Wait, what?!

That was our exact reaction when we opened Twitter on Saturday morning - because what else do you do on a Saturday morning - wondering if we were still stuck on April 1st.

Out of nowhere, just hours after benching their roster, Aurora shocked everyone by announcing the signing of the entire Eternal Fire lineup, plus coach Fabre.

Forget m0NESY, this has to be the move of the season.

So, how did this even happen? It seems like Eternal Fire was struggling to balance the lack of sponsors and funding with the growing success of their roster. w0xic took to Twitter to shed some light, explaining that “the inadequacy of CS sponsorship conditions in Turkey made it necessary to take this regrettable decision”.

According to the Fabrizio Romano of CS, the entire EF roster cost less than what Falcons paid (or will pay) for m0NESY, which kind of makes sense, but is still absolutely wild.

Now, this is a massive move for Aurora, an organization that has never cracked the top 15, but now has a top 5 roster under its banner. Their competitive success seems almost guaranteed at this point, as they’ve been looking sharper than ever. As long as the organization provides the right conditions, they should be in a great spot - just give them what they need and let them cook.

However, the same can’t be said for the massive wave of Turkish fans who’ve now watched their home team snagged by a Serbian organization backed mostly by gambling money. Given the passion the Turkish community has for the game, managing this relationship is going to be the real challenge for Aurora.

In the meantime, we’ve already seen the lineup in action under the new banner, kicking things off with a win over paiN at PGL Bucharest, which began yesterday.

Honestly, it feels like we’ve stepped into a parallel universe watching the boys play in blue instead of the usual white and gold.