Aurora re-sign academy roster after RMR qualifier elimination

21-1-2024 10:01

The academy squad's RMR qualifier run has sparked controversy.

easy and co. are back with Aurora after a brief break

Serbian organization Aurora has announced the re-signing of its Russian academy lineup, Aurora Young Blud, after a short period in which the players were free agents.

The announcement has raised concerns, with many pointing out that the squad participated in the recent PGL Major Copenhagen European RMR open qualifiers under a different banner.

Under the moniker 30 Seconds To Win, the young Russian side competed in all four qualifiers, going as far as reaching the quarter-finals of the last tournament before losing to JANO.

The squad's participation while under contract with Aurora would have been a violation of the tournament rules as the organization's main team was set to participate in the Major circuit, having received a direct invitation to the European RMR closed qualifier.

The apparent attempt to circumvent the rules has been met with resounding criticism, with figures like Ukrainian analyst Oleksandr "petr1k" Petryk calling for a punishment for Aurora to discourage this behavior in the future from other organizations.

Aurora Young Blud are once again:

David "⁠bl1x1⁠" Stepanyants
Lubsan "⁠bluewh1te⁠" Mulonov
Ivan "⁠easy⁠" Mikitenko
Oleg "⁠sh1geo⁠" Stasenko
Vitaly "⁠VILBy⁠" Zakharyuta

Vladimir "⁠pixel⁠" Lukyanov (coach)

bunch of lookers

2024-01-21 10:01

4 replies

bunch of hearers

2024-01-21 10:03

Look of the Looker in 2024 img-cdn.hltv.org/playerbodyshot/Mv-UcukM..

2024-01-21 11:44

1 reply

you cant even see his look

2024-01-22 01:24

Jake lucky level article, just basically retweet what happened, could at least just have given some information about what the valve rulebook says , something most people don't have or don't know how to access

2024-01-21 14:17

Bruh 💀

2024-01-21 10:02

HLTV, why don't you present the org's side of the story too. They have replied.

2024-01-22 02:52

I agree with Petr1k

14 replies

I bet he wouldn't write anything if the team wasn't russian. I used to enjoy his content before the war, but he's become unbearable ever since.

2024-01-21 11:16

13 replies

2024-01-21 14:27

12 replies

he would be raging if he found out that a Ukrainian supports VP

2024-01-21 15:22

11 replies

i am banned in vilat and petrik chats

2024-01-21 15:26

10 replies

I am banned from Zeus' chat just for genuinly questioning them calling VP as "armyan.pro". I wouldn't survive in petr1k chat for a minute, let alone Vilat's chat (Jesus)

2024-01-21 22:28

9 replies

and monte chat

2024-01-21 22:47

8 replies

I wonder for what :)

2024-01-22 00:33

7 replies

sometimes just speaking Russian is enough. Or when you start questioning hate against Russian pros that are insulted just for being Russian

2024-01-22 00:38

6 replies

2024-01-22 00:40

Being banned in most pro-ukranian channels speaks a lot

about Ukrainian cs tg channels? Sure about me? not so much

2024-01-22 00:54

3 replies

Agree, I'm banned in most pro-russian channels same way 🤷‍♂️

2024-01-22 01:23

2 replies

I wonder what are those channels that are pro-Russian (pro war)?

2024-01-22 09:34

Not exactly. Raiz, bratishkin, Overdrive, watchful, zoner

2024-01-22 13:27

this is funny as hell but also bit fucked

i hope there are consequences

Consequences for what? For doing everything right to allow the team to participate in the quals?

2024-01-21 13:13

Two have 2 teams from one org to participate in the tournement imagine man city u19 can play in the prem it would be distortion of competition

2024-01-21 15:28

2024-01-21 15:44

they already got karma by going 0-3 in closed anyway who cares anymore.

2024-01-21 10:04

shameless

Clown fiesta

2024-01-21 10:06

cheaters... imagine losing against this team in open, what a shame

unbelievable...

2024-01-21 10:07

They found a loophole and used it nicely. Can't blame them, but it's still scummy of course.

Scummy, but at least players got to try their shot at it instead of sitting out like 2 other rosters of EG did with every opportunity they had to miss

2024-01-21 10:13

S E R B I A N lol (Ye ye I know why, but still funny to see)

5 replies

so Entropiq used to be a russian organization because they have had a russian roster? and what about C9 then? if the org is located in Serbia and registered there firstly in 2022 in Beograd + has office only in Serbia it may be called a Serbian org + you know how these westerners hate russians organizations? so... VP are now an armenian org, team Spirit are also serbian org... BB, Amkal and PARI are Curacaian orgs....

