Aurora beats Bad News Eagles to win CCT South Europe Series 3

The Russian team Aurora is one of the most in-form teams of 2023, as they concluded their impressive Champion of Champions Tour South Europe Series #3 run of success by winning 2-0 against Bad News Eagles in the Grand Final to secure a second CCT victory. 

They narrowly prevailed on Mirage (22:19), while on the following Anubis they decided quite clearly (16:4).

Both teams had advanced to the playoffs thanks to direct invitations but still had to defeat tough opponents to make it to the finals. Bad News Eagles took down Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen’s Undefined team, Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas’ HONORIS, as well as Copenhagen Flames, while Aurora impressively defeated three teams from the top 50, namely in Monte, 500, and 9INE.

Map 1: Mirage

The Grand Final kicked off on Mirage, and the Bad News Eagles were forced to mount a veritable comeback on their map pick after trailing 6:14 at one point. In fact, they managed to save themselves for the overtime, but it wasn’t enough for a victory, and so Mirage went to Aurora with a score of 22:19.

The result was more or less expected, as Aurora were clearly superior in terms of opening kills and team scoring. Nevertheless, it must be said at this point that Bad New Eagles did not disappoint at all with their performance.

Map 2: Anubis

Anubis was Aurora’s pick and it was quickly clear why they chose this map. Here they completely overran their Kosovar opponents, who looked pretty much without a chance. On the offensive, Aurora managed to secure 11 rounds and by halftime, they were ahead by seven. In the second half, BNE could not show any signs of life. Aurora took the first four rounds and finished Anubis with a 16:4 scoreline.

Stable performance

Aurora have been one of the most in-form Tier 2 teams since the turn of the year. They won the CCT South Europe Series 2 and qualified for the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR. Their current dominance is such that they have an 88.5% win rate over the last three months, with their defeats usually coming against high-profile opponents such as Astralis and OG.

Since the signing of Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg, Bad News Eagles seem to have become a more consistent team, as evidenced by their second-place finish at the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals and the fact that they have lost to the best Tier 2 lately. They were ultimately without a chance against Aurora, but the signs remain good for the Kosovars.

Header: Aurora