MAJ3R: "The first goal is to fix Train in the bootcamp"

Aurora have their sights set on shoring up their map pool as they prepare for the BLAST.tv Austin Major.

After nearly a month away from competition, Aurora returned to compete at PGL Astana and IEM Dallas back to back. Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli's men bagged a third-place finish at the Kazakh event, but then had to undergo a lengthy travel day to reach the United States for their opening match at IEM Dallas.

Although the Turkish side succumbed to the consequences of jetlag in their opening match against HEROIC, Aurora rebounded in the lower bracket with wins over NRG, Liquid, and HEROIC to reach the playoffs of the American event.

Unfortunately for Aurora, the team would not get any further than the quarter-finals, as The MongolZ secured revenge for their elimination from PGL Astana with a 2-0 victory in the Dallas playoffs.

Date	Matches
IEM Dallas 2025
20/05/2025	Aurora Finished 1:2 HEROIC	Match
20/05/2025	NRG Finished 0:2 Aurora	Match
21/05/2025	Liquid Finished 0:2 Aurora	Match
21/05/2025	Aurora Finished 2:1 HEROIC	Match
23/05/2025	The MongolZ Finished 2:0 Aurora	Match

Not long after Aurora's elimination from IEM Dallas, captain MAJ3R spoke with HLTV regarding the team's result, the difficulties involved in overcoming teams like Vitality and MOUZ, and the work that Aurora is aiming to put in ahead of the BLAST.tv Austin Major.

You can read the interview below or listen on Spotify.

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Here with MAJ3R after Aurora's elimination from IEM Dallas. Just wondering how you're feeling about the result of this event overall.

Overall, I think in all the tournaments we did this year we also succeeded in going to the playoffs, but after playoffs, it's disappointing for us. But, time to learn. Step by step, we will try to be better in the playoff matches. We have a lot of tournaments ongoing, and especially the Major incoming. So we're going to do a bootcamp before this Major and try to fix our mistakes and be more ready for the Major.

You and FURIA just came off of PGL Astana. Do you think the jetlag and travel played a role beyond your rough opener?

I will just talk about myself, not about the team, but for myself, yeah. It has been a long time since I came to the USA. My last time here was with Space Soldiers, like I think in Austin, four or five years ago. I have a special relationship with my sleep in Europe, since I have kids, I am very robotic, sleeping at eleven at night and waking up at six in the morning; I have a special routine. Here, I feel that I need more time.

My sleep schedule was not okay at all, and it impacted myself, and if it impacted myself it also impacts the team. I think it's part of the job, trying to fix that, and be better next time. So, it was a good experience for me here, and very important that we add this experience before the Major, because the Major will obviously be in Austin.

The match that sent you guys home was against The MongolZ; you beat them in Astana but it didn't look quite as good here. What do you think was the difference this time?

I think we had a chance to win Dust2, with the clutches. There was a critical clutch, me and woxic against mzinho in a 2v1 situation when he had the MP9. I think if we won this round they don't have money and we just get the eleventh or twelfth [round]. I think it's just about small details on Dust2, and after that on Mirage we choked the pistol round on T-side.

After that, it was hard to come back, because The MongolZ are also a team who play a style when they are confident individually they play really well, more confidence, more taking duels. It's important sometimes to not give them this confidence, to these kinds of teams, but we didn't succeed in doing that. We played way worse than Astana, but we're going to try to fix our mistakes for the next time.

Since Train has been added to the pool you guys have had a pretty rough record. Why do you think Train has gone so poorly, and is that something you'll be shoring up before the Major?

The first goal is to fix Train in the bootcamp. We didn't do bootcamp in a long time, that's why it's important for us to fix the map pool; Train is part of the job. Like you said, individually, we don't feel really confident on this map. Even in tournaments, we switch positions to try to fix things.

It's important to practice on it on the bootcamp and try to fix it, and maybe watch other teams to see what is the best on Train, because we lack experience on it individually and as a team. But, with work, everything is fixable, so if we work well on Train, we will fix this map for sure.

I spoke to mzinho after the game, and he said that Aurora and The MongolZ are tier 1.5, while Vitality, MOUZ, and Falcons are a step above. Do you agree with that assessment? What is separating you from those top teams?

I think he's right in the sense that we're not doing the same results that Vitality or MOUZ do. We do playoffs every tournament, but we always stop in the last steps. That means we miss some things to win a championship. I think it's just about the experience for them and for us. It takes time to win a trophy; it's not easy to win a trophy against Vitality and MOUZ and these kinds of teams.

On a good day, I think even MongolZ or us are able to win against Vitality or Spirit or MOUZ or NAVI. We are able to beat them, but we are not consistent like them. I think the key is to be consistent like them. It's just about being better individually and trying to be more consistent.

You mentioned on broadcast yesterday that the plan is to go back to Europe before the Major. What is the plan for that? How long will the bootcamp be and when will you return to the United States?

I don't exactly know the plan, but we will go back home because we are Stage 3 at the Major, so with 14 days there is a lot of time. If were Stage 2 we might decide to stay, like Falcons. For the bootcamp, I'm not sure.

I think we [might try] to bootcamp here, to fix the jetlag, or if we can't do here because it's complicated with practice here, then maybe doing it in Europe and coming here four or five days before the Major starts so we can get used to the jetlag. We will see, and we will plan that as a team and the managing organization will make a decision and we will see what is the best for us.