Aurora won three second-half rounds across the four maps they lost in Beijing, and their coach said a lineup this new has nothing to fall back on when it gets tired.
Two maps, two 13-5 scorelines: BetBoom Team needed less than two hours on Wednesday morning to end Aurora Gaming‘s run at IEM Beijing 2026. The Group B lower bracket semi-final went 13-5 on BetBoom’s Mirage pick and 13-5 on Aurora’s own Cache, and Aurora leave in ninth to 12th place with $25,000.
BetBoom2-0
AuroraStatsMirage 13-5, Cache 13-5
Magnojez
Nothing to fall back on
The result turned a recent head to head around. Aurora had beaten this BetBoom side 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the Cologne Major in June and 2-1 in EPL Season 24 in October. Both maps were 8-4 at the half and 5-1 after it, and Aurora’s four lost maps at the event (3-13, 4-13, 5-13, 5-13) brought them three second-half rounds in total.
Aurora had warned that this could happen. Before the match, Jimpphat said the team had not practised at all in Beijing because of the early starts and the jet lag. After it, coach ashhh said the problem goes deeper than one bad morning.
Everyone’s probably equally tired, but we have less to kind of fall back on because we are so new.
He added that “we can’t fall back on fundamentals because they’re not fully established yet”. Both teams start the PGL Major Singapore in Stage 3 on 24 November, and ashhh said Aurora will rest at home before a bootcamp ahead of it.
Wicadia was the hero against G2 on Tuesday with 60-47. Against BetBoom he went 15-29 with 44.3 ADR, and late on Mirage he walked into BetBoom’s spawn unseen with the whole map in front of him, and the round still got away from Aurora.
kyxsan had a similar morning. On a Deagle eco on Mirage he took out four BetBoom players, but s1ren survived with the bomb down, and BetBoom went 11-4 up anyway. On Cache the Macedonian IGL went 3-15.
BetBoom’s riflers take over
BetBoom were messy too in the opening rounds of Mirage, and Boombl4 even timed himself out of the second round with the bomb in his hands. But the IGL kept running at Aurora with pistols and found entry after entry. He finished the map 18-9, and the casters said he looked in renewed form.
Once BetBoom settled, Magnojez and d1Ledez did the rest. Magnojez top fragged the series with 35-23 and 106.8 ADR. d1Ledez went 19-6 on Cache, where most of his kills came in triple-kill rounds, and he finished with 91.7% KAST, the best on the server.
Aurora did take the Cache pistol round and the next one, with XANTARES opening for three kills. He went 18-13 with 96.6 ADR on the map, the only Aurora player in the plus. BetBoom answered on their first gun round, and when Aurora came out with Glocks, Boombl4 went hunting for an ace.
At 5-3 BetBoom won the round that broke Aurora’s money, and the half ended 8-4. They took the second-half pistol as well, and in the last round Magnojez, the only BetBoom player left after the plant, held off the retake on his own.
Liquid next for BetBoom
BetBoom stay alive in Group B and play Team Liquid in the lower bracket final at . Liquid beat TYLOO 2-0 in the other semi-final. The winner reaches the quarter-finals on 6 November, and the loser is out. Their only defeat in Beijing so far was the 0-2 to MOUZ in the upper bracket on Tuesday, after a 2-1 over 9z on day one.
Elsewhere in Beijing
In Group A on Tuesday, B8 beat Legacy 2-1 in the first round of the lower bracket, and the favourites are out in 13th to 16th place. A day after a 0-2 defeat to HEROIC, B8 took their own Dust2 pick 13-11 behind npl, who went 25-13 with 127.1 ADR on the map.
B82-1
LegacyStatsDust2 13-11, Cache 6-13, Mirage 13-9
| B8 | K-D | +/- | ADR | KAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 npl | 54-39 | +15 | 79.1 | 70.8% |
| s1zzi | 41-40 | +1 | 62.4 | 75.4% |
| esenthial | 43-49 | -6 | 79.1 | 66.2% |
| alex666 | 32-42 | -10 | 63.1 | 67.7% |
| kensizor | 27-47 | -20 | 50.2 | 67.7% |
| Legacy | K-D | +/- | ADR | KAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 try | 57-29 | +28 | 83.2 | 80.0% |
 latto | 45-39 | +6 | 76.3 | 81.5% |
| dumau | 42-43 | -1 | 71.6 | 75.4% |
| arT | 39-44 | -5 | 75.9 | 75.4% |
| ksloks | 33-43 | -10 | 60.3 | 73.8% |
Legacy levelled on their Cache pick, where latto (19-7) and ksloks (17-8) led a 13-6 win. The decider turned early. B8 were 9-3 up at the half on Mirage, Legacy won six of the next seven rounds to get within one at 9-10, and B8 then took the last three. They did it with kensizor on 3-17 for the map, while s1zzi (16-11) and alex666 (15-12, 90.9% KAST) picked up the slack.
try finished the series 57-29, but Legacy, who are already in Stage 3 of the Singapore Major, leave Beijing with two series defeats in two days. B8 stay alive and play NAVI in the lower bracket today at .
