After their massive upset win over Cloud9 White earlier in the day, North America’s Shopify Rebellion had one more opponent to face on their way to claiming their spot in the VALORANT Game Changers grand final.
The second match of the day between Shopify and Team Liquid was a rematch from earlier in the Game Changers tournament, where Liquid originally sent Shopify down to the lower bracket. Since that game, Shopify hasn’t lost a match, including their huge victory over tournament favorites C9.
Today, Liquid looked like a shadow of the team that beat Shopify earlier this week, and building on their momentum earlier in the day, Shopify crushed TL 2-0.
Starting out on Fracture, the map Shopify had barely lost to C9 earlier in the day, the North American squad came out hot and took the first pistol round. Though TL made it close, trailing by only a 7-5 deficit at the halfway point, Shopify’s cohesion kept them together, and they pulled forward on their defense.
Naxy had a very strong map on Fracture, excelling on Breach. She has been a star player already for TL in the tournament, and just continued that trend here. Though her team lost the map, she had the best KDA in the lobby at 22/16/8.
The teams moved to Icebox, TL’s map pick, and Shopify kept things simple with the same composition they had used to beat C9 on the map just hours earlier. But this time, a new face stepped up.
Lorri was by far the strongest player today on Icebox. She had an incredible performance on Sage, and balanced supporting her teammates with lining up her opponents to get the perfect shots.
Though TL was at a clear deficit after a 9-3 half, they kept their composure, and naxy again was a key player for her team. Notably absent was bstrdd, who just a day ago was putting up huge numbers on Jett for TL. The consistency for the TL players just wasn’t there today, and Icebox went Shopify’s way in convincing fashion, 13-5.
Shopify looks unstoppable, and will now move to the Game Changers grand finals to face G2 Gozen. Both teams who are in the finals came in as the second-best teams in their regions, making this match-up a surprise for many. So far in this tournament, Shopify and G2 haven’t played each other, meaning the match tomorrow will be a new test for both teams.
The VCT Game Changers grand final is tomorrow, Nov. 20 at 10am CT.
