Saksa on ATF: “He’s a completely different offlaner compared to DM.”
Team Yandex support player Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, in an interview at BLAST SLAM VIII, described the team’s new offlaner, Ammar “ATF” al-Assaf, and compared him to the team’s former offlaner, Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin.
On changes in team communication since ATF joined
Communication has actually decreased a bit; the guys are still adjusting. Maybe they’re afraid to take up more space right now. Ammar is letting us do our thing for now and isn’t stepping in too abruptly, so we’re trying to get the message across that it’s okay to take up more space—there’s plenty of it. And we’re asking them to speak more English; we have to remind some of them about this, because now that Ammar is with us, they need to adapt.
On the Differences Between ATF and DM
He’s a completely different offlaner compared to DM. He’s more aggressive and wants to focus on winning the lane and applying pressure. We’ve made some adjustments because of this. As for his hero pool, it’s very large. It’s just that sometimes he doesn’t want to play certain heroes for various reasons—sometimes he needs a little convincing. I’m just trying to figure out who he wants to play and in what situations that’s feasible.
[Question: “Do you need to pay more attention to the lane now?”]
Yes, in a way. Right now, I’m trying to focus more on the lane rather than on clearing creeps. We’re still figuring things out; I’m not sure yet what works best. Now I play lane-pushing heroes less often because Ammar can handle that. We’re still learning.
[Question: “Have you played with an offlaner before whose style is similar to Ammar’s?”]
No.
The offlaner was replaced on Team Yandex in mid-September—almost a month after The International 2026 ended. Prior to that, ATF played for Team Falcons; this year’s TI was the final tournament for the esports club’s championship Dota 2 roster. At BLAST SLAM VIII, Yandex’s new roster secured the organization’s fourth Tier 1 title.
Photo by Luc Bouchon, BLAST.