2024-01-21 10:26

Cloud9 is American organization, and their team is Russian. There's big difference between organization and team. But this is just funny to me, because those are all clearly Russian organizations, but they are forced to live in Serbia for like two years now, and they are slowly becoming "Serbian orgs" lol I mean it's cool, it's just weird timeline

2024-01-21 13:25

it is done just to avoid the hate speech from westerners + Serbia is kinda neutral to russians + Seriba is in the middle in Europe and has an hub airport

2024-01-21 13:31

Isnt it also done so that players can bootcamp in serbia and so have easier access to the rest of the world/europe?

2024-01-23 08:30

i ve wrote it in the end - Serbia has an hub airport, so they may travel easier around the world, because if they have been living and bootcamping in Moscow, Spb, Kalinigrad, it would be reallly difficult for them to fly somewhere fast. russians have to fly to Turkey or UAE to hub airports to fly to Europe or USA

2024-01-23 08:59

why are people getting so upset about this? aurora gave these youngsters a chance to qualify for the major that they couldnt have done if they were under a contract and if shit went south (they didnt qualify) then they had chance to get back in the org. imagine if they qualified? surely they would get signed by another team so the "conflict of interest" would be void.

2024-01-21 10:19

I think there would be double less hate if rosters were not mostly russian

2024-01-21 11:08

2024-01-21 11:26

its blind hate towards russian .if this would hv been done by astralis etc .people would support this

2024-01-21 11:40

You actually think that? Astralis is like the scummiest EU org out there.

2024-01-21 12:22

Least obvious fakeflagger

2024-01-21 12:44

m indian ...politics does not hv a place in epsorts

2024-01-21 14:06

So you just proved him right

2024-01-22 00:36

Fr I think every academy/fe squad should do this

2024-01-21 15:45

I dont want to see every academy teams changing org when the qual starts and go back when its over, simple. Its just looks bad and I dont hate Russians

2024-01-21 15:54

Explain why you dont want it? Why are you so against of peoplw having a chance to qualify for the most prestigious event?

2024-01-21 18:43

Because he doesn't stand a chance to qualify himself because if he did then he'd do the same thing.

2024-01-21 21:13

Karma spoke, 0-3

2024-01-21 10:20

Volvo should just allow multiple ORGs to compete in these open qualifier events. Its good that youngsters get experience. Kind of bummed that I dont get to see ENCE academy in these

2024-01-21 10:21

22 replies

everything was done according to the rules - at the time of the games Aurora Academy was not part of Aurora, before the qualifications they broke off contracts with Aurora, and then becaus of not passing the qualification they signed contracts with Aurora again

2024-01-21 10:22

21 replies

Even tho Aurora broke their contracts and re-signed, it's still kinda scummy and in the grey area.

2024-01-21 10:32

19 replies

Yeah the rules actually don't talk explicitely about the contracts, but about something along of "players that can't have advantage from success of another team can't play". I think this counts lol. I'm not even talking about the fact they played in another tournament under Aurora tag at the same time. Imo it would be fair to not allow recently "released" ac teams to compete unless they got signed by another org. (fair from the competitive integrity point)

2024-01-21 10:54

16 replies

"would be fair to not allow recently "released" ac teams to compete unless they got signed by another org." That will quickly become very complicated as some players are genuinely dropped by their orgs.

it's same as it was with coaches. valve banned coaches in online matches even there were many legit coaches yet they made it because of cheating coaches

2024-01-21 13:08

easy solution is to not allow players to re-sign with their previous org until the major is finished if they participate in qualifiers under a different team

But that wouldn't solve any of original concerns - both teams would still participate in qualifiers. The chance to qualify to RMR and maybe be signed by another org to main team will probably outweigh not re-joining academy team for few more months.

2024-01-22 03:23

but the issue isn't the players, but the org double dipping into the qualis. you just need a rule that forces the org to lose that roster if the contract "expires" and the players take part in a qualifier. you can tweak the rule to make it better - longer time without being hired again by the same org or whatever. teams could still possibly try to find loopholes, but you make it harder and maybe less rewarding.

2024-01-22 04:25

I understand your idea, it makes sense from certain pont of view. Just to add about org double dipping. The org actually risks letting their talented players walk away for free. Aurora is not rich org and if academy team performs well, if not whole team but at least some players can be snatched for free. Can you imagine m0nesy or donk as free agents just because org decided to use this loophole?

2024-01-22 05:00

yeah, hard to imagine teams would risk t1 ready talent in this maneuver. more raw/unproven talent could be exposed that way, though. I don't think Aurora was truly malicious (though obviously disingenuous). but if this happens more often we might run into an org that tries it for their own advantage

2024-01-22 06:59

Maybe just dont give them a qualifier spot? Like if they reach qualifiers the team they play against is automatically through. Or move them into different rmr pool. Seeding might be fucked but it already is so who cares.

