Dreamleague Season 19: Arteezy on Playing with Mikey and the Challenges They Faced

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Dreamleague Season 19: Arteezy on Playing with Mikey and the Challenges They Faced

The Shopify Rebellion carry revealed how the team is coping with the absence of their first-choice midlaner


Shopify Rebellion are making waves at Dreamleague season 19, with an impressive record of victories against some of the top Dota 2 teams in the scene. Since Abed “Abed” Yusop could not make it to the competition because of visa complications, the team have enlisted Kasra “Mikey” Mesbah as their midlaner.

Even though they don’t have their number one midlaner, Shopify Rebellion have had a strong start to their Dreamleague campaign are currently among the top contenders for the title. 

Following a 2-0 win over Gaimin Gladiators, Shopify Rebellion carry Artour “Arteezy” Babaev shed light on the team's current approach, revealing how they are adapting their gameplay to fit their stand-in Mikey.

How Shopify Rebellions Brought The Best Out Of Mikey 

The interviewer asked Arteezy about the team's strategy in adapting to playing with Mikey on short notice. He revealed that they focused on making Mikey comfortable with the game. 

“For sure, we had to do a lot of work. We had to figure out a lot of things we could do to make him more comfortable. We didn’t really scrim at all, so it was kind of like every game we played, it was an attempt to try and figure out what we can do better in the draft or like how he plays. He plays really well when he’s comfortable so we just try to make it so that he can play his own game and us 4 can work around it. So that's why some games look really random for us. We don't know what to expect either sometimes,” Arteezy revealed.

In response to another question, Arteezy discussed whether changing their strategies to adapt to Mikey's playing style was a positive experience for the team, and how it will affect their gameplan once Abed comes back to the fold. 

“Oh yeah, absolutely. That’s the biggest takeaway for this tournament for us. We learned a lot about how to play different heroes and play around different mid heroes, kind of like play according to different styles, or like when we play against xyz, now we have a better understanding. I feel like this was a giant win for us regardless of how we do, honestly. Having a stand-in like Mikey because it's a very different view of mid. So yeah, I feel like it was very helpful for us and it's gonna help us a lot for the Major (Berlin Major 2023),” Arteezy expanded on his comments. 

Despite playing without their midlaner Abed and with Mikey as a stand-in, the Shopify Rebellion has been performing remarkably well. However, after advancing to the second group stage of Dreamleague Season 19, the team's momentum appears to be waning, and they currently sit at the bottom of the standings. To secure a place in the playoffs, the team will need to win their upcoming series, as only the top four teams will advance, while the bottom four will suffer eliminations.  

Dreamleague Season 19: Arteezy on Playing with Mikey and the Challenges They Faced
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