Shopify Rebellion overcome Team Liquid Brazil to win the Game Changers Championship

After a thrilling five-map series, Shopify Rebellion Shopify Rebellion North America Rank #26 meL Melanie Capone alexis Alexis Guarrasi Noia Nicole Tierce florescent Ava Eugene sarahcat Sarah Simpson took down Team Liquid Brazil Team Liquid Brazil Brazil Rank #15 Bizerra Vitoria Vieira Joojina Letícia Paiva isaa Isabeli Esser daiki Natalia Vilela bstrdd Paula Naguil to be crowned Game Changers Champions. They did this amidst the home crowd heavily cheering for the Brazilian representatives, all the way from the walkouts.

The North American squad, coming in from the upper bracket, had the advantage of two bans and picking the first map. They banned Split and Bind, and chose Haven as the first map of play.

“I think we've prepped well. We've spent time watching the game and refreshed our maps. I'm feeling great,” said Noia .

While the half saw both teams swapping rounds, Team Liquid ended the half with a 7-5 lead. Shopify got to map point first, but TL would end up winning the final round of regulation to push them to OT. Shopify was able to win the next two rounds consecutively to take their map pick, claiming the map in style off of an ace from florescent . Flor was the MVP, with 380 ACS, 35 kills, and seven first kills.

The second map of play, Lotus, was just as close-fought. Despite an early 8-4 lead in favor of SR, TL bounced back to take the map 13-11. TL's bstrdd demonstrated she was just as deadly as Flor in the duelist role, with her topping the server with an ACS of 338, seven first kills, and 27 kills overall.

Map three, Breeze, once again SR's pick, saw them find a dominant 9-3 attacking half after a clean 7-0 start. Shopify Rebellion closed out the map 13-5, putting them one map away from being crowned champions. sarahcat and meL both showed up big on this map, and four of the team's members went positive in terms of KD. None of TL's players could manage the same.

Sunset was picked by Team Liquid, and similar to Shopify on Breeze, Team Liquid began strong with a 9-0 defensive start.

Despite Shopify finding five rounds after the side swap, Team Liquid won the map 13-7, pushing the series to the decider, Ascent. On Sunset, it was Bizerra 's Chamber pick that shone brightest on the server - she had 27 kills while everyone else had not managed to cross 20.

The start of the map saw both teams keeping it close, beginning with a pistol win from SR and followed by a stolen anti-eco off the back of a 4K from Joojina . This tug-of-war eventually culminated in a 6-6 half between both squads.

Once the side swap happened, however, Shopify Rebellion's defense looked unbreakable, especially after Florescent picked up the Operator. Team Liquid would not be able to win a single round as SR silenced the home crowd on their way to the trophy with a 13-6 win.

“The trust that my teammates have put in me, it means everything,” said an emotional Mel on being interviewed. meL , the team's IGL, was unable to join them on stage due to testing COVID positive.

Throughout their run, Shopify Rebellion looked dominant. They dropped three maps in total during their run at the GCC and five in total over the course of their year in Game Changers. During the finals, Flor set a record for the highest number of kills seen in a Game Changers series, dropping 112 kills over the course of the five-map set. She managed a 281 ACS over the course of the series, with 21 first kills and a kill differential of +41.