Jimpphat and kyxsan are solid, experienced additions, but can Aurora maintain their level as they leave their country behind?
When FURIA went international, the outcry from parts of the Brazilian fanbase was to be expected. In an increasingly global scene, fans want a connection to the teams they support. But they also want success; when Danil "molodoy" Golubenko turned out to be a star, and Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis 's macro understanding was integrated, criticism ebbed away. Trophies are a cure to betrayal.
Which brings us to Aurora . Turkey waited a long time for a team this good, and breaking up a structure that made nine Big Event playoffs over the last twelve months is always a risk, whoever you are bringing in.
The signal Aurora are sending is that they believe a ceiling was reached within their country. No in-game leader could improve on some of Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli 's tactical weaknesses. To find an anchor, they first turned to Samet "jottAAA" Köklü , who left after being unhappy with some elements of his role, and then plucked Caner "soulfly" Kesici out of star positions in Fire Flux .
Both did well considering their unfamiliarity in those roles, but it does illustrate the point. Scouting for national teams like Aurora is inherently a game of pros and cons. A role player at a second-tier Turkish team might be a more natural anchor, but can they compete mechanically? In an international market, a player like Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo offers both.
Sometimes, the lack of market options is a strength: You can't just trigger a roster change every time it gets tough, synergy improves, and a unique style can be harder to deal with than the homogenized international meta.
But if the ambition is to win Big Event titles — their only trophy so far was in PGL's studio at Masters Bucharest — then the need to improve both firepower and tactical depth was always going to be too hard to resist for an impatient and foreign upper management.
Watch our breakdown of Aurora 's moves with Michael "YouM3" Cassidy and Roope "RobuJohnson" Leppänen here .
Of course, there are plenty of downsides, not least the reaction from their passionate and nationalistic fanbase. The squad got plenty of stick when they left Eternal Fire to join Aurora last year, and MAJ3R had to take to X to respond to fans accusing them of selling out . The overriding sentiment in the comments of Aurora 's announcement of Ashley "ash" Battye , their confirmation of an international switch, is scepticism. And that's us putting it politely.
The pressure on the team will be immense from day one. Staying at the same level under an international flag is a failure. Like for FURIA , the only way to cure the betrayal is with trophies. But if you get Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş a Big Event trophy, it's hard to imagine fans turning their noses up; it's not the same as if five Turks won the same title, but it's better than not getting a title at all.
So what are the chances of that success actually happening? The moves, on paper, are intelligent ones.
ash is the least proven of the three, and his reputation for scouting and improving young talent is less relevant in a project like this, but he is a good man manager, a hard worker, and deserves a step up to a stable team after his GamerLegion debacle .
Coaches are hard to judge from the outside, but making a Major final with the world number 31, rebuilding a solid lineup afterwards having lost his two best players, and making the team a constant in the top 20 despite an incredibly difficult working environment are tangible achievements for ash . Is it really more of a risk than choosing a random ex-player and hoping that they can do the job?
The players, too, make sense. First of all, choosing to retain Özgür "woxic" Eker is smart in a difficult AWPer market once a pursuit for molodoy was shut down .
Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski did not bring prestigious titles to Falcons , but is a top in-game leader who would not have been benched for many leaders except Finn "karrigan" Andersen . Jimpphat is still just 19, but has already made the Top 20 whilst playing low-resource anchor-lurker roles.
The young Finn is also a great profile of rifler to slide in next to Ali "Wicadia" Haydar Yalçın and XANTARES . While Lotan "Spinx" Giladi didn't actually take many of Jimpphat 's positions, and was more aggressive than he received credit for, it's clear that Jimi is more comfortable as a team's primary closer. Alongside the two Turks, he will provide a counter-balance to their aggression and know that he is to be set up for the late round.
Having kyxsan as captain also helps, given that XANTARES and Wicadia are most effective in rotator positions. Signing a skipper like Dan "apEX" Madesclaire or Aulon "Krabeni" Fazlija , who want to control the CT side from star spots, would not have made any sense, as Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek found out in Liquid .
In terms of actual spots, the few clashes that do exist are easy to sort. kyxsan can shuffle to Long on Dust2, Floor on Nuke, and Jimpphat has the skillset to be a fantastic A Anchor on Anubis, long an Aurora favorite, which frees up Wicadia to be more active in E-Box.