MOUZ snap Aurora's playoff streak, enter 2-2 pool in Austin

The Turkish giants' Major run has come to an early end.

MOUZ defeated Aurora 2-1 on Saturday in Stage 3 of the Austin Major, moving into the 2-2 pool and ending the Turkish side's perfect streak of playoff appearances in 2025.

It was a high-pressure series between two teams fighting for their tournament life and desperate to avoid their worst finish of the season.

Aurora recovered from a close loss on Train — their ninth consecutive defeat on this map—with a hard-fought win on Inferno, fueled by Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın and Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker's late heroics, only to fall short on the T side of Mirage.

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
12/06/2025	Aurora Finished 13:5 FaZe	Match
12/06/2025	Aurora Finished 7:13 FURIA	Match
13/06/2025	Aurora Finished 4:13 G2	Match
14/06/2025	Aurora Finished 1:2 MOUZ	Match

Aurora knew they were in for a rough game on Train, a map on which they had heavily worked in the bootcamp with hopes of snapping an eight-game losing streak. They came out surprisingly sharp as they romped to a 7-1 lead on the CT, but the half ended with only four rounds separating the two teams after a late resurgence from MOUZ.

Without surprise, the complexion of the game changed once MOUZ got on the CT side. Aurora remained competitive until the end, but a few key rounds in the half got away from them as MOUZ ran out 13-10 winners, with Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás and Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin combining for 26 frags on the defense.

In a frantic start to Inferno, Aurora won the pistol round but couldn't convert, with MOUZ riding that wave to a 3-1 lead. The Turkish side then stabilized and enjoyed a spell of dominance before MOUZ bagged the final two rounds of the half.

The second half began with Aurora winning the pistol, but there was no follow-up as MOUZ again hit back immediately and put together a string of rounds.

Just as all hope appeared lost, Wicadia pulled off a massive quad-kill with an AWP, breathing new life into Aurora, who pinned MOUZ against the ropes. woxic then took over the game with three multi-kills to power his team to a 13-11 win.

Brollan had a nightmare start to Mirage, posting a 0-7 opening duel record as Aurora recovered from a 0-3 start and took control of proceedings in gun rounds. It seemed as though the game was running away from MOUZ, but then torzsi and Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman clutched a 2v3 situation — a round that set the team up for a 9-0 run as they enjoyed a flawless CT side.

MAJ3R: "A sad day"

Speaking to James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks after the match, a heartbroken Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli lamented that his team wasted the opportunity to close out Train. "We lost some clutches on the T side that were very important economically. We had the chance to make it 2-0. Like you said, it's a sad day.

He added: "This is the first time this year we haven't reached the playoffs, and it was in the most important tournament of the year. It's very bad, a disappointment. But it is what it is. We need to bounce back from that, learn. We had a bootcamp, yes. We tried to fix Train, but today it was not enough."