It's a tough time for fans of Aurora, particularly in light of the repercussions stemming from Aurora's unfortunate incident during DreamLeague Season 23. In the playoffs match against BetBoom Team, Aurora was forced to forfeit their third round due to connectivity issues while playing at their local LAN cafe, dealing a significant blow to their aspirations of qualifying for Riyadh Masters 2024.
Aurora Forfeits, Betboom Team Wins
It was regrettable that Aurora had to forfeit the third game, as it had the potential to become one of the longest matches in DreamLeague S23.
Seventy minutes into the game, Aurora players suddenly disconnected and were unable to reconnect. Despite BetBoom Team's gesture of offering their own pause time to their opponents, ESL decided to conclude the match after 51 minutes of waiting for the technical issue to be resolved.
While many viewers believed that BetBoom Team had already secured victory with a 30,000 gold lead, Aurora managed to gain momentum after BetBoom made a critical mistake by not securing the Aegis of the Immortal, resulting in the loss of a set of top barracks.
Aurora’s Run
This elimination eliminates Aurora from contention for qualification to Riyadh Masters 2024 via the ESL Pro Tour Leaderboard.
However, upon reviewing the EPT point gap between Aurora and other more promising contenders, it becomes apparent that Aurora's chances of qualifying may have been overstated. Achieving anything less than a second-place finish at DreamLeague S23 would have left Aurora with only a slim chance of pulling off a miraculous qualification.
Thus, hypothetically, had Aurora secured a runner-up finish at DreamLeague S23, they would have accrued enough EPT points to surpass Team Spirit for eighth place on the EPT Leaderboard, with some additional points to potentially overtake Team OG as well, without displacing OG from the top-eight standings.
For those unfamiliar, the EPT Leaderboard grants direct invites to the top eight teams based on their earned points, for the highly anticipated Riyadh Masters 2024. Often referred to as the new TI by fans, the Riyadh Masters series boasts prize pools comparable to Valve’s International Championships. This year's iteration offers a generous prize pool of $5 million, a substantial amount despite being slightly lower than previous years.
Riyadh Masters 2024: Aurora’s Journey Continues
Nevertheless, the season is not yet over for Aurora, as Riyadh Masters still has several available slots. Notably, Aurora is expected to vie for the EPT Interregional Strength Rankings.
This qualifier invites teams based on their performance throughout the season, presenting a favorable opportunity for Aurora. The team has shown considerable growth in recent tournaments, notably securing a top-seven finish at both PGL Wallachia S1 and DreamLeague S23. Hopefully, they won't encounter internet issues this time around, given that they will be competing on their own Southeast Asian server.
Otherwise, the Southeast Asian closed qualifier could serve as their last chance, should they encounter difficulties in the EPT Interregional Strength Rankings. The dream of Riyadh Masters lives on for Aurora!