In what proved to be another disappointing run of tournaments, Shopify Rebellion were knocked out of the Riyadh Masters' North American closed qualifier grand final by Nouns. The setback has cast a shadow over Arteezy's professional career.

Nouns, led by former Shopify Rebellion player Tal “Fly” Aizik, defeated Shopify 3-2 in the best-of-five final to secure the sole North American spot at Riyadh Masters on June 2. This means that Artour “Arteezy” Babaev will not participate in the $5 million prize pool tournament, which is set to be the largest Dota 2 event in the current calendar with the TI prize pool dropping.

The Canadian superstar carry has come under a lot of criticism for Shopify Rebellion’s repeated underperformances in recent times. While one could argue that it’s been a failure for the entire team, the constant roster shuffling while he (and coach Kanishka “BuLba” Sosale) remained the team’s linchpin hasn’t helped his case. The carry has also come under criticism for his AFK-farming playstyle and bizarre mid-to-late game deaths. However, the organization has shown unwavering faith in him and Bulba, shuffling players around them to find the “perfect balance.”

“[Shopify Rebellion’s] problems aren’t the replacements they keep getting, but [the] core f*cking people in the team, RTZ and Bulba,” one player said in a Reddit thread announcing the winner of the Riyadh NA qualifiers. The sentiment is bolstered by the success of ex-Shopify players Fly, Cr1t, Abed and Nightfall, who have all qualified for the Riyadh Masters with their respective teams. “So all the ex-Shopify players who left/kicked out are in Riyadh, while RTZ and Bulba stay home.”