SabeRLight- of Shopify Rebellion: “ I get to play my Beastmaster for two patches straight…so yeah. I’m just having a good time.”

The 2023 Dota Pro Circuit North American Summer Tour kicked off with its marquee match featuring Shopify Rebellion and Team SoloMid. Contrary to TSM’s superiority up to this point, which featured wins over SR in the Winter and Spring Tour, it was SR who emerged victorious this time around–and in emphatic fashion at that.

A 21-minute rout in Game 2 of the best-of-three series saw SR’s Abed “Abed” Yusop take down TSM with his Puck off a 7/0/10 KDA in addition to Artour “Arteezy” Babev’s 6/0/5 on Ursa. With this result, SR are firmly in the driver’s seat for their pursuit of qualifying to the Bali Major, which will take place at the end of the split.

Following SR’s victory over TSM, casters Mike “MLP” Le Phoenix and John “johnxfire” Nathan Fernandez spoke to Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek for an interview on how his team defeated their NA rivals, his thoughts on the patch, and seeing if there’s anyone else in the region he wants to face in the Summer Tour.

This interview was edited for brevity.

SabeRLight- on facing TSM

First of all, congratulations on your 2-0 victory against TSM. I’m very happy to see you. How the hell are you feeling?

Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek: What the freak is up, guys! It’s ya boy, Saber. I’m feeling amazing and I love destroying TSM. If they didn’t qualify for the Major, I would actually have felt very sad but this was just demoralizing beating them twice in 20 minutes. I felt sad for them but I’m sure they will make it [to Bali]. It’s all fun and games and I believe in TSM.

Thank you very much for that, SabeRLighT-. Going back to that TSM series, in Tour 1, they beat you 2-0, and in Tour 2, they beat you 2-1, and now you guys just destroyed them 2-0 in 20 minutes for each game. What changed so quickly after Tour 2 that made you destroy TSM in this DPC?

SabeRLight-: It was just embarrassing, you know? Bulba was mad at me for always choking against TSM so I was like, ‘Okay, enough choking. Let’s get serious,’ and we finally did it.

Talk to me about the patch as well. Obviously, Patch 7.33c is out. Are you liking it so far or is it a bad patch? What do you think?

SabeRLight-: I kind of like the changes. I think the OP heroes got a little bit nerfed. They’re still okay but nothing seems super busted like the Medusa. I get to play my Beastmaster. I’m very happy playing the same hero for two patches straight so yeah. I’m just having a good time.

So are we, SabeRLighT-. In the drafting phase, we were commenting on the fact that you guys picked three cores first and then you left your supports for the last two picks. Can you shed some light on that? Do you guys believe the support picks are so important that you had to leave them for the last two pick-ups?

SabeRLight-: Can I shed some light? No, I can not. Sorry guys. Otherwise, Bulba would beat me up because he doesn’t like telling secrets. Basically, the reason for that is I just really want my hero so I begged him to pick me my Beast and he’s like, ‘Okay okay. It’s not best for the strategy but let’s give Saber his Beast.’ The same goes for everybody. That’s what we do.

On competing in various LANs and the rest of NA DPC

You’ve had three long weeks filled with traveling and games to be played. What do you feel is one thing that you guys on Shopify have learned from the past few LANs you attended?

SabeRLight-: In every LAN, we learned something new. And especially for me, I think it’s nice to just get this experience with the team because I’m in a completely new environment and this team operates differently than the teams I was on. I think with every tournament, with every LAN event, and with every bootcamp, we get more and more on the same page. I understand what they want to do and they understand how I operate.

For both in and outside of the game, we just keep growing together and keep improving which is really nice because I think, with some things, it just feels like you stagnate over time. You were all a part of this hive mind and there were no new ideas, but with this new team, there are still debates to be had and new ideas coming through left and right, so I think we just keep improving as a team and that’s really good.

You guys are now done with TSM which is normally your big matchup in the Tour. Is there anyone else in NA that you kind of want to trash down now?

SabeRLight-: No, there isn’t. I would actually find you a team but I don’t even know who else is in the DPC. [laughs] I’m just kidding. I mean, Nouns is gonna be an interesting match for sure, but it’s a nice feeling, you know? It must have felt very good for TSM last DPC when they beat us and were like, ‘Okay, guys. Now we chill.’ Maybe that’s why they didn’t perform so well in the Major because they beat us and they got lazy, so hopefully they will work hard this DPC and \they do well in the Major also. This is a lesson for you, Moonmeander. I’m looking at you. You better pick it up.

Feature Image Credit: Valve