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ESL
On 1st March, following a clean sweep win against Aurora in DreamLeague Season 22, Shopify Rebellion’s coach Kanishka "BuLba" Sosale sat down for an interview with Neal "Tsunami" Khandheria and Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann. During the interview, BuLba talked about the Shopify Rebellion players. He said they are very easy to work with and have a low ego. BuLba also revealed that the drafting decisions were handled by himself and Artour "Arteezy" Babaev.
BuLba’s Thoughts On Shopify Rebellion Players
Shopify Rebellion, which features the iconic Dota 2 player Arteezy, had a pretty bad run during the 2023 competitive season. Following this disappointing season, it underwent a major roster overhaul, keeping only Arteezy and Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek from the previous roster. Since the roster change, Shopify Rebellion has seemingly improved its results and has been performing better than before.
After a clean sweep over SEA’s [Southeast Asia] beloved Aurora in DreamLeague Season 22 Group Stage 2, Shopify Rebellion’s coach BuLba discussed what it was like to work with the new Shopify Rebellion players: Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer, Thiago "Thiolicor" Cordeiro, and Kartik "Kitrak" Rathi.
BuLba revealed that the previous roster’s bad relationship hindered the results of the team and therefore the roster change was very refreshing. He pointed out that each player came from a different continent, thus bringing variety to the team. He added that the new players were “young and hungry and very easy to work with.” BuLba also opined, “I think they like, have very low egos.”
Talking about the players individually, he said, “I didn't really know Yopaj much but I saw him on BOOM and he was owning. In the 2020 year, I think. Same for Thiolicor, I mean Thio has been playing NA pubs for a long time but he was always very fun and chill. And Kitrak. I've known him for a long time, he’s always been like an NA Dota player. I think he’s been with a few teams but I think his real breakout performance was when he played with OG last year and Berlin and DreamLeague.”
BuLba Reveals Shopify’s Drafts are Done By Him and Arteezy
Shopify Rebellion has often found itself at the center of ridicule by the Dota 2 community for its weird hero picks during important games. This birthed a stigma in the Dota 2 community that BuLba makes the team players pick weird heroes, eventually ending in losses.
However, during the interview, BuLba interestingly revealed that Arteezy and him work together for hero drafts. He said, “Artour has basically… he has a lot of knowledge about matchups and Dota in general. I’ve known him for quite a while… so, last year we tried doing it. We always kind of talked about doing but this year we are doing it primarily between us. Obviously, the other guys will share their input and we’ll talk to everyone. So it's everyone’s idea and not just two people’s idea, it's everyone. Artour is definitely helping a lot.”
Whatever strategy Shopify Rebellion has adopted now has been working and the results speak for themselves. Shopify has been having a wonderful run at the DreamLeague but it is still one of the underdogs in the tournament.
