Aurora Gaming stunned the CS2 community by eliminating FaZe Clan in the Round of 16 at the Esports World Cup 2025. The Turkish powerhouse delivered a confident 2:1 victory, securing their place in the quarterfinals and sending one of the tournament favorites home early.

Match Progress
The series began on Inferno, FaZe’s pick, where the international roster looked unstoppable. With a dominant 10:2 first half, FaZe easily wrapped up the opening map 13:6, setting the tone for what many expected to be a routine win.

Aurora, however, responded in spectacular fashion on Mirage. Controlling the pace from the start, they stormed to a commanding 10:2 lead before halftime. FaZe had no answers after the switch, and Aurora closed the map 13:3, leveling the series at 1:1.

The decider on Overpass was the highlight of the night. FaZe edged out the first half 7:5, but Aurora mounted an incredible comeback on their CT side, stringing together eight consecutive rounds to seal the map 13:7 and complete the upset.

MVP of the Match
Despite FaZe’s elimination, the MVP was Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, who consistently topped the scoreboard for his team with 52 kills, 37 deaths, and 94 adr . His sharp rifling and clutch rounds kept FaZe in contention, though it ultimately wasn’t enough to prevent Aurora’s comeback.

With this upset, Aurora advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face Heroic , who recently knocked out Spirit in another dramatic series. FaZe, meanwhile, exit the tournament in 9th–16th place, earning $20,000.

The Esports World Cup 2025 takes place from August 20 to 24 in Riyadh, at the Boulevard Riyadh City arena. Sixteen of the best teams are competing for a prize pool of $1,250,000.