Aurora come back to beat Team Liquid 2-1, Liquid face elimination at BLAST Slam VIII

Aurora Gaming are into the playoffs of BLAST Slam VIII. On Thursday, October 1, they beat Team Liquid 2-1. Liquid won the first game, but Aurora won the next two.

Aurora Gaming2:1Team Liquid

Game 1Team Liquid won · 44:52Game 2Aurora Gaming won · 39:38Game 3Aurora Gaming won · 63:54

Aurora Gaming won63:54Kills 46 : 38

Aurora Gaming ahead · up to +21.4k gold (min 63)Team Liquid ahead · up to +6.0k gold (min 43)

0:0063:54

Aurora GamingWon

1. Player and heroK / D / ANet worth
2. skiterUrsa23/3/1246.7k
3. MikotoOutworld Destroyer12/4/2836.7k
4. WsDark Seer5/5/2840.9k
5. MiraDark Willow5/12/2219.7k
6. kaoriJakiro1/14/1419.8k

Team Liquid

1. Player and heroK / D / ANet worth
2. tOfuHoodwink7/9/2417.5k
3. miCKeTiny9/8/1532.2k
4. WisperTimbersaw14/7/1333.9k
5. BoxiLion3/13/2011.6k
6. MidOneEmber Spirit5/9/925.4k

MVP · Game 3

skiter

Aurora Gaming · Ursa

K/D/A

23/3/12

Net worth

46.7k

Gold/min

802

Damage

56.3k

Best of Team Liquid

Wisper

Team Liquid · Timbersaw

K/D/A

14/7/13

Net worth

33.9k

Gold/min

715

Damage

57.1k

Match data from Valve via OpenDota. K/D/A = kills, deaths, assists (green = strong, red = weak game). MVP = our score from kills, assists, deaths, net worth and hero damage.

WindrangerField reporter · dota2news.com

What to remember

Aurora Gaming beat Team Liquid 2-1 on Oct 1 to win Group D of BLAST Slam VIII and secure a playoff spot in Malta. Liquid must beat GamerLegion on Friday, Oct 2, to reach the Last Chance stage, or they go home.

Oct 2, 2026 · dota2news.com

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For Liquid, it is the first series they lost at this event. They now have to play one more match on Friday. If they lose it, their tournament is over.

How did Aurora beat Team Liquid at BLAST Slam VIII?

Aurora lost the first game, then won game two in about 40 minutes and game three in about 64 minutes. That made it 2-1 for Aurora.

A series in Dota 2 is a short set of games. This one was a Bo3, short for "best of three": the first team to win two games wins the series.

Liquid started strong. They won game one in 44:52. Their carry miCKe played Windranger in that game, per Hawk Live's draft data. A carry is the player who collects the most gold and wins the fights late in the game.

Then Aurora took over. They won game two in 39:38. Game three was a long fight: it took 63:54, more than an hour, before Aurora won it, according to the match stats on Cybersport.ru.

Liquid are not playing with their usual team. Their midlaner Nisha left the team, so MidOne fills in for this event (our report). A player who fills in like this is called a stand-in. MidOne played Ember Spirit in game one.

63:54

game three, longer than an hour

2-0

Aurora's series wins in Group D

$270K

for the BLAST Slam VIII winner

Who plays for Aurora Gaming?

Aurora have five players from four countries: skiter from Slovakia, Mikoto from Indonesia, Ws from Malaysia, and Mira and kaori from Ukraine. Their coach kpii is from Australia.

The biggest new name is skiter, the carry. He played for Team Falcons until that team left Dota 2 on September 6 (our transfer news). At Aurora he replaced Nightfall, who played carry before him.

The other four have clear jobs. Mikoto is the midlaner, he plays alone in the middle lane. Ws is the offlaner, the tough player in the hardest lane. Mira and kaori are the supports, they help the others and set up fights. kaori is also the team captain.

This team is new. Their first event together was PGL Wallachia Season 9, where they finished in the top six, per GosuGamers' preview. Here in Group D they beat GamerLegion 2-0 on September 29 and then Liquid, so they finished with no series lost.

There is a small revenge story too. At The International 2026, the biggest tournament of the year, Liquid beat Aurora 2-1 on August 15, GosuGamers reported. This time Aurora won 2-1. Aurora are the fourth and last group winner, after PARIVISION, Team Spirit and Team Yandex.

When do Team Liquid play GamerLegion at BLAST Slam VIII?

Team Liquid play GamerLegion on Friday, October 2. The winner goes to the Last Chance stage, the loser is out of the tournament.

GamerLegion are a team from North America. They reached this match by beating Yakult Brothers 2-0 on Thursday. The two games took 36 and 66 minutes, per Field Level Media. Their only loss in the group came against Aurora.

At this event GamerLegion play with Timado, a carry from Peru. GosuGamers' preview called GamerLegion a team that could surprise the favourites. Liquid and GamerLegion took the same road so far: a win against Yakult Brothers and a loss against Aurora.

What happens next for Aurora?

Aurora play a seeding match on October 3. It only decides where they start the playoffs in Malta, which run from October 8 to 11.

A seeding match sorts the group winners for the playoffs. A win puts Aurora in the upper bracket semifinals, a loss in the quarterfinals. Both are part of the playoffs, so Aurora are in either way.

The playoffs run from October 8 to 11 at BLAST Arena Studios in Malta. Six teams take part. Every series is a Bo3, only the grand final is a Bo5: the first team to win three games is the champion and takes $270,000 of the $750,000 prize pool.