Shopify Rebellion defeated Tundra Esports in a fairly quick 2-0, keeping this second Group Stage of DreamLeague Season 19 full of ties. In the post-match interview, their coach Kanishka "BuLba" Sosale explained how things have been for the team playing with a stand-in and how they've been using the age-old tactic of "YOLO". You've got four play days in this Group Stage so far and every day has been significantly different. How do you deal with that as a coach? Yeah, I mean, it's been swingy. We [went] into the OG match being fairly confident, [then] we got sh*t on. Then we beat [Gaimin] Gladiators and then yesterday we got sh*t on by Liquid. So, yeah, it's been swingy. We're not really practicing too so, the days have been kind of long, because we don't have our full roster. We just lose the games or win the games, and then we have 9 hours of watching the other games. It's been a bit weird, it's definitely not what were used to, because if we're not bootcamping we're usually scrimming or at the Major. The days have been swingy, the emotions, intensity, it's been swingy.   Have you been able to put a finger on (...), as a coach, what makes it good and do you think you are able to replicate that to stop it from being swingy and just perform at the highest level all the way? I think maybe because the series we lost was honestly just a bad series for us, it wasn't at all close. It's probably just a lot of recollecting. Since we can't really practice, the games are all "YOLO" so, we just kind of have to figure out a way to move on and what to do in the next day. It's a little bit like that quote "blood from a turnip". You kind of just have to think of something in the morning and just "YOLO" it, and that's basically like that everyday. That's the way I put it: "blood from a turnip". And with that in mind, this was a series against Tundra, and you've not played against Tundra in the longest time, [since] Groups Stage of Arlington and Stockholm Major last year [as Evil Geniuses]. Did you put any extra thought in that? Or because you can't scrim you just see what happens?  We scrimmed then a few times. We know them, we watched all their games from TI and since then and we've had moments where we've done pretty well versus them in practice, at times we just had rough times. We watch their games, watch their replays, watch their individual players, because they have a very interesting style.  So we just think about how, with our team in this state, we can beat them. So, that's basically the idea of how to beat them. Obviously, they're a very good team, their core players and their ideas, they've all playing for so long and were even able to win TI out of nowhere. It's kind of an insane accomplishment from them so, a lot of respect to those guys and the team in general. How pre-planned was your Nightstalker+Lycan in the second phase in Game 1? Was that something you came up with before, or did it just come in the moment like "we know they're going to pick Beastmaster, I wan't this next phase", what was the plan?" It's "blood from a turnip". It was planned to some extent. We definitely didn't know what they were going to do in the moment, it was 80% planned. It looks like you prefer first pick to second pick. Is that a correct assessment? I'd say it's team dependent. You have a stand-in now in Mikey. Has that changed at all what you focus as been has a coach in the team, or has it still been the same routine?  The routine has changed because we're not practicing. We're treating it more like when we had standings in the past. We've had this situation happen before, several times. Thankfully I think this team in general knows how to adjust and adapt based on the player they have. Mikey has [also] been playing really well, considering he's standing in  [and] playing from Iran on ping. We kind of know how to play around and fit around whatever mid we have. What is like the special thing a stand-in or a pub player brings to the pro scene?My hunch is that, if you have somebody that has been a pro for a long time, maybe their playstyles become more within a safebox of proplay/teamplay. Do you think a pub star brings something special to the team?  Besides him being on the leaderboards, we didn't really know [Mikey]. He is a good teammate, I think he has a lot of the same characteristics as Abed, in a way. He's willing to listen, [but] also has his own heroes that he's good at. As a pub star he has his traits. He doesn't have as much experience, and in some moments that's very good and in some moments we've learned that with Abed we had to do this, and now with Mikey we have to do that. It's like a puzzle. When we win it feels good, it's like we figured out a piece of the puzzle and it boosts whatever he was doing. When we lose [we think] maybe we messed up this regarding our own players, or regarding him. Every day has been like a journey in itself. I think this is [Mikey's] second big debut so, regardless of what happens, I think this is good for him. In the last draft, you guys were picking very rapidly for the first half of the draft, while Tundra took a long time to do their second phase of bans. Do you prefer to save your extra-time for later on in the draft? Are you less worried that you're not going to lay yourself a trap by not spending more time early [in the draft]? [Since] we're not practicing, me Tal [Fly] and Artour [Arteezy] have been talking a lot. But as I've said before, a lot of this tournament has been "YOLO". Have you retired the iconic Bulba hat that EG had? Is that on a mantle somewhere, did you burn it, what did you do with it?  There's a lake where my parents' house is, I just went near the lake and threw it in there. I'm just kidding, but I've thrown that sh*t away.  Let's forget that. That was a good logo, though. How did you get [Mikey]? We found out that Abed couldn't get the VISA a week before the tournament. We had a week-break between DPC and DreamLeague [Season 19]. I messaged him through a mutual friend on Steam and that's how I contacted him. You're now 2-2 and there are a lot of ties [in Group Stage 2]. It's all even, why? Can you give us and educated answers as to why we're seeing so many "rock-paper-scissors" scenarios?  I think maybe we have a better time versus Tundra, but I don't know. I'm not sure. I think it's just different teams' matchups. Patch is coming very soon, we've been on this patch for a very long time. What's high-up on your wishlist for this upcoming patch?  Everyone kind of said the same answers, right? I'm fairly confident that we can adapt [to whatever changes come in the patch]. So we're full "YOLO" for the Major too. That also feels like [Valve's] design, they're just putting the patch 3 days before the Major.

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Featured image via ESL. Remaining images courtesy of Shopify Rebellion. Did you like this BuLba DreamLeague Season 19 interview? If you'd like to stay updated with the latest Dota 2 news, then keep an eye on our Dota 2 directory. Keep an eye out for more DreamLeague season 19 , just interviews, like this one.