XANTARES topped the charts to send AURORA to their second final of the year.
Team Falcons took on AURORA Gaming on their home soil in the second semi-final of the Esports World Cup (EWC). Falcons looked for their first grand final appearance with young talent Maxim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin, after defeating #3 team in the world MOUZ (VRS) in the quarter-final.
AURORA also looked for their first grand final appearance, after making several playoff runs over the year.
AURORA won a straightforward map on Inferno.
Ismailcan ‘XANTARES’ Dörtkardeş was in his best form in the first half on their map pick, getting 15 kills and 4 multikill rounds..
The Turks got up to 7-2 in the first half, when Falcons won a 1v1 defuse thanks to Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov against XANTARES.
The following round was also a toss-up, clinched by Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker in a 1v3 to gain a 9-3 over the Saudi-owned team.
The second half, Falcons started making a comeback, but eventually lost out to AURORA on Inferno.
Falcons throw away Train
On their own map pick, disaster struck immediately as Falcons lost a 4v1 to Ali ‘Wicadia’ Haydar Yalçın after taking full control of the A-site.
It was a fine recovery for Falcons, as they managed to find 5 offensive rounds.
Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač began to take control of the series, as he picked up a quick double kill entry on B-site on his lonesome.
The second half had Falcons written on it, but Engin ‘MAJ3R’ Küpeli capitalized on an error to win an impossible 1v3.
The rest of the half was back and forth, but AURORA came out on top.
One must win
AURORA will face TheMongolZ tomorrow, one of their rivals across 2025. TheMongolZ have the edge on them 3-1 in series, the most recent of which was at the BLAST Bounty. That match had an 0-11 comeback from TheMongolZ, a nightmare AURORA will have to overcome to take the EWC t.itle
Either way, one of these teams will take their first trophy in 2025 from a tournament with all the top teams. These are also the only two full national teams (Mongolian and Turkish) in the top 10 of the VRS.
Match Statistics
Team Falcons vs AURORA Gaming – | Esports World Cup Semi-final
7-13 (Inferno) – XANTARES | 1.59 rating
11-13 (Train) – XANTARES | 1.49 rating
