Aurora Esports Picks Up Talon Esports’ Dota 2 Lineup for 2024
Serbian esports organization Aurora has made its entry into the Dota 2 scene in Southeast Asia by acquiring Talon Esports’ lineup for 2023. In a surprising twist, Aurora announced its own 2024 roster today, alongside Talon, who wasted no time in finding a new lineup.
Aurora has signed Talon’s entire 2023 lineup, except for Mikoto who is rumored to be taking a break. Armel from Team Secret will join 23savage, Jabz, Q, and Oli to complete the roster.
Many fans were surprised to see a Serbian organization entering the SEA Dota 2 scene. This is only the second time this year that an organization has decided to move its Dota 2 operations. Previously, BOOM Esports signed former EG stars Pakazs and Matthew, which was a puzzling move as the team has been operating in SEA since 2017.
Aurora’s move makes sense considering the power levels of the regions and the available rosters. Throughout 2023, 23savage and his friends were the best-performing SEA roster, making them the fourth highest-earning Dota 2 team in the last year.
Currently, the open qualifiers for ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 are underway, and it is likely that the Aurora roster will receive an invite for the closed qualifiers.
On the other hand, Talon Esports has immediately announced its new lineup, which some fans consider to be a “big downgrade.” The new roster includes Akashi from Polaris, Ws from BOOM Esports, Jhocam from Army Geniuses, and ponyo from iG.Vitality. The organization is still searching for its fifth member and will play with a stand-in in ESL.
Although many fans expected the 2023 Talon roster to stick together, there were rumors suggesting that the players could receive international offers. During TI 2023, N0tail claimed that 23savage could have joined OG instead of Ana for the TI8 win.