Arteezy’s Absence At The International
Shopify Rebellion’s star carry Arteezy will miss Dota 2’s The International for the first time in his career after failing to qualify through the North American qualifiers. While the writing was on the wall after the Riyadh Masters qualifiers, this was a low point in Arteezy’s career.
Shift in North American Qualifiers
Throughout the year, the North American qualifiers provided an unguarded entry point to global Dota 2 competitions for SR, but the tide shifted abruptly in June. Nouns, captained by Arteezy’s former partner Fly, gained progressively throughout the season as SR battled to stabilize its squad.
Grand Finals Drama
For those keeping track of the results, words took the same paths to TI2024. Just as in the Riyadh qualifications, SR defeated nouns in the upper bracket finals, only for nouns to come back from the lower bracket and defeat the NA titans in the grand finals. While nouns struggled in Riyadh, they did not falter this time, outperforming SR three to zero.
Arteezy and his teammates failed to show signs of life in all three grand finals matchups, as Yuma and Copy, nouns’ primary players, took over. Many fans have questioned Arteezy’s leadership and in-game decision-making, especially when two of his former colleagues have waltzed into TI2024.
Internal Conflicts and Future Uncertainty
The recent departure of SaberLight, SR’s key offlaner, highlighted the team’s troubles. His final message emphasized communication challenges and a poisonous team climate, namely with a “important person.” Many fans feel this statement was directed at Arteezy, harming his reputation and adding to the myth of internal turmoil.
With the Riyadh Masters and TI hopes dashed, Arteezy is at a crossroads. Despite constant squad changes, several organizations’ blind faith in Coach Bulba and Arteezy failed spectacularly. SR must now undertake a major makeover, addressing basic difficulties and maybe rethinking its leadership structure. The organization’s future in Dota 2 is also uncertain, with fans questioning whether it can sustain its high player salaries after a year of disappointing results.
SR’s troubles have even sparked criticism from competitors. Nouns’ COO, former TI winner Peterpandam, took a jab at their spending habits, questioning if the massive investments were justified, especially considering their poor performance.
Despite winning more than $2.5 million in prize money, Arteezy has never finished first at TI. He has not won a tier one event since 2017, whereas Arteezy’s former comrades Cr1t, Fly, and others have found success outside of NA.