Last reviewed: August 28, 2026
Aurora’s problem isn’t a lack of ideas, according to in-game leader Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski — it’s getting those ideas to survive contact with an official server. His frustration was clear after Aurora opened BLAST Open Porto 2026 with a 0-2 loss to G2, a series that exposed the gap between the month-old international roster’s scrim level and what it produces under match pressure.
A lead that turned into a nine-round collapse
G2 controlled Inferno comfortably, 13-5, before Anubis nearly went the other way: Aurora built a 12-7 lead and looked one round from forcing a decider on Mirage, before G2 won nine straight rounds — including all four in overtime — to close it 16-12. r1nkle was central to the turnaround, finishing Anubis with 32 kills and a 1.86 rating, including a 23-4 CT-side performance, and 47 kills and a 1.56 rating across the full series. kyxsan was Aurora’s highest-rated player at 1.07; the rest of the lineup finished below a 1.00 rating.
“We played terrible”
kyxsan didn’t dispute that G2 were the stronger side on paper, but his central complaint was about execution, not opponent quality: Aurora, he said, are still becoming different players once officials begin. He described practice as productive and said the roster has bought into his direction, but the team keeps giving up openings it wouldn’t concede in scrims and then struggling to adapt in-game the way it does in preparation. It’s a pattern that has now shown up twice in quick succession — Aurora also blew a 9-3 lead on the deciding map against FURIA at the Esports World Cup, before FURIA won ten straight rounds to eliminate them 13-9.
A roster still being assembled mid-transition
The context matters: Aurora’s current five is barely a month old. MAJ3R and soulfly left over the summer, Jimpphat arrived from MOUZ, ash took over as coach, and kyxsan joined from Falcons to lead the transition toward a more international setup. kyxsan said he and ash hold final say on the team’s broader system, with XANTARES contributing heavily on the CT side, while every player is encouraged to bring ideas. Porto is only the new lineup’s second LAN together, and kyxsan was reluctant to attach a hard deadline to the group finding consistency, given how much is changing simultaneously.
Pressure kyxsan has felt before
kyxsan spent more than a year leading Falcons, including a title at PGL Bucharest, before being benched ahead of the IEM Cologne Major when karrigan arrived. He’s said that decision felt premature at the time, and that experience appears to inform how he’s framing Aurora’s timeline now — he considers the external pressure somewhat lower than at Falcons, but knows the roster was built with proven tier-one talent rather than as a long-term development project, meaning patience has a limit.
An immediate response required
There’s no time to solve everything kyxsan flagged. Aurora move into the Group A lower bracket to face DENDELE on August 28, with BLAST Open Porto’s format offering no room for another defeat. The bar isn’t a finished system — it’s simpler than that: Aurora need to start looking like the team kyxsan says he sees in practice every day.