When thinking about Dota 2 in North America, most players would automatically think of Evil Geniuses, the team that dominated the region for the better part of a decade before the org moved to South America after The International 2022. But if you ask Fly, the end of his team’s partnership with EG and subsequent signing with Shopify Rebellion was “refreshing” because things weren’t exciting anymore.
After a ninth-place exit at TI11, EG decided to part ways with its NA roster and move all of the organization’s Dota operations to South America for a fresh start—a change Fly thinks was necessary for the players and their former org due to how much EG had changed since he first joined in 2018.
“Switching to Shopify Rebellion was very refreshing for us as a team because EG changed a lot over the years with new ownership coming in,” Fly said to Dot Esports. “They have big projects like their LCS and VALORANT teams, it felt like we were just the last team standing from the old EG.
“It felt like the partnership wasn’t that interesting anymore for both parties. Partnerships should be mutually beneficial and exciting but neither side felt that way at the end.”
After a month without a sponsor, Shopify announced it would sign the former EG lineup, snagging SabeRLight from TSM, and enter Dota for the first time. Almost immediately Fly says it was a completely different feeling.
Compared to his second stint with EG after briefly playing in Southeast Asia with Talon Esports at the start of 2022 before returning to NA, Fly says Shopify has been nothing but supportive in a way that “felt really good.” According to the captain, their new org is active in providing support staff, sending additional people to tournaments, and “simply being there” to support the players even when they aren’t doing well.
Fly also said that SabeRLight brought a lot of fresh energy to the team, calling the Czech offlaner an awesome personality that is “fun to be around.”
Unfortunately, Shopify’s first year in Dota ended earlier than many fans expected as the Fly, Cr1t-, and Arteezy core recorded their worst placement since teaming up in 2018—exiting TI 2023 in a tie for 13th place after an upset loss to TSM. That came after a second-place finish at DreamLeague Season 21 which was the team’s best placement on the year on a global stage.
“In some ways maybe the DreamLeague put us in a bad spot for this TI but I think it’s just been a hard year for us,” Cr1t- said after their elimination. “I think the team is not really functioning as we wanted it to and sometimes that’s just what happens.”
Now the question remains if this Shopify roster will run it back in 2024 or if a drastic change will finally hit the foursome of Arteezy, Abed, Cr1t-, and Fly after playing the majority of four seasons together.
The International’s final stage begins today with eight teams left fighting it out for the Aegis at the Climate Pledge Arena this weekend.
