Aurora are through to the upper bracket final of StarLadder StarSeries Fall, making their way past NRG with victories on Cache (13-7) and Mirage (19-17).
Whilst Aurora were the comfortable favorites in this matchup, despite NRG's surprise upset of Natus Vincere, they will still be pleased with the manner of their victory. The international side stole away their opponents pick with ease, before showing real fortitude to survive a stiff challenge on Mirage.
In recent interviews Aurora have spoken about their mentality issues costing them in games, as Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo said to HLTV at BLAST Open Porto, so their ability to shake off the loss of a 6-0 lead on Mirage is a step forwards.
Aurora now progress to face the winner of Vitality vs. FURIA in the upper final, whilst NRG head down to the lower bracket to match up against MIBR.
Aurora stole away NRG's pick of Cache without too much trouble, their retakes proving potent on the CT side before Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş came to life on offense to seal the deal.
A six-round streak on the T side of Mirage put Aurora in pole position to secure the series with ease, but a comeback led by Michael "Grim" Wince put NRG up to an 11-7 lead and gave them a real chance of sending the series to a decider.
XANTARES and Özgür "woxic" Eker picked up the slack to push Aurora through to overtime and the pair continued showing their class in the extra rounds, providing the firepower needed to get their team over the line in the second OT.
Natus Vincere
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen
Mihai 'iM' Ivan
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy
Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov
Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri
Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşPast 3 months
Jimi 'Jimpphat' SaloPast 3 months
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
Michael 'Grim' WincePast 3 months
NRG
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella
Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli
Michael 'Grim' Wince
Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott
Damian 'daps' Steele
Özgür 'woxic' EkerPast 3 months
MIBR
Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng
Lucas 'nqz' Soares
Felipe 'insani' Yuji
Carlos 'venomzera' Eduardo
Tomas 'tomaszin' Corna
Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić