Cover-Credits:
The closed qualifier for the North America (NA) and South America (SA) regions for the BetBoom Dacha 2024 Dubai concluded on 11th January. Eight teams fought for a single slot to move toward the main tournament. Of these eight, four teams were invited directly while the remaining four went from open qualifiers #1 and #2. In an interesting turn of events, North American esports organization Shopify Rebellion was knocked out of the BetBoom Dacha 2024 Dubai NA and SA closed qualifier by the newly formed Heroic during the lower bracket final.
Shopify Rebellion Has a Rocky Start to the 2024 Season
“GG's 1 - 2 vs @heroicdota2. Our run in the BetBoom Dacha Dubai Closed Qualifier stops here. Thank you for your support. All eyes on Dream League Season 22,” wrote Shopify Rebellion on X (Twitter) after it was knocked out.
Shopify Rebellion was one of the four invited teams at the BetBoom Dacha 2024 Dubai closed qualifier. It started in the upper bracket quarterfinals where it faced DuBu in a best-of-one series and emerged victorious. It then faced off against nouns in the upper bracket semifinals but was knocked down to the lower bracket after a best-of-three series that went in favor of nouns with a scoreline of 2-1.
Shopify managed to dominate the next two series against Mad Kings and BOOM Esports, beating them both with a clean 2-0 series. As a result, it secured its spot at the lower bracket finals. But Shopify’s luck ran out when it met Heroic, the newest organization to join the Dota 2 professional landscape. Heroic managed to beat Shopify Rebellion in a best-of-three series with a score of 2-1. However, even after its victory over Shopify, Heroic lost to nouns in the qualifying match and failed to secure its spot in the main tournament.
Artour "Arteezy" Babaev, the carry for Shopify Rebellion hasn’t had a win in a Tier 1 tournament since 2017. The last tier 1 tournament he won was with EG at The Manila Masters. Since he joined Shopify Rebellion, the team has only won two tournaments, both of which were tier 2 events. Shopify also had a disheartening run at The International 2023, only managing to secure a 13th-16th standing.
Shopify Rebellion losing to teams like Heroic and nouns was surprising, to say the least. For those unaware, Heroic is a Norwegian Esports organization that set foot in the Dota landscape on 4th January 2024. Likewise, nouns recently underwent a complete roster overhaul and is lacking a mid-laner on its official roster. The team played the qualifiers with Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau of Entity as its stand-in for the tournament.
Shopify Rebellion made some major changes in hopes of having a better season in 2024. But getting knocked out of the first tournament of 2024, that too at the hands of a new team, was certainly not what the team would have hoped for. It is not all bad news for Shopify and its fans, however.
Although BetBoom Dacha 2024 Dubai slipped from its hands, Shopify Rebellion will look to perform well and qualify for the DreamLeague Season 22 closed qualifier. It should be noted that only one team from each region will qualify for the DreamLeague Season 22’s main tournament.
