FURIA outplayed AURORA from the map veto to the end of map 2.
Things were looking up for AURORA as they headed into the second half of Dust2, their map pick. They started off by winning the pistol, getting to a 6-7 scoreline, after Ozgur ‘woxic’ Eker carried their first half with 12 frags.
In the second round, AURORA made an audacious and aggressive play to take A-site from short. It looked like it could have worked, as Daniil ‘molodoy’ Golubenko could have no impact with the AWP yet. Instead, they all walked into a hiding Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato on A ramp, a common position. They got picked off and lost the round.
FURIA dominated the map from there. But we’ve all seen this picture before. Strong performances by AURORA’s stars, but unable to be a stable unit when the pressure arrives.
Soulfly disappoints
The difficulties for AURORA began before anyone fired a shot. Their most favored map, Anubis, was shrewdly banned out by FURIA, who risked Ancient being picked against them.
AURORA chose not to punish pick Ancient, opting for Dust2 instead, which FURIA has started playing more recently. They most recently defeated NAVI 13-6 on the map, making AURORA’s choice questionable at best.
Dust2 was a nightmare for new addition, Caner ‘soulfly’ Kesici – predictably so. He did not keep up his stellar 1.19 rating he had before this match, as he was abused on B by FURIA’s B hits. As the B-site anchor, he went 6-16 on a map AURORA had a chance to win.
No chance on Mirage
Mirage was a complete trouncing by the Brazilian organization – again a masterclass from KSCERATO. He was decidedly the MVP of this series, continuing his 1.20-rated form he has had at IEM Krakow – now 1.28.
FURIA’s collapse at the BLAST Bounty is a far cry from what they showed here. They go on to face a ropey Team Spirit in the semi-final, which they may be favored to win.
AURORA are back to the drawing board after a positive result in the group stage of this event, but remain shut out by the glass ceiling of the stage.
