The new roster is led by the in-game leader Artem "RAiLWAY" Gradovich, with the Ukrainian veteran starix as well. The promising roster came together in early August going into the RMR qualifier which they managed to go through. They came through in the Europe RMR by defeating Astralis in the round of 16 and reverse-sweeping BLUEJAYS in the quarter-finals. 

Aurora is competing in the CCT Central Europe Series 1 against well-known teams like Copenhagen Flames, ForZe, and MIBR. The next match for the new roster is against 1WIN on Friday at 19:00 (CET).

Lack1

Aurora

The upcoming match between Aurora and ForZe is expected to be a fierce battle, with both teams fighting for a spot at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage. The game is scheduled to start at 10:00 (CEST).

ForZe has the upper hand going into the match, having won their previous encounter against Aurora 2-0 just over a month ago. However, Aurora has been in good form recently, winning 2-1 over Eternal Fire and taking the game all the way to 30 rounds against both Heroic and G2. They have also shown their ability to take down top-tier teams and secure important victories.

ForZe, on the other hand, has been struggling to find consistency in their recent performances, winning two out of their last four matches. They will need to be at their best to overcome Aurora and secure their spot at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage.

Fans can expect to see some high-level counter-strike, with both teams having talented players and great aim. While ForZe may be considered the favorite, it is difficult to predict the outcome of this match. Betting odds are likely to be close, and it may be a good idea to rethink your bet before putting your money on an outcome. We at pley.gg believes that Aurora will get their revenge from last time and send down ForZe to the Last Chance Qualifier. 

Both teams have solid map pools and often ban Vertigo as their main ban pick. This will leave open all their favorite maps where both teams have over 50% win rate on almost every map. With recent success and great firepower, Aurora will be the team to come out on top and secure their spot at the main event.

Aurora vs. ForZe | BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR B | 10:00 (CEST)

* Betting odds were correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.

forZe

Aurora keeps on proving itself with their impressive run at CCT South Europe Series 3. The Russians went undefeated throughout the entire tournament taking down the likes of Monte 2-0, 500 2-0, 9INE 2-1, and Bad News Eagles in the Grand Final 2-0. 

To kick off the Final, Mirage was the first map to be played. Starting off the series best was the Russians who went 14-6 after just 20 rounds of play. However, Bad News Eagles pulled off an impressive comeback on their own map pick to take map one into overtime. Despite the huge comeback from juanflatroo and co. Aurora had ice in their veins as they closed out the game in overtime. Aurora took the victory on Mirage 22-19. 

Next up, Ancient. Aurora showed why they picked Ancient as their pick going into the Grand Final. The Russian team destroyed their opponents 16-4 after posting 11 rounds on the T side before closing out the series and the map 16-4 on the CT side. 

MVP: Aleksandr 'KENSI' Gurkin 65-32 K-D / +34 +/- / 105.3 ADR / 1.71 Rating. 

Next time we get to see Aurora in action they will be taking upon Monte in the RES Eastern European Masters Spring 2023 - BLAST Premier Qualifier. 

Bad News Eagles

In the CCT North Europe Series 3 Grand final, Astralis faced off against Aurora and came out victorious with a 2-1 win. The victory was powered by an incredible 1v3 clutch from Astralis’ young talent, Christian “Buzz” Andersen, who helped secure the team’s victory on Nuke, playing a crucial role.

The grand final was a back and forth affair, with both teams showing their strength on their own map picks. Astralis started off strong by winning Ancient 16-8, before Aurora answered back with a 9-16 victory on Mirage. This set up a nail-biting finale on Nuke, where the winner would be crowned the CCT North Europe Series 3 champions.

Here, Buzz stepped up and delivered an incredible clutch to motivate his team. Buzz found himself in a 1v3 situation at 8-9 on the scoreboard, and despite the odds being against him, the talented Dane managed to take out three enemies and secure the round for his team. This moment of brilliance was the turning point in the match and Astralis went on to win 19-15 in overtime, securing the Grand final victory and taking home the $22,000 first prize.

Watch the 1v3 clutch from Buzz right here:

[twitchClip:TalentedAveragePonyDancingBanana-3DcOebVrB6m3OdkD]

Buzz

Astralis

It has been a long day for both Aurora and Astralis who played their semi-finals just hours before heading into the final against each other. Aurora took down the Polish team Illuminar 2-1 in their semi-final and Astralis dominated their rivals in Copenhagen Flames in a 2-0 fashion.

Starting off the final on their map pick was Astralis as Ancient came out as the first map of the final. The Danes played an impressive T side as their IGL Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander pulled off an impressive 1.56 T side rating. A 10-5 half in favor of Astralis was enough for the legendary team to take map one 16-8.

Heading into Mirage Aurora came out pressing the speeder from the very start. With rounds going in favor of the Russians, Astralis couldn't find their momentum as Aurora kept on playing well on. The Russians took map two 16-9.

The decider came down to the wire as both teams wouldn't let the trophy get out of reach. What looked like a great final map for the Danes ended up being a close game all the way as things got tied up at 14-14. Despite Aurora going into round 29 with the best buy, Astralis took down the Russians with only Tech-9s. 

A force buy from Aurora took down the five players of Astralis as they once again ties things up, but this time at 15-15. Heading into overtime Astralis took their experience to advantage. With players like device, Xyp9x, and gla1ve Aurora stood no chance against the five-time major winners in Astralis. The Danes won Nuke 19-15 and the CCT North Europe Series 3 event. 

It's the first trophy for Astralis in 778 days. The last time Astralis won a trophy was back in December 2020 when the mighty Danes took down their North American rivals Team Liquid at the IEM Global Challenge 2020.

With roster chances and legendary faces departing from the Danish powerhouse, Astralis has been down the bin for such a long time without reaching any success. However, winning a tournament over a good team in Aurora who had a 15-match win streak before facing Astrlis will give the Danes a huge confidence boost going forward with the 2023 season. 

Ancient: Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander - 1.28 rating / 18-11 K-D / 77.2 ADR

Mirage: Vladislav 'latt1kk' Vydrin - 1.57 rating / 21-11 K-D / 83.2 ADR

Nuke: Christian 'Buzz' Andersen - 1.31 rating / 30-20 K-D / 88.4 ADR

MVP: Christian 'Buzz' Andersen - 1.15 rating / 61-53 K-D / 82.9 ADR

Evgeny “Norwi” Ermolin’s days at forZe have come to an end as the Russian organization confirm his departure on Twitter. The talented rifler is set to continue his career in the lower-ranked Aurora, where he will join the former Entropiq player Viktor “Lack1” Boldyrev.

Norwi were a part of forZe for just over 12 months after signing a contract with the profiled CIS team back in October 2021. The Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov-led squad never really hit the ground running together, which resulted in the organization benching both Norwi and Aleksandr “KENSI” Gurkin last month.

forZe hasn’t announced any official replacements yet.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"forze-bench-russian-duo-they-are-set-rebuild-roster","isNewTab":true}]

{cflag:RU} Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko 

{cflag:RU} Alexandr “shalfey” Marenov 

{cflag:RU} Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov 

{cflag:RU} Artem “Fierce” Ivanov (coach) 

{cflag:RU} Aleksandr “KENSI” Gurkin (benched)

Norwi

Everything was on the line for both Aurora and Eternal Fire. Both teams had lost their two opening matches at the EU RMR and were facing elimination at the next loss. 

The dangerous duo of woxic and XANTARES did everything they could to help the Turks win the first map of Vertigo. Both ended the map above 100 in ADR, which was more than enough to secure a 16-9 win.

On Mirage it was Eternal Fire, who again won the first half. And again it was XANTARES and woxic leading the pack with another top performance. But Aurora found the momentum towards the end of the map, which was enough to secure overtime. Here KaiR0N and the rest of the CIS roster managed to take Eternal Fire down and win Mirage.

Nuke was the setting for the last map. Here Eternal Fire fought off the CIS team to win their first match of the event and stay alive at the RMR tournament. 

Aurora becomes the first team to be eliminated.

Eternal Fire - Aurora 2-1 | IEM Road to Rio RMR (Group A)

16-9 (Vertigo) | {cflag:TR} woxic – 1.56 Rating / 25–14 K-D / 105.7 ADR

15-19 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} KaiR0N – 1.30 Rating / 30–22 K-D / 92.2 ADR

XANTARES

woxic

Eternal Fire

On Overpass the situation quickly got dire for Aurora, who was tasked with the job of taking on Fnatic in the first round of Group A. On their T-side, the CIS roster found themselves behind 14-1 with a mountain to climb in the second half.

Fnatic made a short process after the break to give the EU roster an optimal start to their journey towards the Rio Major. Fnatic could also rejoice in seeing Dion "FASHR" Derksen back in shape with an excellent map.

Fnatic - Aurora 1-0 | IEM Road to Rio RMR (Group A)

(Overpass) 16-4 | {cflag:DK} Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi – 1.52 Rating / 19-10 K-D / 101.7 ADR

FASHR

Fnatic

The long-awaited qualifier for the IEM Rio Major is ready to be kicked off in Malta tomorrow, where both European RMR groups are set to begin.

In this article, we take a look at all the teams in Group A, and we try to predict who will make it to the Legends Stage and Challengers Stage.

The top four of Group A qualify for the Legends Stage. We expect 

 to pick themselves up and do the job at this qualifier. They start with a match against GamerLegion. 

 showed promising signs at ESL Pro League, and against B8 and ECSTATIC, the two teams should be off to a good start in the group. Lastly, we have 

. The #14 in the world was not far off making it to the playoffs at ESL Pro League, where they took down NIP along the way. The CIS roster has a high ceiling and looks like a team, that is only improving every time we see them on the server.

 is on a five-match winning streak with wins against Team Liquid, Movistar Riders, and MOUZ. With XANTARES in superb shape, it looks like Turkish Delight in group A. Perhaps they could even make a top-four finish? 

 looks like a safe pick for advancing to IEM Rio. The team is still not good enough to beat the likes of NAVI, Vitality, and Liquid, but could also be a contender for the Legends spot instead of Team Spirit. The Swedes from 

 start the event with a banger against Astralis. If they win that match, then we are almost certain, that they will make it through. BNE is the last team to qualify in our power ranking before the event. An eight-match winning streak has given the roster from Kosovo all the confidence, that they need to come into the event.

Astralis, Aurora, B8, ECSTATIC, 1Win, GamerLegion, Sprout, forZe.

 can easily be among the qualifiers when group A is done and dusted. The lack of Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke on the team is a huge blow for Astralis, who had huge problems just making it to the RMR. Now they are forced to play with Mikkel "MistR" Thomsen as a stand-in, which could tip the balance against the Danish powerhouse, who will be extremely disappointed if they miss out. forZe is often too inconsistent to linger on at the top of the CS:GO, but Andrey "Jerry" Mekhryakov’s men can be a threat to everybody in the group.

New team becomes reality after qualifying for the Europe RMR

Aurora has officially announced their CS:GO line-up after managing to qualify for the RMR Europe.

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