Shopify Rebellion head explains joining the LCS and partnering with Moist

One of the heads of Shopify Rebellion spoke to Dexerto about purchasing TSM’s LCS slot, partnering with Moist Moguls in Valorant and the future of esports.

Shopify Rebellion made back-to-back blockbuster announcements on September 20. The Canadian e-commerce company’s esports division revealed their purchase of TSM’s former LCS slot and also showcased their partnership with influencer-lead Moist Esports in Valorant.

The esports side of the public company has been competing in titles since 2021 and has a presence in Valorant, Rocket League, DOTA 2, Starcraft and Halo. However, the organization has not had a presence in League of Legends and is a new face to an LCS crowd.

Shopify Rebellion’s Esports Program Development Lead Dario ‘TLO’ Wünsch, spoke with Dexerto about entering the League of Legends space and how he plans to grow the brand in the LCS. TLO was a professional StarCraft player for Team Liquid, and he’s chosen to take his esports experience to Shopify Rebellion to try and create the next big esports org.

And, considering that they’re entering the LCS in 2024 and working with Moist to take over the Valorant world, they’re kicking things into the next gear.

Shopify Rebellion’s taking a chance on the LCS

The organization is replacing arguably the most popular and one of the founding teams in the North American league, TSM. TLO told Dexerto that he is hoping to introduce the brand to the new esports community over time.

“I think the scene is more focused on their own game, a little bit less cross-interest to other scenes. But certainly, over time that’s definitely the hope that this will create and garner more attention and that people more people will hopefully like what we’re doing,” the former StarCraft pro said.

Unlike some other recent transactions in the League of Legends franchise system, TSM and Shopify have not disclosed how much the LCS slot costs. However, reports put the sale price at about $10 million, which is about as much money TSM spent to join the league back in 2018.

While this and other metrics, like declining viewership, have scared off some of the business around esports, TLO isn’t convinced the LCS is a dying entity.

“We believe in the long term, potential and health of the property and that the way it’s perceived right now, and the market value that exists, is not representative of where we will be over the next decade. Generally, we believe in Riot Games’ ecosystems very strongly,” he said.

Shopify is already a mainstay in the Game Changers and Tier 2 level in Riot’s other major esport, Valorant.

TLO also explained that this feels like the right time to jump into the esport for an org that isn’t too worried about next quarter’s earnings. While some orgs in the LCS are laying off people in the short term, Shopify can look ahead to 2028 and beyond.

That doesn’t mean Shopify won’t try to be competitive right off the bat, or try to import expensive players in an attempt to make major tournaments quickly. However, it does mean that they have time to think through decisions longer than orgs that are strapped for cash and downsizing.

Shopify Rebellion

Shopify Rebellion’s Halo team a the Fort Worth Major.

“I feel sometimes teams and orgs get a little bit carried away by only pursuing a title and only being happy with a title. Obviously, that is the ultimate goal. But results are much less binary. You can be a very, very strong team and have a year you’re decently happy without necessarily taking home the trophy that year as well. So we look at it very in a nuanced way,” TLO said.

Shopify Rebellion will also have the force of a public company in tow with its massive infrastructure. TLO said he is hoping to tap into the company’s marketing department for the LCS team and see what they can do to pull fans in.

Shopify Rebellion links up with Moist Esports

Along with introducing itself to a new esports community, Shopify also had to explain its new venture in Valorant.

The organization signed a main circuit Valorant team in 2022 and competed in the first year of the North American Challengers League. Going into the off-season, Shopify got to talking to the Moist Esports camp about trading players or finding other players homes and ended up coming out of it with a merged team and a joint venture, Moist x Shopify Rebellion.

The two teams merged into one, only taking up one league spot, and the 10 players were consolidated into five. Showcasing Shopify’s structure and stability as an org combined with the reach and passion of Moist’s creator owners. Ludwig Aghren, a co-owner of the Moist brand, has already organized two showmatches for the new team during the off-season.

Moist has its hands in other esports, some of the same ones as Shopify, but does not have a partnership like this in any other title. Right now, the arrangement is more of an experiment and “casual” according to TLO, as more serious legal structures could come depending on results during the season.

“Once you have ownership of a slot like that, things become a lot more serious,” he said when asked how the arrangement would work if the team earned a promotion in VCT Americas.

Creator-led initiatives in esports are becoming more common as outside investment is harder to come by in the current economic climate. Orgs owned by content creators, like KOI and Karmine Corp, are also some of the more popular esports brands in their region and have broken into the same realm as traditional teams in the LEC.

While not directly signing Ludwig, or his co-owner Charles ‘Cr1TiKaL’ White Jr., as creators, TLO has given Shopify more reach than it previously had in the esport, and beyond.

The Shopify Rebellion head said the experiment is better than signing a celebrity, or creator, to attach to the esport who isn’t all that passionate about it to start with.

Cloud9

Moist x Shopify Rebellion and Cloud9’s Valorant teams after a showmatch.

“A lot of teams have leaned heavily into trying to get influencers, and creators involved in some ways, but I think the problem so far has been that there was not enough genuine connection to it,” TLO said.

The former Team Liquid player explained that some celebrities will interact with an esport or a team once, and then never really get involved at that level again. Prominent examples of this include Drake, who went viral for playing Fortnite with Ninja and has invested in 100 Thieves, and Snoop Dogg, who wore a FaZe Clan chain at the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show and was a part of the company’s board of directors. Both celebrities have not interacted with, or shown much interest, in esports since their initial dive into the space.

“You need to find people who are genuinely excited to be part of this and have some degree of ownership over it. So then you actually get real value out of it and people don’t just come over as fans of that celebrity,” the Shopify head said.

Sentinels

Ludwig and tarik at the MxS vs. Sentinels showmatch.

Shopify Rebellion is now in what looks to be a growth period after two years of juggling the responsibilities of a couple of different esports. The organization still needs time to build up staff for its new League team and will have to wait and see how its partnership pans out with Moist, but that doesn’t mean new things aren’t on the horizon.

While orgs are downsizing, or going under, at a decent rate in North America, Shopify are moving in the opposite direction with a plan in mind.

“I don’t think this is the end of the expansion, but we just want to make sure first we are fully set up until we consider the next step,” TLO said.