Aurora lost $300–400K over a single point short of Legends Stage – the story behind their Major invite battle

Aurora owner Valeriy L3rich Kharitonov shared the challenges his team faced while trying to secure a direct invite to the Legends Stage (Stage 3) of the upcoming StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.

After losing to Liquid on September 20, the team found itself just one step away from its goal – according to HLTV’s projections, Aurora was missing just one VRS ranking point to qualify directly. The management considered entering extra tournaments such as Draculan and Fragadelphia in hopes of earning the missing points. There were also rumors that MOUZ might attend a small LAN event in Riga to gain more ranking points, but that information was never confirmed.

“On September 20, after losing to Liquid, we were sitting with the management and thinking about what to do next. We were one point short of the Legends Stage. We considered going to Draculan or Fragadelphia, but all the slots were already taken – there was nothing we could do. All that remained was to hope the VRS ranking would shift in our favor, but it didn’t,” said L3rich.

By the end of September, the gap to MOUZ had grown to 7 points, and Aurora realized they would lose about $300,000–400,000 – the estimated difference in revenue from sticker capsules between the Legends and Challengers statuses.

However, the situation resolved positively: thanks to the results of Gentle Mates and B8, Aurora eventually secured a spot in the third stage of the Major.

The final Stage 3 lineup is: Vitality, Spirit, Falcons, MOUZ, and Aurora.

“We can safely call the second stage of the Major ‘StaG2’ now,” L3rich joked.

StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 will run from November 24 to December 14, with a prize pool of $1.25 million.