Team Spirit has a knack for bringing the highest level of play when it comes to tournaments with high prize pools and the ongoing DreamLeague Season 21 perfectly aligns with this trend. With a win over Shopify Rebellion in the upper bracket final of the event, Team Spirit is just one step away from claiming the largest share of the $1,000,000 USD prize pool. As in the rest of the tournament, the team displayed exemplary gameplay in the series to win 2-1 despite some tough competition from Shopify in games two and three.
Shopify Rebellion vs Team Spirit: Match recap and highlights
Recap
In game 1, Shopify’s draft was squisher compared to Spirit’s, which featured a lot of tank and damage in the form of Earth Spirit, Sven, and Primal Beast. The laning stage saw little action, but Spirit was in the face of the opponents straight after, with Shopify’s supports receiving the most damage. Spirit snowballed and won in 33 minutes after a major teamfight was lost at 18 minutes.
In game 2, Shopify drafted offlane Brewmaster, a hero who has been one of the most sought after in the current patch. During an exciting early to mid-game phase, both teams exchanged kills until things settled down and the focus shifted to farming and critical item timings. Spirit had excellent teamfight potential in its draft, but Shopify executed flawlessly, with SabeRLight- kiting with Brew Master and Abed throwing his body forward to help the team position and kill enemies. Spirit was knocked out after 38 minutes after a few crucial teamfight victories.
In game 3, Spirit’s laning play was flawless, shutting off Arteezy’s Bloodseeker and limiting SabeRLight’s farm. Mira’s movements on Dark Willow were exceptionally precise, as he killed Arteezy a couple of times. Spirit was able to get objectives and key kills in the middle phase thanks to Enchantress and Collapse both received a lot of farm. With the exception of Abed’s Earth Spirit, not much was happening for Shopify but the team was somehow holding its own. A few teamfights erupted in which the team scored many kills, but its heroes were far behind their opponents, which did not result in continuous victories, and Spirit triumphed in 41 minutes.
Highlights
Here are some highlights of the series.
With The International 10 (TI10) that had a total prize pool of $40 Million and the Riyadh Masters 2023 that had a total prize pool of $15 Million 2023 under its belt, Spirit looks to be on track to win the 21st edition of DreamLeague with one of the largest prize pools of the year.
Despite the series loss, Shopify has also stepped up its game in this tournament with Artour “Arteezy” Babaev mentioning earlier that they have been putting in lots of effort. The lower bracket still provides a route to a tournament victory for the team.
As Team Spirit moves to the grand final of DreamLeague Season 21, Shopify drops to the lower bracket final where it will face the winner of OG versus BetBoom Team.
