Aurora Gaming, or simply Aurora (stylized in all caps),[2] is a Serbian esports organization. Founded in 2022, the org fields professional rosters in Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), and Dota 2 competitions.
 | |
| Short name | Aurora |
|---|---|
| Divisions | |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Location | Serbia |
| Colors | Cyan, black[1] |
| Main sponsor | 1xBet |
| Website | auroragg |
Founding and sponsor
Aurora Gaming was founded in 2022 in Serbia.[2] Their main sponsor/partner is 1xBet.[3] In November 2023, their CS2 roster appeared in an ad campaign with Russian adult film actress Eva Elfie; the ad received criticism, with some fans calling it "misogynistic".[4] 1xBet is one of both Aurora's and Elfie's main sponsors.[4]
History in Apex Legends
A Serbian org, Aurora competes in the EMEA region for the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) competition.[5]
ALGS Year 3
Aurora played with an all-Russian squad to being the 2022–23 (ALGS Year 3) season, with the players previously completing on Team Empire roster,[6] from which they were dropped when Team Empire left competitive Apex in August 2022.[7] On 4 November, Aurora signed the roster consisting of "RANCHES", "cleaveee", and "Maliwan".[8]
In EMEA play, Aurora was dominant during Split 1, winning the region.[9][10] This qualified them for the Split 1 playoffs, but they encountered visa issues which marred Aurora all season.[5][6][9] These visa issues rendered them unable to play in the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs, held in London.[10]
During the ALGS Split 2 Pro League, Aurora had a middling performance and Alexey "Mailwan" Rusinov stepped down from the active roster, with Danila "Sunset" Soloviov filling the vacant roster spot.[9] Their performance improved and they were able to qualify for the Split 2 Playoffs as the EMEA region's ninth seed.[9] However, visa issues further complicated Aurora's competitive efforts, as Sunset was forced to miss the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs.[9] Maliwan returned and filled-in for Sunset during the competition.[11] In the 2023 ALGS Split 2 Playoffs, they selected drop spots alongside other teams on both the Storm Point and World's Edge maps.[12][13] After a 31st-place finish in the Split 2 Playoffs, Aurora disbanded the roster in August.[5][14]
Later in the month, Aurora would re-enter Apex competition, signing the then free agent Fire Beavers roster.[5][15] This team consisted of Kiryl "9impulse" Kostsiu, Lev "taskmast33r" Grigoriev, and Syvatoslav "ojrein" Korochinsky, with the former playing as the team's captain.[16] They qualified for the 2023 ALGS Championship, held in Birmingham.[10] However, visa issues once again came into play, with Jose "Uxako" Llosa and Keenan "Tax" Mackey, serving as substitutes for Aurora.[16] Ultimately, 9impulse received his visa, though taskmast33r was denied entry to the U.K.[17][18] They instead began the tournament with "Uxako" playing the third spot on their roster.[10] Internal team disagreements with Uxako occurred and after the group stage, Aurora attempted to make a swap to Tax.[18] However, ALGS officials denied Aurora's roster swap.[17] As Uxako was registered as a starting player for Aurora in the tournament, a swap to a sub was only allowed in a case such as illness.[17] 9impulse and ojrein would finish the tournament playing as a duo, and Aurora finished the Championship in a disappointing 36th-place.[18]
ALGS Year 4
In December, Aurora benched taskmast33r.[10] Konstantin "Hardecki" Kozlov would complete the Aurora roster as their third player.[19][20] During EMEA regional play in the Split 1 Pro League, the team performed well, securing a spot in the Split 1 Playoffs.[21] In March 2024, 9impulse requested Apex Legends publisher Electronic Arts (EA) to send out official invites to the 2024 ALGS Split 1 Playoffs LAN location, in order for players to be proactive in applying for travel visas.[22] Other pro players spoke up in solidarity of 9impulse.[22]
Heading into the 2024 ALGS Split 1 Playoffs, Hadley Vincent of Dot Esports wrote that "Aurora is known by most as a wildcard team", and cited professional player "Zer0" of DarkZero concurring with that assessment.[19] They are also known as an aggressive team, with their play notably unorthodox in relation to the game's meta.[19][20]
In Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2
Aurora Gaming also fields rosters in Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) and Dota 2.[23] Aurora's CS2 roster won the Skyesports Masters 2024 tournament, defeating OG by a score of 3–1.[24][25] The win clinched a berth in the Skyesports Championship 2024 tournament.[24]
On 13 November 2023, Aurora signed the former Talon Esports roster, the strongest in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region, after Talon and the roster mutually agreed to part ways.[26][27] The roster consisted of Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon,[a] Armel "Armel" Tabios, Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong, Worawit "Q" Mekchai, and Chan "Oli" Chon Kien.[26] In March 2024, Armel was benched.[29] Aurora shortly thereafter announced Artem "Lorenof" Melnik as their new mid laner.[30]
Rosters
- Apex Legends
| Aurora Gaming Apex Legends roster | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||
|
Anatoly "Wrugb" Belousov | ||||||||||||
Legend:
| |||||||||||||
Source:[31]
- Counter-Strike 2
| Aurora Gaming Counter-Strike 2 roster | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Stepan "brain" Sivoronov | ||||||||||||||||||
Legend:
| Latest roster transaction: 5 April 2024[b]. | ||||||||||||||||||
Source:[34]
- Dota 2
| Aurora Gaming Dota 2 roster | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Lee "Sunbhie" Jeong-jae | ||||||||||||||||||
Legend:
| Latest roster transaction: 16 March 2024[30]. | ||||||||||||||||||
Source:[28]