Shopify Rebellion has had a pretty eventful Valorant Game Changers Championship. From beating rival team Cloud9 White, their coach getting suspended shortly after and their ultimate loss to G2 Gozen, there’s a lot to keep track of. Let’s break it down.
Firstly, Shopify Rebellion faced off against Cloud9 White in a highly anticipated match during Valorant Game Changers Championship 2022. Both being beloved North American teams with headlining female players, comparison was common and a final confrontation was inevitable. Shopify beat Cloud9 in an extremely close call, with the final scoring 2-1. This led to their face-off against G2 Gozen in the Grand Finals.
Coach Suspension
However, the team could not bask in their victory for long. Right after winning, as the team was celebrating, Shopify Coach Rob Kennedy also known as “Robwiz” decided to flip off Cloud9 in the heat of the moment. This ‘unsportsmanlike’ gloating from the winning team’s coach ended up costing them big time.
Because this was against tournament rules, Robwiz faced multiple penalties. One was a financial penalty, more straightforward and non-controversial. The other was more shocking. Game Changers released a statement on Twitter suspending Coach Robwiz and banning him from the Grand Finals. This meant that his team had to head into the Grand Finals with no coach to back them up.
Fans were unhappy with this decision, calling it “too harsh”. This criticism is especially understandable since a sudden change like this going into the Grand Finals can make a big difference, and it did.
Grand Finals
Without a coach, Shopify headed into the Grand Finals and faced G2 Gozen. While Shopify initially had a lead of two points, G2 ended up knocking them off their feet with a reverse sweep, gaining three points. The match ended with a final score of 3-2 in favour of G2. G2 Gozen rejoiced at this victory and emerged as the first-ever World Champions of Game Changers.
However, spectators still complained about the loss of Shopify’s coach, saying that it greatly affected their chance of winning.
We’ll never know if Shopify Rebellion could have won the Grand Finals if their coach hadn’t been suspended. What we do know is that a rematch between these two teams will be highly anticipated. We’re eagerly awaiting the day these two teams face each other again.
