Aurora's Jimpphat on defeating Vitality at StarSeries Fall: 'I've just had such a crazy amount of confidence'

Aurora secured a spot in the StarSeries Fall grand final after beating Vitality in the upper bracket final, avoiding a double-header on Championship Sunday. Finn 'Jimpphat' Elo posted a series-high 1.36 rating in the victory, helping Aurora advance following earlier wins against Natus Vincere and NRG.

In an interview after the match, Jimpphat reflected on the significance of defeating one of the world's best teams. "Definitely, it means a lot," he said. "We have played a lot of good CS in practice. But we have also, in the tournaments, we always fell a little bit short so far, but it's also reasonable because we are still such a new team." He acknowledged that while Vitality may not be at their peak, they remain among the elite. "Maybe they are not the prime, but they are still one of the best teams in the world, arguably, nobody can say otherwise. So it's a really good win, and we won also quite confidently."

Jimpphat attributed much of his performance to an aggressive playstyle that has become central to his recent form. "I was playing really active. I was lurking really aggressive, getting a lot of entry frags, and whenever we fell down to 4v5, I always tried to convert and get a kill," he explained. He emphasized the importance of confidence when facing such high-caliber opposition. "You need to be fearless versus them. You cannot think that, 'Oh, they are so much better than me individually, they are a better team.' You will instantly lose at that point."

The player credited recent improvements in team mentality for Aurora's success at the tournament. Following a loss to G2 at BLAST Porto in Copenhagen, the team conducted an extensive review of their approach. "After we played in Copenhagen for BLAST Porto recently, when we lost to G2, we had a really big team talk after because even though we played decent, there were so many mistakes that if we kept doing the same stuff, we definitely wouldn't beat a team today like Vitality," Jimpphat said.

He highlighted collaboration with teammate 'ash' as instrumental in his personal development. "Individually, I just talk a lot with ash. He's really helping me out behind the scenes; we are working together and talking a lot about CS and about certain moves and how to also be mentally on the game when it's needed. Especially in the important games," he noted. Despite the recent successes, Jimpphat remained grounded about the challenges ahead. "I know you cannot always play your best, so there will always be some bad games coming as well."

Aurora's path to the final means they avoid playing consecutive matches on Championship Sunday, where both the Consolidation Final and Grand Final are scheduled. Jimpphat viewed this advantage as significant for preparation and mental recovery. "It's definitely, definitely huge impact, because in a way you can be warmed up after the game when you play two games, but at the same time you need to understand that it's really exhausting mentally if you do that," he explained. "We can do more preparation; we have time to chill and also look at the enemy, who we will see, who it will be, and then prepare and hopefully come again fired up on the server."

Looking toward the final, Jimpphat expressed confidence in Aurora's chances despite acknowledging that Vitality would likely be favorites if they emerge from the lower bracket. "Whoever it will be, I think just today alone it will give us a lot of confidence, because we showed that we can actually beat a really good, a really top team. So it makes us feel a lot more confident and really good," he concluded.