Aurora complete their revolution: kyxsan, the IGL Falcons cast aside, will lead the new international project
Aurora's summer saga has its ending. The organization has made official the signing of Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski as in-game leader, the final piece of its transition to an international project. The lineup is now XANTARES, woxic, Wicadia, Jimpphat, and kyxsan, with Ashley "ash" Battye on the bench, and will debut at BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2, whose online stage begins July 21.
Welcome, kyxsan!
— Aurora CS2 (@AuroraCS2_GG) July 8, 2026
It's him. That's the captain. NOW PART OF THE AURORA. pic.twitter.com/09ASjBTn1j
A rebuild in record time
What started as a rumor barely two weeks ago has been executed at breakneck speed. First came the departure of coach Fabre, after almost four years leading the Turkish project. Then, almost in one go, ash arrived from GamerLegion along with Finland's Jimpphat, the 19-year-old anchor MOUZ let go after roughly three years in which he won, among other titles, two ESL Pro League seasons. Along the way, MAJ3R stepped down and soulfly was benched. Only the IGL was missing — and now he's here.
The story wrapped around it all
kyxsan's signing carries a narrative weight that's hard to match. The 26-year-old Macedonian led Falcons from January 2025 to April 2026: seven grand finals, the PGL Bucharest 2025 title, and several third-place finishes at top-tier events. And yet, on April 20, a month before the Major, the Saudi club benched him to make room for karrigan.
The rest is recent history: karrigan lifted the Cologne trophy with the team kyxsan had captained for a year and a half, while the Macedonian watched from the outside. After more than two months of inactivity, he now returns to tier one with a project of his own to run — and, surely, something to prove. He himself called his benching unfair at the time, noting he had been promised time.
What fans can expect
On paper, the new Aurora blends the firepower of the Turkish core (XANTARES, woxic, Wicadia) with Jimpphat's anchoring and clutch play and an IGL with a proven system at the top level. The challenge is real: going from an all-Turkish locker room to an international one means changing language, dynamics, and playing philosophy mid-season.
The calendar is unforgiving: Aurora currently sit ninth in Valve's VRS ranking, and the second half of the year funnels into the Singapore Major in late November. If ash and kyxsan's project clicks early, the Singapore spot shouldn't be in danger; if it takes time, the summer's most aggressive rostermania will have been for nothing. The exam starts on the 21st.
Source: HLTV, Dust2, Strafe.