Today, renowned Ukrainian analyst Oleksandr "petr1k" Petryk revealed on his Telegram channel what he described as the biggest deception by Valve in history, involving the Russian organization Aurora. Specifically, he discussed how Aurora Gaming found a loophole for their academy team.
It's important to note that neither Aurora Gaming's main nor academy team qualified for the RMR leading to the first CS2 major. This only means that the deceivers did not achieve their desired outcome.
Background
The Russian organization Aurora has two rosters, the main team and the academy team, known as Aurora Young Blud. However, because both teams represent the same organization, only one team can participate in the qualifiers for the major.
This is due to Valve's 2019 update to the rules, which clearly states their stance against conflicts of interest in Counter-Strike majors:
"We consider a conflict of interest to be any case where a tournament, team, or player has financial relations with any other participating team or its players."
This rule on conflicts of interest remains in the majors' rules by Valve to this day. It prohibits youth rosters of all esports clubs from participating in Valve majors. A similar rule exists for 99% of all tournament operators, so situations where an academy plays in the same tournament as the main roster of any club are almost non-existent. Therefore, NAVI Junior, Monte Gen, MOUZ NXT, and other strong academies are not allowed to play in major qualifiers.
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What did Aurora Gaming do?
At the end of the year, they terminated contracts with the youth roster, claiming that they had ended. Now, the Aurora Young Blud roster can legally participate in the qualifiers for the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
Here's how the organization commented on it:
"The guys' contracts did indeed expire at the end of the year. We didn't sign new ones to allow the players to compete in the RMR qualifiers. We had an agreement not to hinder their progress in case they made it to the closed qualifiers. We decided to address the issue of contract renewals immediately after the qualifiers. PGL contacted us requesting the contracts. We provided everything, and the organizers had no more questions."
The Aurora Young Blud team played the open qualifiers under the tag "30 seconds to win," while the main Aurora roster received an invitation to the closed qualifiers. However, neither team managed to advance to the European RMR.
After the unsuccessful performance, the organization confirmed on social media that they deliberately did not renew contracts to allow their team to play in the RMR qualifiers. As you might guess, Aurora Young Blud quickly signed new contracts after the qualifiers.
The management of Aurora Gaming wanted to clarify the situation that caused a lot of negativity around the academy team and their participation in the qualifiers. Indeed, their contracts ended at the end of the year, and new ones were not signed to allow the players to compete in the closed qualifiers for RMR.The organization had an oral agreement with the players not to hinder their progress if they made it to the closed qualifiers. The issue of contract renewal would be addressed immediately after the qualifiers.
PGL contacted us, asking for the contracts. Everything was provided, and the organizers had no more questions.
"We never turn away from people dear to us, and we are glad that the guys have returned," says Aurora Gaming.Aurora Gaming
Essentially, Aurora found a small loophole in the rules of conducting RMR qualifiers, which they successfully exploited. Now, petr1k comes with his investigation, making things even more interesting.
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Why did Aurora deceive everyone?
Let's start with some nuances that we need to pay attention to:
First Nuance
During the period of qualifying competitions, cyber sports clubs can temporarily suspend or completely annul contracts with players of their academy teams, with the subsequent intention of restoring these relationships after the end of the qualifiers. This decision will be welcomed by players who do not want to miss the opportunity to participate in majors.
However, the question arises: what will be the outcome if these academy teams face the main roster of their clubs, with which they have just temporarily severed ties?
If the Aurora organization does not receive deserved sanctions for such maneuvers, or if the regulations are not amended to eliminate such problems, other clubs may follow their example. In such a case, Valve's established rules risk losing their relevance and effectiveness.
Second Nuance
The question arises whether the Aurora and Aurora Young Blood teams indeed had no active contracts at the start of the major qualification games, which began on January 8, 2024. The Aurora team claimed that they presented contracts to PGL and the organizers expressed no doubts. Let's assume that's true.
However, if we believe the words of Aurora's CEO that the contracts with the academy ended at the end of 2023, then why did Aurora YB start competing in the group stage of the European Pro League S14 Division 2 under the club's brand on January 4, 2024?
And why was their game against Lazer Cats announced on Aurora's social networks?
First match in 2024. wow
— Aurora (@TheAurora_GG) January 4, 2024
🔫 https://t.co/r35CeywGgx pic.twitter.com/Cqh1OPsxB1
It turns out there are inconsistencies: either the contracts were valid, or the players should not have participated in the tournament on behalf of the club, and the club should not have made announcements about matches involving sponsors. There are suspicions about the veracity of the information from someone involved in this situation.
The cherry on top
Was there really no financial relationship between 30 Seconds to Win and the Aurora club at the time of the open qualifiers?
Let's assume that this is true and the contracts indeed ended.
On the last day of 2023, the coach of the Aurora academy team, Lukyanov, shares the results of the outgoing year in his Telegram channel. He mentions that since July 2023, the team has been based at a boot camp in Serbia, where they continue to stay.
He optimistically states:
"2023 began with a new chapter in my life as a coach of Aurora Young. In July, we moved to a permanent boot camp in the capital of Serbia, where we are to this day. I won't write much, but I just want to say that this is the best team and the best guys I have ever worked with! This year was rich in new acquaintances, and I fully immersed myself in work in esports.Thanks to my wife - Yulia, without your support, I would have achieved nothing, you are simply the best! Many thanks to all the staff of the Aurora organization, we are truly one big family!
I believe that in 2024 we will make a breakthrough and reach a new level!
These words do not sound like a farewell, as he speaks of the team as a "united and friendly collective," not a "former friendly collective."
On January 3, 2024, Lukyanov shared a video where he and the players were at the same bootcamp in Serbia. On January 4, another video appeared – celebrating the victory over Lazer Cats, filmed at the same location.
And of course, on January 8, 2024, on the eve of the RMR qualifications, the coach posted photos from the bootcamp, expressing hope for a "fair game," but this only applied to EPL 😂.
"Snow has started falling here, no sub-zero temperatures yet, but it's very vibey. In 1.5 hours we play EPL vs ECLOT to get out of the group, and a bit later the RMR qualification. There's no anti-cheat in EPL, and the Czech team can be tricky. Hoping for a fair game."
So, Aurora YB spent the last six months at a bootcamp in Serbia, where they were even after their contracts with the club expired, participating in the RMR qualifying games under the name 30 seconds to win.
Can we imagine a situation where funding for living and training camp abroad for six people, as well as "conditional agreements" to renew contracts, do not constitute financial relations?
It seems that this is only possible in Russia. In the rest of the world, such actions are definitely considered financial ties, which contradicts Valve's rules on conflicts of interest.
And immediately after being eliminated from the open qualifiers, Aurora announced the return of their academy lineup to the "family":
"They're back!"
In the end, what can be said here. Aurora will most likely face penalties for their actions. They clearly violated Valve's rules. But we can only wait and guess whether Valve and PGL will take any action or not.
SOURCE — TELEGRAM PETR1K
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