Shopify Rebellion vs Team Liquid: SR win in five to become 2023 GC Champions

After an fast-paced, action-packed double elimination tournament, we've reached the end. The Grand Final of VCT Game Changers Championship 2023 pits the year's two best teams against each other. Shopify Rebellion vs Team Liquid is sure to be a best-of-five for the ages.

Shopify Rebellion was one of the favorites coming into the tournament, and for a reason. They only gave up 10 rounds in their first two matches of the event. G2 Gozen proved to be a much more formidable opponent, but still, they prevailed and went straight to the Grand Final from the Upper Bracket.

Team Liquid's journey was a bit more treacherous. They played G2 Gozen at the very beginning. With a loss, they moved to the Lower Bracket, just one step away from elimination. The hometown crowd delivered when it mattered, though, storming through the LB and defeating G2 in a rematch.

Now, we are sure to have a new championship team when Shopify Rebellion vs Team Liquid is all said and done. G2 Gozen will not be defending their title in the Grand Final, giving way to a scrappy team from Brazil or a calculated team led by veterans from North America.

The series will be live on all of VALORANT's official Twitch and YouTube channels. Or you can just watch the Grand Final embedded right on this page with us!

A bit of a lengthy pause prevented the start of the match. Once it began, Liquid jumped ahead. Without their IGL meL on stage, due to a positive COVID test, SR had much adversity to overcome.

The crowd was firmly behind the hometown team as well. It wasn't long before florescent started making plays to help them over the hump. The rest of the team started to turn up, but TL's early heroics ensured a lead at halftime.

The second half pistol round looked like it was all alexis, but bizerra came through in a big moment to keep TL's momentum rolling. SR capitalized on their better weaponry for the bonus round, though, proving they weren't done just yet.

TL and SR traded rounds, with the latter staying right on Liquid's heels. With a beautiful post-plant setup, SR tied the map. A 3k by florescent shut down a retake, sending SR to map point. And instead of putting themselves ahead one map to zero, TL forced overtime.

A 3k by alexis kicked off the overtime period to get the Rebels to map point again. That was followed by florescent popping off as she does. Pushing into A Site, she netted three kills, pulled out the Bladestorm, and ended the map with an exclamation point Ace.

Shopify kept it up and took a Flawless pistol round to start map two. Sarah then netted four in the following round. Team Liquid got on the board in the bonus with superior firepower, but another three kills by Sarah saved SR's lead.

A big Showstopper by bstrdd helped Liquid finally tie, but the back and forth continued as Sarah took down three more. Eventually, Shopify Rebellin pulled ahead thanks to florescent's fragging. That set them up for a halftime lead.

The pistol and subsequent round was all Shopify as they reached double digits on Lotus. The bonus went to TL and a 3k by daiki followed to close the gap even further. This lit a fire under the Brazilian squad as they pushed back against SR.

A nasty 3k from bstrdd sent Team Liquid to map point after their valiant comeback. A Showstopper from florescent took out two and looked as though it would send us to another overtime period. But the IGL of Team Liquid stepped up. A 3k that included a 2v1 clutch went to daiki to give Team Liquid the victory.

Shopify was ready to make Breeze, well, a breeze. They took the first three rounds with lightning speed from a stunned Team Liquid. A fourth would come just as quickly. Then another 3k in the series by Sarah pushed the SR lead to five early on.

It was the eighth round of the map when Team Liquid finally got their first. That was followed directly by their second. A Flawless round went to them to end the half, as they hoped the 9:3 curse would go against SR.

Team Liquid began to put up rounds with two straight on their attack, but SR responded with the bonus win. That gave them everything they needed in terms of weaponry, economy, and confidence to reach map point.

The final round of Breeze saw Shopify play rather aggressively as the defending team. They took control on TL's side of the map with a few members getting behind them. That's when meL took down three and secured the victory for her team.

Sunset began with bizerra getting five kills in two rounds to put TL up. They kept rolling, much like SR did in the previous map. It seemed like no matter what game plan SR mustered up, they couldn't break TL's defense.

Shopify might have finally grabbed a round after alexis took down four, but the Ace was denied by bizerra. This forced a timeout from SR, which composed them enough to see their first round win of the game. They'd get one more, but bizerra once again stepped up to shut them down.

If anyone was going to turn it around for Shopify, it was florescent. The second half pistol round saw her net another Ace in this tournament as SR reached their third round. Two more kills went to florescent, but there was a lot more work to do.

The Rebels weren't able to convert their bonus round, giving way to TL. As much as they scratched and clawed back into this map, Liquid's lead was too much. A Thrifty set them at map point and it wasn't long until they forced a fifth map of this championship series.

A 4k by meL started the map, giving SR the pistol round. Four from joojina was a great response from TL to tie it immediately. And while Shopify pushed to take the lead, TL retaliated and prevented them from getting too far ahead.

The two teams were not going to let this championship slip away. Every time one would make a play, the other had one of their own to pull off. That led to the fifth map reaching halftime with a tied round count of 6:6.

Shopify wasted no time in taking back the lead with two second half rounds. They secured the bonus round and set themselves up for success. A tactical pause by Team Liquid was one of the last hopes for the Brazilian team to turn the tide.

It wasn't enough, as Shopify Rebellion reached double digits with ease. Soon after, SR was at championship point, looking to put the final nail in the coffin for Team Liquid. And that nail was firmly hammered in, giving Shopify Rebellion the VCT Game Changers Championship 2023 trophy.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more esports news and check out the full results of the VCT Game Changers Championship 2023 if you missed any of the action.