Cover-Credits:
Shopify Rebellion’s newest carry player Artour "Arteezy" Babaev recently opened up about his recent move in an interview with staff of Shopify Rebellion. Many within the Dota 2 community believed that the ex-Evil Geniuses roster will be competing under a different name for the upcoming season following its release from Evil Geniuses as a whole.
However, hours before the deadline for roster locks, Canadian based organization Shopify Rebellion announced that it has acquired the ex-Evil Geniuses roster & former TSM off-laner Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek to compete in the North American Dota Pro Circuit (NA DPC) for the upcoming season.
Arteezy feels confident that Shopify Rebellion can compete at the highest level
In an interview with Shopify Rebellion’s Head Of Player Development Dario “TLO” Wünsch & Valorant coach Rob “Rob-Wiz” Kennedy, Artour "Arteezy" Babaev opened up about his move to his new organization, saying that it felt natural as the team’s HQ is located within his home country of Canada while also hinting at a return to livestreaming on Twitch.
“I'm in Toronto at the Shopify Rebellion headquarters, this is where the start of big things is going to happen. This is the future where….maybe I’ll be streaming in the future, where Dario [TLO] is sitting at the moment. This is just the beginning. [About his move to Shopify] It was extremely natural, you know. I remember a lyric from the rapper Drake, he said "Do it in Canada." And we're gonna do it in Canada."
When asked about his thoughts on the team going into the upcoming competitive season, Arteezy humbly answered by saying that his team is on par with TSM for the time being despite Dendi’s arrival into the region,
“We haven’t played a single match yet together but the thing is I hate s**ting on NA because everyone does it so I’m gonna say we are even with TSM in terms of performance. They can beat us any day and vice versa. There’s also some new challengers inbound so I guess that's going to keep NA exciting.”
However, he also said the current roster of Shopify Rebellion can replicate Evil Geniuses’ success on the international stage.
“I think internationally, I view this team the same way as I viewed the old EG team in 2020 when we got iceiceice in the team essentially. I feel like we have the ability to be in the Grand Finals of a tournament like we did in EG. We weren't able to win in the end but I feel like the team is on the same or more than that team.”
Based on the interview, it is safe to say that the team will be relocating to Canada for the upcoming season. The newly announced roster will be playing in the first division of the NA DPC league for the upcoming season.
