Aurora’s in-game leader and captain, MAJ3R, gave an interview to HLTV after his team secured a playoff spot at the TP World Championship 2025.
In the interview, MAJ3R spoke about the challenges they faced throughout the tournament and reflected on their struggles. He also highlighted the issues Aurora has been experiencing on the T side.
You didn’t look very happy about that win. Was it because it was more difficult than you would expect?
Yes, I wasn’t very happy with the way we played recently, but that’s just my personality. Of course I’m happy with the win. The first BO3 against them wasn’t easy either, but nowadays there are no easy matches.
Can you tell me about the recovery from the bad loss on Overpass and the slow start to Mirage? How did you manage to bring it back after the 3v1 loss on A?
Today I wanted to play with more control on all the maps on the T side. On Overpass it didn’t work at all because I often lost one or two teammates during our default and that made it difficult.
But on Mirage, apart from the lost 1v3, I think it was okay. Unfortunately, in the last few tournaments our clutches have been a disaster, and the worst example was against NAVI. It was the same thing — we lost so many winnable situations, so many clutches. I don’t understand why, but we have to work on it and become stronger.
Yesterday you had a big Dust2 T side collapse against NAVI, reminiscent of the FaZe match back at ESL Pro League, where you also gave away big advantages. Do you worry that these come down to mental issues, difficulties resetting, or what do you think is behind these collapses?
Like I said, the situations we lost against NAVI still give me nightmares, to be honest: 4v2 at 11–4, the 3v2 on B, the clutch on A site, the B retake where b1t gets four kills in a 1v4.
I rewatched the match several times and I still can’t believe the way we threw that game. But that’s how it is. We need to find the reason behind it — whether it’s mental, experience, or individual quality. There is a problem and the most important thing is to accept it and work on it.
Our plan is to be ready for the main objective — the Major. We want to play as much Counter-Strike as possible
Outside of these matchups, you’ve also been having a hard time on some T sides, especially Nuke and Mirage. You haven’t had to play a lot of them either way here and made up for that with some big CT sides. Do you think you’ve managed to address these issues?
In the last tournament we beat FURIA on Dust2 with a comeback on T from 5–11. I think we have a role issue in the team and we are trying to find solutions with my coach.
Losing so many favorable situations doesn’t help us, and sometimes we struggle to get back into the game. But I’m confident — with work we will fix the problem and show a better face in the next tournaments.
You ended up on the same side as FURIA. Either way it would be a familiar opponent between them and MongolZ, but the Brazilians have been a bit less one-sided of a matchup recently. How do you approach matchups that both teams know well?
I like FURIA, they are a very good team and I’m excited to play them tomorrow and enjoy the game. Our matches have always been fun to play.
You haven’t attended as many tournaments in this season as the last, but leading up to the Major you’re ramping up with three back-to-back tournaments. What is the thinking behind that?
Our plan is to be ready for the main objective — the Major. We want to play as much Counter-Strike as possible and especially see our mistakes and fix them before the Major.
What are you looking to get out of this tournament?
What I want is to win and show a strong image of my team.