Aurora breeze through regional qualifiers to claim a spot at The International 2025

Aurora Gaming made the Eastern European qualifiers for The International 2025 look like a walk in the park.

After starting the season slow, Aurora have been on the rise for the past few months. Their recent surge in form secured them a direct invitation to the Esports World Cup (EWC), but it came a bit too late to grant them a direct invite to The International 2025 as well. Hence, they had to fight their way to Hamburg, Germany via regional qualifiers.

A one-game stain in an otherwise perfect run

Aurora Gaming have come out of the Eastern European qualifiers without breaking a sweat. They ran through the entirety of the upper bracket, dropping only one game on their way to TI2025, with their lone loss coming against Natus Vincere. However, they quickly rebounded, closing out the third game of the NAVI series in just 30 minutes to advance to the grand finals.

NAVI’s elimination at the hands of Cyber Goose in the lower bracket finals only made Aurora’s path to TI2025 even easier. Facing an underdog opponent in the grand finals, the team, led by veteran captain Alexey "Solo" Berezin, allowed Aurora to dismantle Cyber Goose 3-0 in a one-sided affair. Aurora were dominant from start to finish, controlling the pace of each game of the best-of-five grand finals with their mid-laner, Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov, taking the spotlight.

A promising summer ahead

Aurora’s steady increase in form is one of the season’s most compelling storylines. Formed just four months ago, the squad has built momentum over the past couple of months, culminating with a fourth-place finish at DreamLeague Season 26, which earned them a direct invite to EWC and now with their dominant TI qualifier campaign. While they may not yet be on the same level as elite teams like PARIVISION or Tundra Esports, their trajectory suggests they could become a true contender for the title at The International 2025. They still have a lot of work to do for that, but before Hamburg, Aurora will go through a true test at Riyadh Masters 2025, the Dota 2 competition at Esports World Cup.