Over the team’s three previous splits, Shopify Rebellion have missed the playoffs each time. This split, going 2-5 in the regular season, they seemed easy to write off once again. But Shopify did manage to make playoffs, and there, they’ve skyrocketed, transforming into a totally different team. In the Lower Bracket Semifinals, they managed a 3-1 dominant victory, crushing finals regulars Team Liquid in this NA season’s biggest upset yet.

With this victory, Shopify have locked at least third place, a huge improvement over last split’s 5-6th and last year’s two seventh-place finishes. Now, they’re headed to face Cloud9 next Saturday in the Lower Bracket finals, in a deciding series to determine who makes the Grand Finals and gets a chance to vie for MSI qualification.

Liquid Struggling, Shopify Shining

Shopify came into this series fresh off of another major upset, 3-0ing 100 Thieves last week. That momentum led right into Game 1, where, despite a slow start, SR managed to eke out an over-2k gold lead at 25. That is, until TL caught out Denilson "Ceos" Oliveira, took a quick Baron, and won a bot river fight to grab a real advantage. But, an overextension in their follow-up push gave Juan "Contractz" Garcia and Ceos a chance for a huge punish-engage that claimed three. With this, SR grabbed the next Baron, and realm-warped four members straight to the enemy base. Meanwhile, TL had their recalls cancelled by a quick-thinking Cristian “Palafox” Palafox, allowing SR to cleanly end Game 1.

In Game 2, TL’s controlled style allowed them to slowly accumulate a 5k gold lead by minute 37. But after a great Sej ult from Contractz catched out Eain “APA” Stearns at the fight for drake, SR pushed off TL and took the Ocean Soul for themselves. TL seemed lost thereafter, doing little to prevent Shopify from claiming Baron. A mid fight, led by Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami on Aatrox, allowed SR to claim four and take Elder, before heading to Nexus and ending the prolonged 54-minute back-and-forth.

Game 3 was pure TL execution, as APA got off to a great start with Taliyah, and never let go, picking up kill after kill in a complete stop. At 33 minutes, APA found a quadra kill, and TL found the Nexus, in what they hoped would begin a reverse sweep. SR refused to let that happen – and despite APA locking in his signature Ziggs, were determined to end the series in a decisive Game 4. Palafox selected a currently-rare counterpick, LeBlanc, and showed exactly why some would say he’s “powerful and seems like a genius.” The game was a 32-minute stomp, as Palafox and his teammates took control with explosive aggression.

This series perfectly exemplified the underdog aura that Contractz and Palafox have been surprising faithful fans with for years. The duo, once on CLG, won a championship together on NRG, while similarly totally underestimated at each step. Now, they’ll be looking to win another underdog trophy come Finals weekend. Team Liquid now stands eliminated in fourth, while Shopify Rebellion is set to move on and play Cloud9 in the Lower Bracket Finals next Saturday.