, including in-game leader Artem “RAiLWAY” Gradovich and Counter-Strike veteran Sergey “starix” Ischul as a coach, and Evgeny “bullet” Batkin as his assistant.

Joining the trio is delus1onn, who previously played for VP.Prodigy, as well as former Team Spirit Academy star player KaiR0N-, who was last seen competing for INDE IRAE, with who he won Kuvo OneTap Summer 2022 and PARI WHITE NIGHT LAN before joining Aurora.

Joining the young core is sugaR, who has recently been a part of AVE and has achieved plenty of success in some lesser tournaments. With AVE, sugaR placed second at Winline Insight and ESEA Cash Cup: Europe – Spring 2022 #6 and made the semi-finals of PARI WHITE NIGHT LAN.

Rounding up the list is Lack1, who started his CS:GO esports career in 2017 and is the most experienced player in the newly-formed team. Throughout his career, the 23-year-old has been a part of Winstrike and EPG Family but is mostly known for his time in Entropiq.

With Entropiq, Lack1 has found plenty of success, leading the team to numerous tournament titles, including Pinnacle Fall Series #2 and Malta Vibes Knockout Series #1. With Entropiq, he also finished second at V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2021 and Funspark ULTI 2021 and placed ninth-11th at PGL Major Stockholm 2021.

By qualifying for the European RMR, Aurora have secured a chance at qualifying for the next Major; however, the Russian squad still has plenty of time before they can focus on the task.

Lack1 and his crew are currently competing in the CCT Central Europe Series 1, where they have topped the group stage with a perfect 3.0 record and qualified for the playoffs.

The teams’ first match since going official is slated for Friday, September 1, when Aurora clash with 1win in the first round of the playoffs.