Aurora beat HOTU by the skin of their teeth

An Anubis upset and 24-round Nuke affair wasn't enough for HOTU as the Turks narrowly avoided the 0-2 pool.

Aurora survived a mighty scare against HOTU to move into the 1-1 pool despite losing their pick of Anubis and going down 11-10 on the Nuke decider.

Overtime on map three was all but secured after a Suleımen "⁠dukefissura⁠" Orazaly 1v2 smoke defuse, only for Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker to spare Aurora's blushes with a 1v3 clutch at 12-11 to secure the series by the finest of margins.

HOTU were helpless in their Big Event debut against paiN yesterday, but the Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov-coached squad came into day two refreshed and played at a level above their station as the world number 59.

Regardless of HOTU impressing, however, it was a disappointing showing for Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli's team as they attempted to bounce back from a day one defeat to BIG.

There was hope the Turkish squad would look rejuvenated after a needed one-month break from competition. Instead, ring rust is the narrative as the team falls short of the performances we know they are capable of as the sixth highest-ranked team on the VRS.

HOTA surprise on Anubis of all maps

Aurora have an indomitable reputation on Anubis, and the casters were — not unfairly — writing off HOTU as we moved to the Turks' pick. A swift 2-0 seemed to be inbound.

But mou's troops didn't think so; openers went their way time after time early on and the Russians led 6-1.

After the halves flipped, Sam "⁠mizu⁠" Richardson impressed on A Anchor duty and AWPer Anatoliy "⁠youka⁠" Aprosimov hit some sensational flicks as HOTU carried their good form into the CT side.

Aurora did recover to overtime, but that did not shake HOTU as they went on to win 16-13 on a map that, two months ago, they lost 13-4 to Rare Atom.

It's a further dent to Aurora's confidence on a map that defined their charge up the rankings early in 2025.

MAJ3R: "Times are rough"

"I don't know what happened exactly," MAJ3R wrote on X post-game.

"These times are rough, and fighting is the only option. We did fight, and we won today. Thanks for the support, see you tomorrow for a better day hopefully."