Fishman: “In all this time, I’ve received exactly zero invitations to serve as a coach or analyst.”
Nemiga Gaming support player Dmitry “Fishman” Polishchuk spoke on the OFFSTAGE podcast about the possible reasons behind Team Falcons’ departure from Dota 2, commented on Vitaly “Save-” Melnik’s move to mid, and shared his thoughts on retiring and working as a coach.
On the reasons behind Team Falcons’ departure from Dota 2
They hadn’t reshuffled their roster for three years—and after some less-than-stellar results, it was obvious they would be making player changes. I haven’t spoken to Ammar about this, but I assume that, out of the entire roster, he only wanted to continue playing with Stas. And Stas, naturally, wanted to stay with Ammar as well. Essentially, they needed three new players. They have ambitions to win; they want to win the upcoming tournaments. Players are expensive, and they strive to play with the best—from last season’s top five teams.
As far as I understand, the Falcons didn’t want to invest money in signing new players. They figured that the sport might not be the most promising right now. Plus, players’ transfer fees are inflated.
At the same time, the Falcons have always wanted—and still want—to be the best in their sport. The club is willing to pay good salaries and sign players. But they realized they’d have to spend nearly millions of dollars to buy out three players, so they simply decided to freeze the roster. I suspect they’ll be back.
On the reunion of ATF and Malr1ne
They’ll play together again—they’re young guys. They’ve played together for three years; they can take a break from each other and then play together again. What’s the problem?
[Akuma: What do you think—if Ammar is on another team, who will poach whom?]
It all depends on the results. Right now, Ammar will be on Team Yandex. If Ammar or Stas doesn’t perform well and one of them needs an offlaner or a midlaner, I’m sure they’ll play together again in the future.
Or maybe they’ll just return to the Falcons next season and add three more players. Maybe someone like Satanic’s contract will finally expire—it’s been a long one—and they’ll be able to join Team Falcons for free. It’s just that the Falcons don’t want to pay big money for transfers—that’s all. It’s not profitable; there’s no point.
About BetBoom Team
It was announced that in December, BetBoom Team will decide whether to continue playing with this roster or not. They have until December to become the best team in the region—or one of the best. If they don’t make it, Save will return to the “four,” and gpk will go to mid.
Save- might be tired too; he’s already bored. Playing in mid is a breath of fresh air for him as a player. Plus, playing in the “four” might help him start to understand the mid lane better. So why not? And gpk will get some rest in the meantime.
And swedenstrong has finally gotten his chance to prove himself on the Tier 1 scene alongside Tier 1 players. I played with swedenstrong recently—two years ago. On the team I was on, he was the best player, the hardest-working player, the captain—you could say he was everything. So it’ll be interesting to see how he does on BetBoom Team.
On the Lack of Transfers in Dota 2
Have you noticed that this year, so far, not a single organization has signed a single player? And it looks like they won’t. There are no transfers at all.
Why is that? Because there’s a slight shift happening in the pro scene. Prize pools are shrinking, salaries are getting a little smaller, and there are fewer and fewer players from outside the CIS. And Dota is becoming our game—a Slavic game, so to speak.
On Ending My Career and the Lack of Invites
I probably won’t be playing professionally anymore. I have two paths: either streaming, or becoming a coach or analyst.
I do have some experience: back in the day, I scouted players and offered them something—perhaps some knowledge. But in all that time, I’ve received exactly zero invitations to join a professional team as a coach or analyst.
Why is that the case? Because there’s already competition everywhere. Even if you look at the strongest teams at The International: Puppey is a legend, Miposhka is a legend—a very tough coach. boolk has also proven himself to be a very strong coach. At Team Yandex, there’s Accell. From what I’ve understood and heard, he’s also skilled and knows his way around Dota. It’s not easy to compete with these guys to land a coaching job anywhere.
I enjoy streaming, and I enjoy coaching. Every now and then, some people reach out about private coaching sessions. But I haven’t received any offers from teams yet. There was some talk with Nemiga Gaming about coaching, but it didn’t go any further than that.
Read also: ArsZeeqq: “Am I the only one who thinks that having ATF on Team Yandex is a total mismatch?”
Earlier, Fishman named Filipe “Astini” Astini Ribeiro as the strongest coach he’s ever had, and he also commented on Michał “Nisha” Jankowski’s performance at The International 2026 and reflected on the legacy of Klément “Puppey” Ivanov.
Photo — Dmitry “Fishman” Polishchuk.
