Coming into HCS Major Arlington 2025, Shopify Rebellion have found themselves pegged as unlikely favorites. Despite having never won a Major before, the team’s online form coming into the Halo event has seen them leapfrog the likes of OpTic Gaming and Spacestation Gaming to be the early team to beat, with the off-season additions of Frosty, LastShot, and Royal2 seemingly transforming their fortunes of late.
Playing top-class Halo online is one thing, but doing it on LAN on the biggest stages is another thing entirely. It’s fair to say that those who are more conservative about Shopify Rebellion’s Major hopes in Arlington felt that way because you simply can’t judge until they’ve shown themselves as winners under pressure. How they work as a team can completely change on LAN, but if this early performance is anything to go by, there doesn’t seem to be anything for fans to worry about.
Shopify Rebellion made short work of day one
With lofty expectations set from online Halo tournaments earlier this year, Shopify Rebellion kicked off Pool Play in Pool A against Cloud9 and Infamous. 3:1 and 3:0 wins followed, Shopify Rebellion ensuring that things never looked like they could get difficult at any point and erasing any concerns about LAN jitters to kick off HCS Major Arlington 2025. Even in maps that were close across both series, the fact that Shopify Rebellion always came out on the winning side is a sign of a top team.
After a near-flawless day one, Shopify Rebellion have put themselves in an excellent place to go through to the upper bracket of the Championship Bracket. Frankly, it’s exactly where you’d expect this team to be in Pool A, but you can only beat whoever is in front of you, which Shopify Rebellion have done a very comfortable job of.
Frosty and Royal2’s winning experience is already on show
Perhaps the biggest reason for Shopify Rebellion’s strong start to HCS Major Arlington 2025 is the former FaZe Clan duo, Frosty and Royal2. I get the feeling FaZe Clan gave up on these two too soon – as 3x Halo World Championship winners, they’ve brought a wealth of experience to Shopify Rebellion that no money can buy, and it’s immediately evident on the server that they can be a huge asset to the team throughout this event, helping them navigate these tricky early matches that for lesser players, could be like banana peels to slip over.
CyKul and LastShot are great players in their own right, and they all come together nicely to form a great lineup. However, Frosty and Royal2 make the biggest difference of all, and the numbers back it up. From the first day of HCS Major Arlington 2025, Royal2 and Frosty had the highest K/D ratios on their team, with 1.35 and 1.15, respectively. In terms of damage dealt per game, it was these two that led the way for Shopify Rebellion, too. They may be veterans at this point, but you can’t argue that Royal2 and Frosty are keeping up with the young guns to take Shopify Rebellion into championship contention. Their history lifting Halo’s biggest trophies will only be an asset as the pressure ramps up deeper in the competition, too.
What do you think about Shopify Rebellion’s chances at winning HCS Major Arlington 2025? Is it too early to say, or are you a believer in their online form continuing to translate on one of Halo’s biggest stages?
