9z beat Aurora 2-0 in the opening match of the 2026 Thunderpick World Championship in Malta on October 14, HLTV reported. Aurora went into the event ranked fifth in the VRS.
Luciano "luchov" Herrera was the standout for Maximiliano "max" Gonzalez's side, leading the server with a 1.61 rating, 97.4 ADR and 86.8% KAST across the series.
9z took eight rounds on the attacking side of their own Inferno pick, but struggled to hold the lead on defense, and the map went to the last round of regulation before 9z closed it out. Nuke was one-sided: Aurora could not get going on the attack and won a single round on the map.
The win reversed the result of the two teams' meeting in the opening round of ESL Pro League Season 24, where Aurora beat 9z and went on to finish third. 9z had reached the playoffs at PGL Astana and the IEM Cologne Major in the first half of 2026, beating MOUZ, Falcons and Vitality along the way, and won XSE Pro League in the summer, but had gone out in the group stage at their last four events: EWC, BLAST Porto, FPG 3 and EPL Season 24.
HLTV said the victory earned 9z 62 VRS points, part of their bid for a Stage 2 berth at the Major; the team is third in the Americas with 1,571 points.
