The top four is almost set at Dota 2s Lima Major, and Shopify Rebellion brought home the final nail for South Americas ability to make a trip home with a 2-1 victory to defeat Evil Geniuses.
It was a big win for Shopify in two ways, with its goal of getting Fly and company a place in the top four of the first PGA major, but also a personal win over the organization that dropped most of their current lineup before the season began.
Trust your friends, trust the process Relentless fight after another, we close the series against @EvilGeniuses pic.twitter.com/DzLW3MQR48.
Shopify Rebellion (@ShopifyRebels) March 4, 2023.
Shopify hit the chin in the second game, the way that EG rolled them over and completely blocked SabeRLighT- in a dominant display. But SabeRLighT- shook up in the second game, kicking the Snapfire, which caused him so many issues in the opener for himself and putting out EG in the final 15 minutes, backed by Arteezys Luna.
The third game seemed a little undersized in the EG’s favor as Wisper and Chris Luck got critical kills and were able to take more items early. However, a key kill on Wispers Timbersaw allowed Shopify to lead several minutes, leading to a throne push and a final clash, where Abeds Zeus helped clear the competition.
@Cr1tdota pic.twitter.com/YbIcTowgkd A blink of faith by @Cr1tdota pic.twitter.com/ybIcTowgkd – a blink of faith!
Shopify Resistance (@ShopifyRebels) March 4-2023.
As pointed out by Cr1t- not long after he and his teammates signed with Shopify, there are no hard feelings between the former EG players and the org, so taking such a clutch victory over their former team will probably probably have some effect on the player giving it a try.
https://www.twitch.tv/epulzegaming/clip/EasyCrazyJuicePJSaltg7kUgspF-_OPyuS
But Fly admitted that Shopify was very different from the previous years under the EG banner, arriving in without many expectations of fans or themselves. This led to a lot of testing and learning throughout the event, both as a team playing the first LAN with a new teammate and in the overall dota meta.
Saber is just a very good teammate, and he has no doubt gels well with the team, like his atmosphere and his energy. Fly said that it was natural. Because this is the first LAN we played together, there is still a lot to learn from this. We never had the objective of hey. We had to be able to win with [Lima] and was able to make a progress for the rest of the year.
In this defeat, EG wins the fifth place in the SA squad. After that, Shopify will make an appearance for the winner of a competition between Entity and Talon Esports.
This marks the highest placement of the former EG players on Shopifys’ roster since 2021 when foursome of players and BuLba placed second at the Singapore Major and WePlay AniMajor. And, if they continue to win the event, it would be their first major victory together.