Aurora secure final ESL Challenger Jönköping spot

r1nkle's debut for Ninjas in Pyjamas was spoiled by the Russian upstarts.

deko topped the board for Aurora in their qualifier run, averaging a 1.27 rating over eight maps

Aurora have secured the final spot at ESL Challenger Jönköping after completing a flawless run through the Europe closed qualifier, going 8-0 in maps with victories over Metizport, Apeks, and Ninjas in Pyjamas (twice) to book a ticket to Sweden.

The Russian team had failed to make it through the PGL Major Copenhagen EU RMR closed qualifier and wasted no time in making changes to their roster, initially playing with a stand-in before completing the signing of Evgeny "⁠r3salt⁠" Frolov from FORZE just ahead of the Jönköping qualifier.

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FORZE bench roster, r3salt joins Aurora

Aurora's debut with the 19-year-old couldn't have gone any better as they cruised through the upper bracket without dropping a map to reach the grand final, with the team's sheer firepower proving too strong for their opposition.

Ninjas in Pyjamas also came into the qualifier featuring a new member, Artem "⁠r1nkle⁠" Moroz, and the Ukrainian sniper immediately impressed with 1.31-rated series against Monte and Blessed to secure his team a berth to the upper bracket final.

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NIP confirm r1nkle signing

Aurora forced him to cool off in that match and cast Ninjas in Pyjamas down to the lower bracket, where the team lost their Overpass pick to Metizport before r1nkle came alive in a dominant 13-0 victory on Vertigo and Max "⁠maxster⁠" Jansson led the charge on Inferno to secure their side a rematch against Aurora in the qualifying match.

maxster and r1nkle continued to star for NIP and helped their side muster slightly more competitive scorelines in their second meeting against Aurora, but a deflated showing from Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner on Inferno and the Russian team's overwhelming advantage in firepower as a whole ensured the result was the same.

Overpass came close, with Ninjas in Pyjamas mustering a strong defensive effort and converting that into an 11-6 lead after the break, but a stalwart defense allowed Aurora to string together seven rounds in a row to secure their qualification and deny NIP the chance to force a third map.

ESL Challenger Jönköping 2024 Europe Closed QualifierBest of 3

Aurora

Matchpage

2

0

4th April 2024

Ninjas in Pyjamas

13

Inferno

9

13

Overpass

11

Aurora	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Evgeny 'r3salt' Frolovr3salt	32 - 27	+2.47%	74.5	78.3%	1.22
Aleksandr 'KENSI' GurkinKENSI	34 - 29	+1.14%	81.0	73.9%	1.21
Evgeny 'Norwi' ErmolinNorwi	34 - 27	+2.92%	81.3	71.7%	1.20
Denis 'deko' Zhukovdeko	31 - 27	-1.53%	67.1	78.3%	1.07
Viktor 'Lack1' BoldyrevLack1	25 - 32	+1.14%	66.5	65.2%	0.90

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Max 'maxster' Janssonmaxster	35 - 28	+3.25%	79.4	76.1%	1.22
Artem 'r1nkle' Morozr1nkle	34 - 30	+0.36%	78.2	67.4%	1.13
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	28 - 32	-3.53%	77.0	60.9%	1.00
Alejandro 'alex' Masanetalex	26 - 33	-1.97%	59.9	73.9%	0.88
Maoz 'BluePho3nix' PazBluePho3nix	19 - 33	-4.26%	53.2	69.6%	0.81

Aurora have a busy schedule ahead of them after earning a ticket to Jönköping, with the team set to play in Skyesports Masters and CCT Global Finals online and travel to ESL Challenger Melbourne at the end of April.

The complete team list for ESL Challenger Jönköping is:

Falcons
ENCE
Complexity
The MongolZ

MIBR
Aurora
Party Astronauts
Alliance