Interview with SabeRLighT at TI12: "We crumbled under the pressure of TI"

Interview with Shopify Rebellion's offlaner SabeRLighT at TI12, talking about Shopify Rebellion's early exit at TI12 and the next Dota 2 season.

Jonas “SabeRLightT” Volek is a perennially jovial Dota 2 player, which makes it fun to chat with him. Playing as the offlaner for Shopify Rebellion, his team’s excursion at The International 2023 (TI12) did not go so well as the North American outfit were eliminated by TSM in the first round of the lower bracket. After the tough loss, GosuGamers caught up with SabeRLight to talk about Shopify Rebellion’s elimination, the new TI format and the next season, amongst other things.

Thank you for taking the time to talk with us! How are you and the other members of Shopify Rebellion coping with the early exit?

We’re all very disappointed with the result. We tried quite hard for this TI – I know I did. After the Riyadh Masters, the team put in a lot of effort and did really well at DreamLeague Season 21 [second place finish]. Our hopes were high for TI12, but unfortunately, it didn’t go so well. In the final game against TSM, things just didn’t click.

You've been the best North American team throughout the season. What happened at TI? Did TSM catch you off guard?

Now we’re the third best NA team (laughs). TSM played really well against us. Their understanding of the meta is on point. The International brings a lot of pressure with it, and teams are tested on how strong they are. We were kind of fragile and crumbled under the pressure of TI. It wasn’t about any one specific player, but the entire team crumbling.

“It wasn’t about any one specific player, but the entire team crumbling”

You mentioned that you finished second at DreamLeague Season 21, so the momentum was good for SR coming to TI. What went wrong in the group stage?

The first team we played was Thunder Awaken, who surprised us by how good they were. We did not expect them to be a solid team, and dropped one game against them. Then we dropped two games against Team Liquid, who are a very strong team that just played better than us. Same scenario against BetBoom Team. We should have won 2-0 against Tunder Awaken and Azure Ray [but both series ended up being 1-1].

Was the group stage format a factor in the early exit?

I wouldn’t blame the format; we just didn’t play well enough at TI12. But this new TI format is interesting because it is easier for the weaker teams to make it to the upper bracket. As long as you don’t get eliminated in [phase one of] the group stage, you can be in the upper bracket by winning one best-of-3. It would have been nice if we had won [that game], but that’s life.

Did the release of a new patch, Dota 2 patch 7.34d, so close to TI12 throw you off?

I was surprised by the release of the patch a week before. Not only us, but many other teams were bootcamping for a while before that. It is always a bit annoying that you scrim for a week or two and a new patch is released after that, and the practice before it is rendered somewhat useless.

But it is also nice that the TI patch isn’t the same as DreamLeague Season 21 because I was of the opinion that it was getting a bit stale.

If this were just a dream, and TI12 was actually supposed to start tomorrow, what would you do differently?

I would boss up, be more confident and help my team win.

Do you feel like you have fully integrated into the Shopify Rebellion roster?

I think so. There are still a few differences that me and the others have. I am a bit younger than most of the team, and they have also been playing together for four years, so there is a team culture that I wasn’t a part of. But throughout the year, I tried to immerse myself in the team and follow the ideas they had.

It is still early days, but have you decided whether you will continue to play in North America or go back to Europe?

Overall, it has been a great experience to play for Shopify Rebellion. I have enjoyed my time in NA, both with TSM and Shopify Rebellion. The DPC Leagues are no more, so I won’t be required to stay in NA for a month. With more LAN tournaments next season, it won’t really matter too much which region I play in, but I am open to possibilities.

“It won’t really matter too much which region I play in, but I am open to possibilities”

Speaking about the next season, what are your thoughts on the DPC being discontinued?

It depends on what the replacement is. The way I imagine it is the old days, where there were a bunch of LAN tournaments organized by a number of different organizers. I imagine the ESL League we had this year will be there next year as well. A league like that sprinkled with LAN tournaments with breaks between them is a better system [than the DPC Leagues].

Now that we are down to the top eight teams, who do you think has the best chance to reach the grand final?

I believe in Team Liquid and Team Spirit – both those teams are really strong. It is difficult to differentiate between the two, but it will be one of two [lifting the Aegis]. LGD have a chance as well, I respect their offlaner Kongbo “niu” Li a lot.

What are your plans during the off season?

After TI, I will go home. I might stream a little bit, play other games like Cyberpunk and Minecraft for which I didn’t have time during the season. I will be travelling to Mauritius with my dad, which should be fun as I’ll get to hang out on the beaches.

More Interviews from TI12

Author

Siddharth "Gopya" GopujkarA Mechanical Engineer who is as interested in the mechanics of DotA 2 as every machine he studies. Pursuing his Master's at the Michigan Technological University.