Aurora Gaming will be the fourth team from Eastern Europe fighting for the Aegis of Champions in TI 2025.
Aurora Gaming became the first Dota 2 team to qualify for The International (TI) 2025 through the regional qualifiers, after they capped off a near-perfect run through the tournament's Eastern European regional qualifier with a 3-0 sweep over Cyber Goose on Monday (9 June).
Aurora were far and away the biggest favourites to claim the sole regional qualifier for Eastern Europe in TI 2025, so much so that some teams in the region elected to drop out of the competition entirely and try their luck in Western Europe instead. Not only did Aurora field two former TI champions in 
Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek and 
Miroslaw “Mira” Kolpakov, the roster also included decorated carry player Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko as well as rising stars Gleb “kiyotaka” Ziryanov and 
Nikita “Pantomem” Balaganin.
Aurora lost just one game en route to securing a spot in TI 2025. They began their campaign by sweeping 
Quantum and 
One Move to advance to the qualifier's upper bracket finals. There, they faced off against 
Natus Vincere (NAVI) and won the series in three games to advance to the best-of-five grand finals.
Challenging Aurora in the grand finals were Cyber Goose, a stack led by veteran captain Alexey “Solo” Berezin that came all the way from the open qualifier. The team did not have the best start in the regional qualifier itself, however, as they lost in three games to Quantum in the first round of the upper bracket and got dropped down to the lower bracket.
Under threat of elimination, Cyber Goose locked in and scored four straight sweeps over 
Kalmychata, 
Runa Team, One Move, and 
Nemiga Gaming to advance to the lower bracket finals against NAVI. Cyber Goose then pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep over NAVI to earn the right to challenge Aurora for a spot in TI 2025.
While Cyber Goose did well to make the qualifier's grand finals after an incredible lower bracket run, they were still thoroughly outmatched by Aurora in a 3-0 sweep. The games weren't particularly close either, as Aurora took game one in 34 minutes, game two in 39 minutes, and game three in 37 minutes.
Aurora will be the fourth Eastern European team in TI 2025
As the winner of TI 2025's Eastern European regional qualifier, Aurora will be joining three other teams from the region who received direct invites to this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament: 
PARIVISION, 
BetBoom Team, and 
Team Spirit. This marks just the second time in the history of TI that four Eastern European teams will be playing for the Aegis of Champions, with the first being in TI 2023.
It's also a remarkable turnaround for the Aurora organisation, which signed its current Eastern European roster in March after dropping its Southeast Asian squad in February following an extended period of disappointing results.
Five other teams from all across the world also earned direct invites to TI 2025, namely defending TI champions 
Team Liquid, 
Tundra Esports, 
Team Falcons, 
Gaimin Gladiators, and 
All Gamers Global (formerly 
Team Tidebound).
The lone team representing South America in TI 2025 will also be determined soon, with this year's TI regional qualifiers taking place across two weeks, from 4 to 17 June with three batches of two qualifiers being played at a time.
The next two regional qualifiers will be for China and North America, taking place from 9 to 12 June, with one team from each qualifier earning a spot in TI 2025. The final two regional qualifiers will be for Southeast Asia and Western Europe, which will be hosted from 13 to 17 June, with two teams from each qualifier advancing to this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament.
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