Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf was unbeatable in the offlane for a stretch of the Dota 2 season, and his play was a major factor in OG finishing in second place in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021-22 standings.
They’ve even added two more big titles to their shelf, having triumphed in the ESL One Stockholm 2022 and the ESL One Malaysia 2022. But at The International 2022, it all came crashing down.
When the lower bracket’s third round began, OG completely imploded and ultimately placed eighth. ATF seemed to be a shell of himself as well, thanks to an unfavorable patch.
Very quickly, rumors began spreading that ATF wanted to leave OG, and not long after, OG announced his departure, stating that the top offlaner wanted to pursue other possibilities.
Chief Operating Officer JMR Luna spoke on the matter on a recent edition of OG’s Monkey Business Show, assuring viewers that the decision was mutual and was based solely on the patch’s negative effect on his play style.
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“At many points, Ammar was perhaps our greatest chance for success,” he remarked. Amazingly, he invented something called the “anti-carry meta.” However, as is customary, the team responsible for setting the meta gets nerfed the year before The International takes place, making the meta useless at that point.
Therefore, it was mutually beneficial for OG and ATF to split ways.
“We believed that Ammar would be better on other teams, and I think he felt the same way on other teams who were prepared to play more of his brand of Dota,” he stated.
We sat down after TI, and it’s obvious that we won’t be playing together in the next season.
And yes, obviously we had a really lovely talk with him as his brother, and we’ve been trying to figure out what’s best and what he wants, and once we can reveal it, we will.
As rostermania continues, it will be fascinating to watch who OG trades for to replace ATF. Already, there has been a great deal of change, with EG and T1 disbanding and other teams’ TI-winning talents like Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen being available.
Whatever the outcome, the offseason for Dota 2 will be exciting.
