The Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam witnessed a massive sigh of relief from the Aurora camp. After a grueling five-match losing streak against The MongolZ, Aurora finally managed to overcome their demons, securing a decisive 2-0 victory in the Quarter-Finals of BLAST Open Rotterdam. Following the momentous win, Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın shared his thoughts on the team’s mental adjustments, their dominant performance on Inferno, and the daunting challenge that lies ahead.
A shift in mentality
Despite the history between the two teams, Wicadia revealed that Aurora did not make drastic tactical changes heading into the matchup. Instead, the focus was entirely on their psychological approach.
When asked how a team actually trains for that mental resilience, Wicadia shared how they actively visualized the worst to blunt the shock of things going wrong:
Before the game, we are preparing ourselves to even do the biggest mistakes in our head. So it helped us a bit.
By accepting that errors are inevitable, the team stayed grounded and prevented early missteps from ruining their focus:
We just tried to change our mentality a bit. Like, if some mistakes are going to happen, we shouldn’t lose our mentality, that kind of stuff.
Because they kept their cool, the team executed cleanly when it mattered most.
Today I think we didn’t make many mistakes.
The road to redemption continues
With The MongolZ finally out of the way, the path does not get any easier. Aurora now faces Team Vitality tomorrow. Vitality is another squad that has historically caused them trouble, and a win there could potentially set up a grand final clash against NAVI, making this tournament the ultimate redemption arc.
However, Wicadia is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and taking things one step at a time.
It’s a quarterfinal, so there are no easy opponents or something like this,” he stated. “We will just first look at the Vitality game, then hopefully see the finals and see who is going to come.
Facing Vitality means going up against the squad widely considered the best in the world right now. For Wicadia, it is a challenge to be embraced.
It’s always great to play against them and also hard, like they are the best team in the world. But we will do our best and try to reach the finals.
