After landing an unexpected spot in the upper brackets of TI2024, Aurora's captain Jabz spoke to GosuGamers about their Seeding Decider series and more.
In the post TI12 shuffle from last year, Aurora made their entrance into the Dota 2 scene by signing almost the entire roster of Talon Esports. One roster swap later they made it to top 8 with Artem "lorenof" Melnick substituting and that solidified their relationship. Immediately after the tournament, he became a full member of the team and the hard work towards TI13 began.
Once at The International 2024, Aurora struggled in the group stage – grabbing their only wins in their last series as they swept through beastcoast 2:0. Which is why their upset over Team Zero to land a spot in the Upper Brackets was monumental for the SEA team.
Hot off their thrilling win and securing upper bracket placement, GosuGamers had the opportunity to talk with Captain Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong about that series, getting ready to now face off against Cloud9 and how the addition of loreonf has impacted the team.
Aurora will take on Cloud9 later today at 13:00 CEST in the upper bracket Quaterfinals. They are guaranteed a 9-12th place spot but are clearly aiming for more.
Hi Jabz, You had a late night with that last series and now will be getting ready for the playoffs, so really appreciate taking some time with us.
What do you think about this new format with the short groups into a seeding decider? Aurora ended up doing well, so does that change how you feel about it as opposed to how you felt about the format before the start of TI?
I think the format from last year is better. I mean its similar to last year but then we had 20 teams and so one team from each group got eliminated, but for this year it is just for seeding. For me, I don't really like it.
How do you feel now vs how you felt last year at TI? Any changes?
I would say last year I was more confident in winning more, but this year was kind of confusing with the meta but I understand it better now.
Image courtesy of Aurora
You had quite an intense series last night with Team Zero. Did you expect them to give you a tough time?
I think they are quite a tough opponent. They almost finished first place in their group so I expected it would be a tough opponent.
Game three was particularly tense. Was there any point after the 40 minute mark where you might have thought that the game is slipping through your fingers?
Oh yea, because we were leading and there was one fight that we lost, we lost Aegis and the game became even. It was scary at that moment.
What was the team talk in that late stage of the game, how did you keep your calm in moment like those?
I think we just said, "They can not go high ground easily" so we just had to be patient and calm.
Your upper bracket opponent is Cloud9, another team that delivered a few upsets already. What do you think of them?
I think they are a 'timing-based' team. They like to buy Crimson, Pipe, and a lot of team items and they play kind of fast, so I think they are good.
How do you enjoy the new meta and are you happy with how offlane is in this patch?
I would say I am more happy than with the Riyadh Meta. Right now offlane is more of an initiator.
Mobile Gaming seems to be big in SEA, do you see a decline in new players or a shift in esports in the region?
Yea, I think on the new generation they are more willing to play mobile games. I think if you are younger than 16 years old you don't know anything about Dota.
Is this a factor for finding talent in the regional pool?
Yes, because newer players just play mobile game and maybe borderland or something.
What can be done or needs to be done to attract more serious players to Dota?
It is easier to go into a mobile game because it is your phone and you just download it.
Are you excited to see ESL bringing a big LAN to Bangkok?
I'm pretty excited because I haven't been at a big tournament in Bangkok for awhile and I wanted to qualify for that tournament.
Do you think this will help local and regional players become more competitive and inject interest that can help the local ecosystem?
I would say so, maybe not so much but a little bit.
How did lorenof end up with the team?
We were looking for someone that was young and new. At that time we took him for a trial as a stand-in and he fit for our team well so we took him.
Image courtesy of Aurora
Aurora has 3 Thai players, 1 Malaysian and I Ukranian. Can you tell us a bit about the dynamics and how language and culture influence things?
I think for four of us it is not that different because we are from SEA, but lorenof's language is different and at first it was hard to understand him because his accent is from the CIS region.
Do you think this [variety] has helped the team grow and be able to adapt to international competition?
I think so because I believe that Europe is more competitive and so when we got him [lorenof] he does a lot of things we didn't know and we got to learn from him.
Obviously it would be expect you come in with the intention or hope to win, but what result would you be satisfied with this TI?
I would say top 3.
If you reach the grand finals, who do you want to go up against?
Probably Liquid because we always lost against them at Riyadh and Lima and we want revenge.
And let's say you don't win TI, who do you think will seize the Aegis?
I think it will be Xtreme Gaming.
More interviews from The International 2024
- No[o]ne - Cloud9: No[o]ne interview at TI 2024: “I am a super perfectionist”
- ponlo - Team Zero: “I just want to play Dota that I am proud of”
- Monet - G2.iG: “There is definitely a bit of pressure to bring glory back to China”
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