Welcome to EGamersWorld.
Let's continue our review of the second group stage of DreamLeague Season 22. I remind you that now the teams are fighting for the play-offs, and there the juiciest prizes: $300,000 and 4,200 EPT Points.
Among the contenders for the play-offs are Aurora and Shopify Rebellion. Both clubs will be battling each other in their debut match of the second group stage, and we'll talk about the matchup in more detail.
We'll try to figure out which team will be stronger in this match, who will be able to get their first win and get closer to the play-offs, and who will have to settle for less.
Let's go.
Shopify Rebellion Form
Let's open the match with an analysis of Shopify Rebellion's form. In this match, the Americans will play the first number one, with odds to win at around 1.7.
On the home stage, Shopify Rebellion have twice finished in the top 2. In the third round, Arteezy and company finally snatched the championship.
At The Lima Major 2023, Shopify Rebellion made it to the top 4. Getting into the top three was prevented, unexpectedly, by Aurora.
In addition to The Lima Major 2023, the team played at DreamLeague Season 19, and they played even better than the Peruvian major. Cooler because they played with substitutes (the inexperienced Mikey played as a substitute for Abed) and reached the top 3 of the tournament for $1,000,000.
Then there was The Berlin Major 2023 with a dismal top-12, and then the third round of DPC 2023: NA Division 1. The latter went better: SR took the top spot, guaranteeing themselves passage to The Bali Major 2023, and actually made it to The International 2023.
- Shopify Rebellion roster: Arteezy, Abed, SaberLight, Cr1t, Fly.
At DreamLeague Season 20 SR again played with substitutes, but this time they failed to repeat the success of the DL S19 period: Shopify Rebellion failed to pass the first group stage of the DL and, like Liquid, left the championship early.
After the 20th season of DreamLeague Shopify Rebellion played two major events: Bali Major 2023 and Riyadh Masters 2023. Both championships ended miserably: TOP-12 and TOP-16 respectively.
The International is more interesting than Shopify's position at DreamLeague Season 21. Having fallen into Group A to such serious opponents as Liquid and Aurora. Nevertheless, Shopify Rebellion took the first place in their basket, thereby advancing to the top set of play-offs.
In the first play-offs match of DreamLeague Season 21 Shopify Rebellion had to mobilise all the knowledge and all the skill to defeat the Eastern European residents from BB Team. The match ended with the score 2-1 in favour of Shopify, and Arteezy for the first time in a long time gave not a meme highlite, but a game-changing moment.
In the match to advance to the DL S21 SR Ledge and Team Spirit, but later again outplayed BB in the lower grid match. However, it was not possible to take revenge from Spirit in the grand finals: the Dragons easily slammed Shopify Rebellion with a score of 3-0, and Arteezy and company took the top 2.
Shopify Rebellion showed a very questionable performance in the group stage. They barely managed to claw their way into the top 4 in Basket B, finishing it with a score of 2-7.
In the seeding match for the play-offs of The International 2023, Arteezy and company played against one of the main favourites of the tournament, Team Spirit. I don't know why, with a huge advantage on the first map, SR couldn't do anything against the Dragons and rather mediocrely Ledgeyli in the series with a score of 0-2. Next was even more pitiful, as SR lost to their compatriots from TSM and left the main tournament of the year in 13-16th place.
In 2024, Shopify Rebellion won the qualifiers for DL Season 22 and ESL Birmingham 2024, and also finished in the top 3 at Dacha. At DreamLeague Season 22 itself, the team placed in the top 3 at DreamLeague Season 22.
Shopify Rebellion's most popular heroes
Shopify Rebellion is most often played by Crystal Maiden (8 matches, 62% wins), Storm Spirit (7 matches, 57% wins), Doom (7 matches, 57% wins).
There was also Rubick (5 matches, 80% win rate), Terrorblade (4 matches, 75% wins), Underlord (4 matches, 75% wins).
Aurora Form
We continue our match breakdown with an analysis of Aurora's match form. In this match they will play as outsiders, but with a small margin of victory: the odds are at around 2.
A small remark: Aurora is actually Talon's team, so when analysing their form we will be basing our analysis on Talon's performance in the past.
The team made it to the top 1 of the region, and also reached the heights at Lima Major 2023: in the first round of SEA the team took the 3rd place, at The Lima Major 2023 the same top 3, and in the next round they won the home league.
However, it was the chaos that started next. The first signs of Aurora's fickleness were at DreamLeague S19, when after a solid The Lima Major 2023, the team finished top-12 at a major international event.
At the next Major, The Bali Major 2023, Aurora finished in the top 8, followed by a very mediocre performance at DPC SEA 2023 Tour 3: Division 1, finishing in 4th place in their home league.
The last tournament before the Riyadh Masters 2023 was DreamLeague Season 20. There the team finished in the top 4.
- Aurora roster: 23savage, lorenof, Jabz, Q, Oli.
At the Riyadh Masters 2023 Aurora got straight into the group stage, and all thanks to ESL rankings. They did well in the group stage, finishing in the top 4 and advancing to the top play-offs.
In the first match Aurora played against Quest Esports. In a very difficult match, being an outsider on paper, Aurora managed to win with a score of 2-1.
In the second round of the top set, Aurora played the same game against Liquid when Zai ate them ancient during a seemingly victorious trip to Liquid's base. However, Aurora didn't get confused at all and in the bottom set first defeated 9 Pandas and then defeated Gaimin Gladiators, the storm of international dota.
In the match for the exit to the grand final Aurora again ran into Liquid and again lost. Thus - top 3 at the Riyadh Masters to add to Aurora's prizes for the year.
Before the Long Convergence The International 2023 they visited DreamLeague Season 21, where for some reason they decided to play half-heartedly. Otherwise I can't explain the team from the top 3 of Riyadh Masters not getting out of the group.
However, apparently the result of DreamLeague S21 was not a coincidence. Aurora played disgustingly on the first day, losing to Tundra and TSM without much chance. Then they managed to comeback, winning their two remaining matches against Keyd Stars and PSG Quest.
In the play-offs seeding match, they faced none other than Gaimin Gladiators. After losing the first map, they cameback on the second and third maps, thus sending the main contender for the Aegis of Champions to the lower grid. However, it did not help them to rise above the TOP-12, but GG reached the Grand Final.
Already at the new club, the players finished top-4 at the qualifiers for ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, qualified for DL Season 22, took top-8 at the qualifiers for Birmingham and top-12 at the country house.
At DreamLeague Season 22 itself, Aurora played well in the first group stage. They won 2 matches and drew 5 series.
Most popular Aurora characters
The most popular Aurora character is Tiny. The team swaps his positions, but most often he is sent to position 4. The character has 8 matches and 87% wins.
Next are Natures Phophet (7 games, 100% wins) and Io with Leshrac, who was also picked 7 times and won 6 matches.
Clockwerk (100% wins) and Morphing (60% wins) have appeared 5 times each.
History of head-to-head meetings Shopify Rebellion - Aurora
The teams have played each other once and that was on DL Season 22. They played to a draw.
Predicted result of the match Aurora - Shopify Rebellion on DreamLeague Season 22.
In this match I expect a pretty even fight. Since the teams have already played to a draw in the first stage of the tournament, it means that in the full-fledged Bo3 we should expect about the same outcome, i.e. a full-fledged Bo3. However, I would bet on Aurora, because knowing SR's "love" for normal bo3 matches, I wouldn't be surprised if Arteezy and company fail in the opening match.
Bottom line: Aurora wins.
