Just a few weeks removed from the Cloud9 VALORANT roster shakeup, their former in-game leader Anthony “vanity” Malaspina has found a new home in Shopify Rebellion and is now tasked with leading a talented team after they underperformed in the first split of NA Challengers.
After the first split ended, and Shopify Rebellion found themselves on the outside looking in regarding the Mid-Season Faceoff, management concluded that a change was necessary “after much deliberation.” Shopify Rebellion has opted to release Will “dazzLe” Loafman and bring in vanity to take on the IGL role, while also bringing on Travis “tdawgg” Regan as an assistant coach.
Prior to vanity joining up with Shopify Rebellion, he led the Cloud9 roster since August 2021, when he joined the team and reunited with former NA CS:GO teammates Nathan “leaf” Orf and Erick “Xeppaa” Bach. C9 were a consistent threat in NA from 2021 to 2022 but took on loftier expectations when they signed superstar Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker and flex player Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro before the first season of the partnership.
The story of the offseason turned out to be yay’s departure rather than his arrival, however, with the former OpTic star parting ways with C9 following the VCT LOCK//IN, with C9 management citing “role issues” as the primary reason. Vanity left C9 less than two weeks later.
Shopify Rebellion swung to pick up vanity after falling off in the first split of NA Challengers. The roster featuring the former Luminosity core and rising star Victor “v1c” Truong won their opening series against Turtle Troop but then lost four straight. While most of those losses were at least close, their final loss to G2 was rather decisive.
With vanity at the helm, Shopify Rebellion is hoping for a better performance in the second split that begins on April 18. They will have to perform well to avoid a lower-bracket start in playoffs in late May.
