ATF: “I like to provoke people into thinking I’m furious.”
Team Spirit mid-laner Denis “Larl” Sigitov and Team Yandex offlaner Ammar “ATF” al-Assaf spoke about toxic players and personal conduct in-game while answering questions from BLAST Slam VIII viewers.
On why he always seems angry
ATF: No, I’m not angry. But actually, I’m just pretending to be angry. I like to provoke people into thinking I’m furious. It’s just that right now I’m too calm. I don’t really care about anything anymore.
On whether he’ll switch teams in the near future
ATF: No, I don’t plan to. This is probably the best team choice I’ve ever made. There’s also PARIVISION and Team Spirit—they’re also among the top three alongside Team Yandex. But I’d still choose Yandex because it’s fun to play with them.
On why he only plays Pangolier and Ember Spirit
Larl: Because I have a small hero pool, you know? I only have three heroes, so I have to stick to them. If I pick other heroes, I’ll play poorly. But maybe this guy should watch a few games, and then he’ll find out about some other heroes I can play in this tournament. In this tournament, I’ve only played Ember Spirit once.
On why he isn’t toxic
Larl: I don’t know. No, I don’t feel like I need to be toxic because that’s not my style. I might react honestly to some nonsense, but sometimes I just don’t feel like being toxic. To me, that’s silly. If you want to create content, then maybe there’s a point to it, but I don’t need that.
On people who are intentionally toxic
Larl: Sometimes they do stupid things, but sometimes it’s funny. I think it all depends on the person. If they like it and enjoy it, then it’s no big deal. But if they make some kind of stupid joke and then get punished for it, that’s just silly.
On whether he enjoys defeating toxic people
Larl: No, I don’t really care either way. I don’t feel anything toward them. To me, they’re just another player. If you start feeling any emotions toward them, that means they’ve achieved their goal.
Right now, Team Spirit and Team Yandex are battling it out for first place at BLAST Slam VIII. The winner of the tournament will take home $270,000.
Photo — PGL.
