Aurora are through to the grand final of StarLadder StarSeries Fall after beating Vitality 2-1 in the upper bracket final (13-7 Anubis, 11-13 Inferno, 13-8 Nuke).
It is the first final for Aurora's new roster with Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski, Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo, and Ashley "ash" Battye in only their fifth event together, and the Macedonian in-game leader was happy to have taken down their biggest name yet.
That the win came in such a fashion, where Aurora showed great cohesion on their defense and put to bed a recovery effort by Vitality, also goes a long way in showing how the roster is starting to find its footing.
Vitality, on the other hand, looked a shadow of themselves, far from the form they showed against FURIA on Friday as their teamplay collapsed too many times across the series.
It was almost entirely thanks to their defense that they even had a shot in the series as they failed to post a single T side round on Anubis, two on Nuke, and four on Inferno, and they are left staring down a gauntlet on championship Sunday as they will need to win a best-of-three consolidation final and then head straight into a best-of-five rematch against Aurora to have a shot at the title.
Aurora once again proved their specialist capabilities on Anubis, recovering from a 1-5 start after gaining momentum off the back of a 1v2 clutch by Jimpphat. Sharp shooting and well-paced defaults from the Turkish-majority side punished weak trading from Vitality to even the score, although Vitality bagged the last two of the half to retain a slim lead heading into their T side.
The cohesion and return to form Vitality had shown against FURIA was nowhere to be seen, though, and a complete collapse followed. Aurora won every opening duel but one as Vitality's miserable offense floundered for purchase, not managing a single round in what ended as a blowout, 13-7, with Jimpphat posting a 2.48 CT rating.
Little changed at the start of Inferno as Vitality had only a single kill across the first four rounds, and even after posting their first two, they got no kills in the next pair as Aurora stormed ahead, 7-2. A heroic quad-kill B defense by Ali "Wicadia" Haydar Yalçın again put Vitality's weak trading on display, with the half ending 8-4.
Vitality's poor form finally turned around in the fourth half of the series, better teamplay and setups — alongside a barrage of HE grenades that hamstrung Aurora round after round — powering them to a seven-round spree and an eventual 13-11 conversion.
A CT start was all Vitality could have hoped for on the Nuke decider, but they struggled to convert the late-round scenarios early doors. A 1v2 by Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut offered little solace as they were left staring down a 2-5 start, but the French superstar continued to find multi-kills and added another 1v2 to help Vitality keep the score level at the break.
Winning the T side pistol should have given Vitality some breathing room, but they crumbled to Aurora's ensuing force-buy. Jimpphat and Wicadia then spearheaded a near-lockout defense as Vitality's offensive woes continued, with their sole round coming off the back of a double smoke spray from Robin "ropz" Kool before Aurora sealed victory.
Jimi 'Jimpphat' SaloPast 3 months
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautPast 3 months
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Robin 'ropz' KoolPast 3 months
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar YalçınPast 3 months
Damjan 'kyxsan' StoilkovskiPast 3 months
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Ashley 'ash' Battye