2024-01-23 08:44

but that means they could eliminate a lot of teams before reaching the final round. and what if the org doesn't have a team already qualified? then even the open has to be taken care off - and if many orgs enter 2 teams, suddenly it can become a big mess. it is simpler to just keep the blanket ban on academy teams and add a rule that closes that expiring contract then re-signing after the quali loophole.

2024-01-23 19:24

Not sure if its a real loophole. It also means other teams can swoop in to take the roster or part of the roster. So it does carry a risk if you have a donk or zywoo in there. I dont think academy teams will make it to closed qualifiers anyways so it shouldnt be a big issue.

2024-01-24 00:11

Well, if we are talking competitive integrity here, what about loaned players, for example? Should we not allow Mouz to play with Brollan because he is technically bound to NiP? Also, how would you even enforce that? What if some org has an academy and it just doesn't show up anywhere, don't make it far and doesn't have media presence?

2024-01-21 14:47

I am pretty sure mouz signed brollan right now? Or is it a loan? And if its a loan I am gladly going to direct you to 2021 champions league quarter finals bayern munchen barca. Philip counthino.

2024-01-23 08:42

Even here on HLTV it is said that this is a loan in an headline, yet people still miss it somehow. hltv.org/news/37922/mouz-sign-brollan-on.. And I couldn't care less about football, I probably watched like 5 games at max in 25 years of my life (meaning paying attention to what's going on, not just as a background noise), so your example really flies over my head. Like, we accept it only because we allow that in football? That's the only criteria there is?

2024-01-23 08:54

In cases like loans if in footbalk it has worked without a serious conflict of interest then it can be use as an argument or evidence that what mouz does is just fine. And there is no conflict of interest. Also it would most likely be a contract breach of brollans loan.

2024-01-23 08:56

We can't know that without knowing the contract details. In football at least like heads of leagues know it, or whoever watches over transfers and whatever. Highly doubt Valve or PGL or ESL or whoever asks for contracts of any specific player.

2024-01-23 08:58

And anyway, that's not the main thing in my comment. The main thing is a question "How will you enforce it?" What if this is an academy that never really played anything significant enough to be even on Liquipedia? Just how will you know then? Just from praccs? Do you monitor every server any orgs might have for that? And do we really just ban players that left the org/were kicked simply because when qualifiers start they are orgless, but orgless for not long enough? Well, I bet ex-Thunderflash guys are happy to hear such suggestions going around!

2024-01-23 09:09

It is cheeky but not against the rules

2024-01-21 12:20

Never said that. Said that it's in the grey area of the business. It would be the same if some football club would make the same thing in UCL qualis pretty much. Of course there was an opportunity that some other org comes and buys the players because they are free agents and there wouldn't be Aurora young bluds anymore.

2024-01-21 14:53

Why did they then play events as an "Aurora Young Blud" during the open qualifiers?

2024-01-21 11:19

Just a way to abuse system so both squads can play quals for RMR 🤡

2024-01-21 10:23

So shameless

2024-01-21 10:25

I mean...if their contracts had expired with Aurora and they wanted to have a shot at the major, I don't see why not. Don't think it's fair for them to not have a chance at it just because another team from their org is playing it too.

Why are people crying about it? Everything is legal and according to rulebook

2024-01-21 10:30

yeah ofc, its legal only for your flag xd

2024-01-21 10:35

Well it's not like your flag doesn't flood my country and suck on the economical advantages so i wouldn't really speak up.

2024-01-21 11:45

bruh wha?

2024-01-21 11:52

Your countrymen abuse so many economic advantages most European countries (just like I LITERALLY HAD UKRAINIANS BRAGGING TO ME HOW THEY DO IT). For you to cry about someone this while half of your country is living off of our economies is a bit ironic don't u think?

2024-01-21 11:56

Flag checks out

2024-01-21 12:26

is your flair = biased boys?

2024-01-21 11:36

Why are people so mad at this? I genuinely think it's not a bad thing at all, just a nice gesture from the org to the players. They gave them a shot at qualifying to the RMR by letting them all go from the contract before open qualifiers, knowing that if these kids qualified, they would probably get some org proposition, just for the RMR, because it would be worth it for an org to try to get that sticker money and sign them. But the kids were unluko maluko and didn't make it, so the org takes them back in, because if not for a conflict of interest, Aurora would have liked to keep the roster which they are obviously proud of and happy with. It's not a bad thing at all that Aurora gave them a chance at qualifying and finding an org after doing so if they succeeded, just a nice gesture to let them try but obviously they will take them back any second as it's their own developed academy team in which they invested in. I don't see a bad thing here.

