Passion over profit: Why the Shopify merger could save the LTA

Passion over profit: Why the Shopify merger could save the LTA | Sheep Esports

The Shopify Rebellion merger with Moist Esports has the potential to save NA LoL. For real this time.

It’s official. Moist Esports, the esports organization headed by Charles Christopher “MoistCr1TiKaL” White Jr. and Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren, two of the biggest content creators and streamers in the world, is merging with Shopify Rebellion. Moist, one of the biggest creator-led esports brands in the West, is set to bring massive value to one of the fastest-rising names in North American esports — especially to its biggest title, League of Legends.

Averaging over 10,000 viewers during his LoL grind

Though SR may be best known for the dominant VALORANT Game Changers roster that brought superstar duelist Ava "florescent" Eugene to the international limelight, League of Legends is still their most significant competitive title. After a year in the LCS, the team failed to build a significant fanbase or identity — but just over a week from the LTA’s debut, they’ve released one of the most exciting announcements of the offseason.

"It is still very much ours — it's not one of those things where a content
creator signs with an org, [but does] absolutely nothing except ads for them. This is still very much Moist Esports, Moist Moguls — but with all the benefits of Shopify Rebellion being behind it as well."
— Cr1TiKal in his merger announcement video

Earlier this month, Ludwig — with little previous experience playing the game — finally completed a monthslong challenge to hit Platinum in League. Averaging well over 10,000 viewers on Twitch during his grind, Ludwig became one of the biggest streamers in the category. Within weeks, it became undeniable that a novice to the game had become genre-defining — Ludwig averages 7,000 more viewers streaming League of Legends than Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng. To the public, Ludwig was just deeply committed to completing a seemingly impossible challenge issued by Tyler "Tyler1" Steinkamp at Twitchcon. Behind the scenes, though, this partnership had been in discussions long before Ludwig’s behemoth grind began.

In discussions upwards of a year

For that reason, sources familiar with the merger at Riot and SR emphasized the deal's implications for the LTA. As an LA resident who recently made a wildly successful foray into League, Ludwig is a clear fit for the LTA product — he won't just be an empty figurehead for the brand or an occasional costreamer. Both Riot and Shopify are doing everything they can to make this move a sorely needed boon to the LTA's inaugural year.

To the public, Ludwig's grind to Platinum was simply driven by pride; months of commitment to complete a seemingly impossible challenge and prove Tyler1 wrong. Behind the scenes, though, several sources confirmed that the merger had been in discussions upwards of a year before Ludwig completed his behemoth grind. It certainly wasn't the only reason he chained himself to the Rift, but it was a factor.

"I'd like to regularly, as always, watch our VALORANT team, our Smash team, and honestly, our League team. If our League team's crushing, I'd like to watch our League team"
— Ludwig reacting to the merger announcement on stream

According to an anonymous source familiar with the situation, members of Riot’s LTA team were even rooting for Ludwig to hit his rank goal, knowing that his achievement would help with broadcast activations and key storylines being planned for the year. To that end, Riot planned to host Ludwig at the LTA Opening Weekend, marking the second colossal content creator — alongside Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang — set to take part in the weekend’s festivities. Unfortunately, with a personal conflict coming up at the last second, the plans had to change.

A second partnership

This merger isn’t the first partnership between the two organizations: during the 2023 North America VALORANT Challengers League offseason, Shopify Rebellion and Moist Moguls merged their rosters for the 2024 season, creating a joint venture team that was wildly successful. Despite competing in a Tier 2 league, with the Ascension tournament still months away, the team’s debut peaked above 80k viewers (Escharts). Throughout the year, Ludwig costreamed, promoted, and marketed his beloved VALORANT team every chance he got.

His fan base rallied around his team — much like fans of Ibai flocked to KOI and fans of Marc "Caedrel" Lamont flocked to Los Ratones — and MxS became exceedingly popular, setting the foundation for this historic merger. With massive creators like Ibai "Ibai" Llanos, Kamel "Kameto" Kebir, and Caedrel bringing thousands of fans to European League of Legends competition — and the notable success of MxS — Riot and SR are hoping that the same template can bring fresh eyes to the LTA. Ludwig may not have years of experience in the space, but being someone who genuinely loves — and plays — the game is more than enough.

"Moist Esports has never made a single f**king penny. In fact, let's be super open and transparent — in the last four years, I've lost, in total, around $4.2 million across all the games we've competed in.

And you know what? I'd do it all over again."
— Cr1TiKal in his merger announcement video

In 2023, with his NACL debut on the horizon, Toast cited the 2014 XDG esports roster featuring Jake "Xmithie" Puchero as his favorite LCS roster of all time. By nature, these ventures have different motivations than established esports teams. In Toast's own words, he sees Moist and DSG as "creator-led orgs, driven by passion, going up against deep pockets and [the] stagnant old guard."

Driven by passion

Undeniably, these teams are living on borrowed time, subsidized by the streaming profits of their owners in the desperate hopes of eventually finding sponsors willing to keep them afloat. Especially early on, they lose just as much money — or more — than other teams do.

But, at their cores, owners like Ibai, Kameto, Toast, and Ludwig are driven by a pursuit of their passion, not a pursuit of profit. It's an important distinction. It creates a sense of security for fans; a feeling that the scene won’t be abandoned when things inevitably get tough. Teams like 100 Thieves and NRG have already taught NA fans that lesson.

Header Photo Credit: Shopify Rebellion

Add Sheep Esports as a preferred source on Google