Aurora Gaming rebuilt the top of its Dota 2 roster on 16 September, benching carry Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko and signing two-time The International champion Oliver "skiter" Lepko in his place. The two announcements landed an hour apart on the organisation's X account, at 12:00 and 13:00 UTC. They come three days before PGL Wallachia Season 9 opens in Bucharest, and they settle one of the biggest free agencies left over from Team Falcons' exit from Dota 2.
Aurora's active five is now skiter on carry, Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman on mid, Chung "Ws" Wei Shen on offlane, Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov on position four and Oleh "kaori" Medvedok on position five. Nightfall is listed as inactive rather than released — Aurora's wording was "moving to the bench", and no departure or free-agent status has been announced for him.
Why skiter was available
skiter lifted the Aegis of Champions with Tundra Esports at The International 2022 and again with Team Falcons at The International 2025 in Hamburg, alongside Malr1ne, ATF, Sneyking and Cr1t-. He was the first Slovak player to win The International.
That chapter ended at The International 2026 in August. Falcons finished 7th-8th and then left competitive Dota 2 entirely on 6 September, turning the whole championship roster loose at once. Cr1t- followed a few days later with an indefinite break from competitive play rather than a transfer. skiter is the first of the four remaining players to be signed: as of 16 September no org has announced ATF, Malr1ne or Sneyking.
What happens to Nightfall
Nightfall joined Aurora on 28 February 2025 as part of the rebuild that also brought in kiyotaka, TORONTOTOKYO, Mira and panto. He played carry for the organisation through two International cycles, and Aurora's farewell post credits that era with what it calls a world record — "26 wins in a row".
That streak is real. Aurora passed Team Spirit's previous mark of 21 consecutive series wins at DreamLeague Season 28 in February 2026 and ran to 26 outright wins before a drawn Bo2 against PARIVISION broke it. Counting that draw, the team stayed unbeaten for 31 series before Team Liquid handed it a first defeat at the same event. The record framing was not Aurora's alone — outlets including bo3.gg reported it as a record at the time — and it holds for the 26, the most consecutive series wins by a Dota 2 team at that point.
Nightfall's 2026 season with Aurora ended less happily. The team went 3-2 in the Swiss group stage at The International 2026 in Shanghai and lost its final group match to Team Liquid. Only the top three advanced straight to the playoffs; Aurora went into the elimination round, lost it 0-2 to BoomBoys and finished in the shared 9th-13th bracket. Team Spirit won the event.
Aurora's week of roster churn
skiter is not the only moving part. TORONTOTOKYO, who had been inactive at Aurora since January, joined BetBoom Team as a coach on 14 September in the same shuffle window. And earlier on 16 September, before either of the roster posts, Aurora announced that Mikoto will miss PGL Wallachia Season 9 for personal reasons, with Igor "Stojkov" Stojkov standing in on mid.
So the lineup Aurora is expected to field in Bucharest is skiter, Stojkov, Ws, Mira and kaori — a debut for the new carry and a stand-in mid at the same time. Aurora has not said explicitly that skiter debuts there, though its own 16 September post names PGL Wallachia Season 9 as the event Stojkov is standing in for, and PGL's lineup post puts Aurora in the field.
PGL Wallachia Season 9 is where this gets tested
PGL confirmed the Season 9 lineup on 16 September, hours before Aurora's roster posts. The event runs 19-27 September at PGL Studio in Bucharest for a $1,000,000 prize pool across 16 invited teams, with a modified Swiss group stage, a double-elimination playoff bracket and a Bo5 grand final. First place takes $300,000. PGL had previously scheduled the event to open on 17 September before postponing the start to the 19th; our 4 September piece still carried the earlier date.
The field matters here because of how thin it looked two weeks ago. When we covered 1win Essence III's postponement and Wallachia's team shortage on 4 September, organisers were struggling to draw sixteen teams out of a post-International roster market that had not settled. That field is now locked, and Aurora is in it next to Natus Vincere, MOUZ, Xtreme Gaming, LGD Gaming, GamerLegion and Team Yandex. It opens on Dota 2's 7.41f gameplay patch, pushed by Valve on 15 September.
Aurora had a carry who anchored a record winning streak and a disappointing International, and it has replaced him with a player who has won the event twice. Whether that is an upgrade or a reset gets its first answer inside 72 hours.
FAQ
Has Nightfall left Aurora Gaming? No. Aurora said Nightfall is "moving to the bench" as of 16 September, and he is listed as inactive on the roster rather than departed. No release or free-agent announcement has been made.
Who is Aurora Gaming's new carry? Oliver "skiter" Lepko, a 28-year-old Slovak carry who won The International 2022 with Tundra Esports and The International 2025 with Team Falcons. He joined Aurora on 16 September as a free agent.
What is Aurora Gaming's Dota 2 roster now? skiter (carry), Mikoto (mid), Ws (offlane), Mira (position four) and kaori (position five). Stojkov stands in for Mikoto at PGL Wallachia Season 9.
When does Aurora play next? PGL Wallachia Season 9 runs 19-27 September at PGL Studio in Bucharest, with a $1,000,000 prize pool and 16 invited teams.
Where did the other Team Falcons players go? Only skiter and Cr1t- have confirmed outcomes — skiter to Aurora, Cr1t- to an indefinite break from competitive play. ATF, Malr1ne and Sneyking have no org announcement as of 16 September.
Sources: Aurora Gaming's X account, PGL's lineup announcement and event page, BetBoom Team's own channels, Valve's Dota 2 patch notes, Liquipedia's Aurora Gaming, skiter, The International 2026, DreamLeague Season 28 and PGL Wallachia Season 9 pages, and bo3.gg. Retrieved 17 September 2026.