2024-01-21 10:41

+1 I don't get it either It's not like they faced Aurora main and threw

+1 No rules were broken. They found loophole that it is impossible to close without affecting many innocent players.

2024-01-21 12:36

2024-01-21 15:35

+1 every academy/fe team should be able to do this

2024-01-21 15:46

just imagine before every major every academy team leave the org and than go back after 1week. Looks bad and making joke about the situation and about the team

2024-01-21 15:56

I mean... we don't get to see academy rosters play qualifiers like these specifically because they are signed by an ORG, which disqualifies them due to potential conflict of interest, but overall won't you agree with me that letting the academy rosters play in the qualifiers is a good thing? Because I think it absolutely is, nothing wrong with letting them try instead of holding them back. I'm happy to see as many talented rosters as possible, it's sad that academy teams are so limited by their org's primary team so I suport their way of resolving this issue, nobody was hurt by that

2024-01-21 18:30

2024-01-21 18:24

I guess so

2024-01-21 22:20

I don't think it should be that serious, but it's definitely not a good thing. It's like you have two chances in winning and not one like everyone else. This is why it's called conflict of interest.

2024-01-22 00:39

If they weren't Russian everybody here would be in full support of them lol

2024-01-21 10:45

fr XD

2024-01-21 11:06

true xd

They proved to the org in qualification that they were still worth signing..

2024-01-21 10:55

Imo its a good thing, if they qualed to closed qualifier they could get a diffrent organization, its nice that they could participate in qualifiers and gain experience people are mad because of their nationality

yet, because it was clearly a scheme between the players and the organization itself, the conflict of interest persists

2024-01-21 11:54

its not a conflict of intrest if theyre not participating in the same tournament

2024-01-21 12:00

but they did exactly that

2024-01-21 12:29

no, aurora participated only in closed qualifier, while aurora academy was only playing in open there was no possibility that they play against eachother + even if aurora academy achieved something at the major the organization couldnt benefit from it at all

2024-01-21 13:00

One win and they would've been in the same closed qualifiers.

2024-01-21 14:00

okay, still if they were in closed qualifiers, they were not in the organization at the moment if they were free agents, it means aurora wouldnt benefit from sticker money etc they were not under aurora, and aurora couldnt profit from it, it literally doesnt matter

2024-01-21 14:48

They didn't have any announcements on the team's departure and they played games for Aurora during the qualifiers. That's enough for this to be a clear attempt of just circumventing the rules. They were clearly still playing for Aurora, just not "technically".

well yeah, they remained in aurora, but if they qualified to the major aurora wouldnt make a cent from it

2024-01-21 16:15

hey people are so mean, don't be like that just because of their nationality, let them play the goddamn game they're kids

2024-01-21 17:02

Probably should be a rule so this doesn't happen, same with Russian orgs that register in other countries. I don't care, let them play.

if the players were actually free agents then i am ok with how they handled things

2024-01-21 11:30

only russian things

2024-01-21 11:34

100 percent rules circumvention by them, 5 players+ coach should be banned from participating next major cycle

If they didn't break the rules they followed them. Just like in any other sport

2024-01-21 11:47

Yes, but they used that loophole with contracts and thats why i called it circumvention. There was no statement from aurora regarding them parting ways with academy squad. Otherwise players like easy would be signed by bigger org, there is a lack of russian-speaking awpers in the market. They knew what they were doing

2024-01-21 11:51

Well first of all, you are not required to do social media statements. Second of all, many people mentioned that their contracts ran out (not terminated). Third of all, they could have easily stated they want to stick together, nothing out of ordinary. I just struggle to find why people care so much.

I personally care about that because it makes a dangerous precedent when orgs sign their second/academy squads to the contracts that end before major cycles, allowing academy squads to participate at major cycle. And these academy squads who circumvent the rules can eliminate some decent teams which follow the rules

2024-01-21 12:01

You cannot prevent orgs and players from terminating their contracts. If Valve puts condition that recently dropped players cannot participate in qualifiers, it will affect many innocent players. Also no one is surprised by orgs signing teams just for RMR and dropping them later.

2024-01-21 12:49

Well it being open circuit is EXACTLY for these scenarios to happen, so that upsets can happen. Conflict of interests can happen if they played against each other.

2024-01-21 14:15

The people who dont see the potencial conflict of interrest of say the totally not academy team playing the main team for a spot in the major are the same people that think BetBoom doing a tournament where they invite their own team is completly fine and acceptable. Also Aurora being Serbian is hilarious. If its run by russians, only has russian squads and their main sponsor is russian.

