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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Esports devider Red-hot Aurora barges into M7 Top 3 with rout of Alter Ego

Red-hot Aurora barges into M7 Top 3 with rout of Alter Ego

Published Jan 22, 2026 10:40 am

At A Glance

  • Aurora Gaming PH stayed hot and routed Alter Ego, 3-1, in the upper bracket semifinals of the M7 World Championships at the Tennis Indoor Senayan in Jakarta Indonesia on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

Aurora Gaming PH stayed hot and routed Alter Ego, 3-1, in the upper bracket semifinals of the M7 World Championships at the Tennis Indoor Senayan in Jakarta Indonesia on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

Though at match point in Game 4, the Northern Lights had to overcome a huge 8.1k gold deficit and survive two Lord sieges to push the Indonesians down to the lower bracket.

Jonard “Demonkite” Caranto came up huge in the series-clinching win, first anchoring Aurora’s base defense against Alter Ego’s 14th minute siege with a double kill and then, executing a clutch retribution on the next Lord dance to trigger the comeback for the Filipinos.

Edward “Edward” Dapadap and Jan “Domengkite” Delmundo also played crucial roles to the 14-17 comeback with the former scattering a 5-4-6 KDA on the Sora pick while the latter finished with a 2-2-8 line on the Claude.

With the win, not only did Aurora advance to the upper bracket finals but also secured an assured top 3 finish — a huge improvement from its last M-series participation where it got the boot in the fourth round of the Swiss stage.

The Northern Lights also extended their win streak to five in M7 after opening the tournament with a loss to Team Liquid.

Aurora actually came out swinging in the series scoring a wipeout twice in Game 1 – the last of which allowed them to draw first blood, 23-10, in the contest that lasted 18 minutes.

Edward on the Lapu-Lapu and Domengkite on the gold lane Freya starred with 6-2-10 and 8-3-7 KDAs, respectively.

AE, however, returned the favor in Game 2, only needing 13 minutes to tie the series. Arifudin “Arfy” Dirangai was spotless on the Granger with a 4-0-4 KDA.

The Filipinos then quickly regained control of the series with Domeng and Kenneth “Yue” Tadeo taking turns in punishing the Indonesians in Game 3. 

Yue, using a Zhuxin pick, scored a double on the 17th minute Lord take before the rest of Aurora followed up to eventually complete a wipeout and move on to the series match point.

Domeng once again dazzled on the Harith with a neat 4-0-6 KDA, while Yue exploded with a 7-2-3 tally.

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