Aurora defeated 9z 2-0 to secure a playoff place at the Thunderpick World Championship in Malta, HLTV reported on October 16. The result put Aurora into a semi-final against FURIA, a rematch of the two teams' ESL Pro League Season 24 group-stage meeting ten days earlier, which Aurora won 2-1.
The series was itself a rematch of the tournament opener, in which 9z beat Aurora 13-11 on Inferno and 13-1 on Nuke. This time Ashley "ash" Battye's side did not pick Nuke, opting for Cache instead.
On Cache, clutch play from Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski helped Aurora start strongly on both sides before they narrowly held off a 9z comeback attempt in the second half, closing the map with a low-buy round win in round 24. Inferno followed, where a dominant CT side led by Ali "Wicadia" Haydar Yalçın on the B bombsite carried Aurora. HLTV singled out a round-8 AWP play in which the 21-year-old's saved weapon decided the round.
The top-four finish is Aurora's third in a row, following a runner-up placing at StarSeries and third place at ESL Pro League Season 24. For 9z, the loss ended their tournament in Malta and extended their run of group-stage exits to five events in a row.