Last sentence is complete false, their dota2 squad is not russian, and 1xbet not registered in Russia and actually is banned in Russia.

Sure their dota2 squad is not russian I'll take that. As for 1xbet : "In russia, the founders of 1XBet no longer have any problems either. The company’s beneficiaries mysteriously disappeared from the criminal case, and only the nominal owners ended up in prison. It can be linked to the sponsorship contract concluded between 1XBet and the russian FC Dynamo. Bookmakers have paid more than 500 million rubles for the contract, although its market value does not exceed 120 million. Given that FC Dynamo belongs to the russian security forces through VTB Bank, such a contract is a typical bribe solving problems of 1XBet owners. The fact that 1XBet owners do not have any problems in russia and feel safe there can be proven by another fact: despite the blocking of 1XBet websites in russia, another group product, 1xStavka, continues to operate without hindrance from law enforcement and state regulators." informnapalm.org/en/1xbet-russian-bookma..

2024-01-21 12:04

Well 1xstavka is a different company tho))))

2024-01-21 12:40

Its at best a franchise (aka affiliated but different owners) at worst a shell company operated directly by 1xbet. Pretending they're separate is completly impossible and anyone that thinks that upon seeing all the proof is just idiotic.

2024-01-21 13:24

1xbet is no more the sponsor of Dynamo, BetBoom is the sponsor now. so you have given outdated facts and 1xbet is banned in Russia, there is a Russian website with a Russian license for the bookmaker 1xstavka. and 1xbet is sponsoring seria 1 and others ligas. 1xbet is an international bookmaker with a license from Curacao who has different partnerships with big teams and tournaments so it is not a russian bookie. it is an international bookie with russians roots.

2024-01-21 13:43

+1 as soon as there was a team called BetBoom in a tournament called BetBoom, I knew it was Russian and not a tournament to follow.

2024-01-21 15:33

dogs

2024-01-21 11:37

Serbian org , snakes

Valve should ban their main/academy(not their fault I suppose) roster

2024-01-21 11:46

Chads

2024-01-21 11:55

2024-01-21 11:57

Yes Have they faced Aurora main? No So what's the issue? Inb4 the "But it they did" statement - even if they did, it would have been a totally different story

2024-01-21 11:58

No, not chads

Even if they dont face Aurora main, they already would have made it easier for aurora to qualify as they would have 1 less team to beat in the closed qualifier.

2024-01-21 15:36

Giga

2024-01-21 12:05

Hope some of young talents will progress to main team which performed so weak in a closed qualis.

Bruuuh

2024-01-21 12:14

Oh so much hate against Russians and no comments were deleted, but iI dare you to say one bad thing about Jews and you'll get deleted and permabanned. Good to know how HLTV runs. 🤡

Has Faze and Complexity's conflict of interest been resolved btw?

2024-01-21 12:57

Faze has not yet been bought yet as they are still in the proccess of finalizing the purchase. Furthermore Jason Lake is actively looking for buyers to remedy the situation and making COL its own brand. Either way nice try deflecting from the problem at hand which is Russian orgs doing shady stuff :)))

2024-01-21 13:28

ban this org LMAO, disgusting

2024-01-21 13:04

+1 org needs 10 year where is johnathan?

2024-01-21 16:58

Don't see what's wrong with that. The contracts were terminated before the tournament.

Specifically in this case you can't pick on them. But for the next qualifiers we should create a rule that players who have terminated their contracts in less than a week/month/half a year will be considered to be linked to their previous organisation.

2024-01-21 14:16

I suggest we also ban orgs that sign teams right before RMR for a chance of getting sticker money and then dropping them in like a month or two after if they don't make it as well then. Equally scummy imo.

2024-01-21 14:42

What a surprise)

2024-01-21 13:15

sounds pretty suspicious

2024-01-21 13:19

This kind of behaviour should really be discouraged until it becomes a real issue.

Where is the outraged community? The bigger teams get a free pass as long as they suck the smaller teams dry for suspicious clips.

2024-01-21 15:48

Can anyone explain why this "conflict of interest" is a bad thing in the first place? I can only see how this rule discourages richer organizations from sponsoring younger players

2024-01-21 16:25

because the teams can wind up in situations where they either play against each other or are able to influence future matchups in the tournament for both teams trough winning or losing. valve should disqualify aurora for even trying this

2024-01-21 16:57

Teams can do that under different clan tags and that is called match fixing which is already disallowed. Is there evidence that same org teams commit more throwing?

2024-01-21 18:23