en
Arteezy on the DPC: "It's a bit sad to see it go"
Shopify Rebellion is leading Group A in DreamLeague season 21, with an impressive 6-2 record. It's a fantastic bounceback for the team after failing to make it out of the group stage in the previous season.
After Shopify Rebellion's match against Team Liquid, Artour "Arteezy" Babaev sat down for an interview with the DreamLeague panel to share his feelings about the DPC, the current carry hero pool, and why his team is dominating the tournament.
Arteezy: "Sven is the best option, so you just pick Sven"
On the second day of DreamLeague season 21, Arteezy played Sven in three out of the four games his team played, winning two of those games.
Sven has been picked or banned 95% of the time in DreamLeague, making him the most contested carry in the tournament so far.
Arteezy believes that the current carry pool is limited, with only two choices standing out, "It just feels like there aren't that many options and Sven is just the best option, so you just pick Sven. Every pub, people pick Sven, so you pick Sven and then just get it banned. Same thing with Gyrocopter."
Sven wasn't the only thing that changed in Dota 2 patch 7.34. The latest patch also included a revamp of the pick and ban order in Captain's Mode.
So far, teams have prioritized taking first pick and Radiant whenever they can.
Arteezy believes that the changes to Captain's Mode need more time to be fully figured out, "I think I'm one of those people that always doesn't enjoy these crazy big changes because I feel like it takes a long time to truly have a natural flow of things. So I don't think we're quite there, I don't think anybody's quite there, everybody is sort of just feeling it out, no one knows what's truly optimal."
Arteezy: "I enjoy the DPC three-week system"
It's been a roller coaster of a year for Shopify Rebellion, they placed fourth in the Lima Major and took the bronze medal in DreamLeague Season 19. The team also suffered big setbacks, getting eliminated in the group stage of Riyadh Masters 2023 and failing to earn DPC points in the other two Majors.
DreamLeague Season 21 is Shopify's last tournament before heading to The International 12. Arteezy credits the team's success to the extended break the team recently took.
"We had a month off from each other and I think that probably helped everybody refocus, re-center individually, and get back together for themselves, before bringing it to the team. And we all put in a lot of work over the last four weeks and it feels like it's showing off a little bit."
Arteezy said he had no strong feelings either way about the DPC, "In general I don't necessarily prefer one or the other, I enjoy the DPC three-week system, The six-week system was completely [bad], I remember we had to be in boot camp for six weeks to play NA teams, it was miserable. So the three-week I feel is not a big time commitment and there are definitely capabilities to run tournaments, so it's a bit sad to see it go. But I wouldn't say I prefer one or the other, it is what it is."
Arteezy and the rest of Shopify Rebellion look set for a run in the upper bracket of DreamLeague Season 21, time will tell how well the team will fare in their final practice before The International 12.
READ MORE: Topson: ‘Dota 2 was more interesting with just one courier’
Featured Image source: Shopify Rebellion
