Cr1t on ATF: “He Might Not Be As Toxic As We Thought”

Esports News

November 26, 2023

Marcus Wong

In a recent interview, Andreas “Cr1t” Nielsen shed light on the formation of the new Falcons Dota 2 team, emphasizing the strategic selection of its members. He revealed that many organizations were eyeing Ammar “ATF” Alassaf, reflecting on the competitive nature of player acquisition in the esports arena.

Credit: Viola Schuldner / ESL

ATF and Cr1t: The Unexpected Dynamic Duo in Team Falcons

Cr1t detailed the thought process behind assembling the Falcons team during the post TI roster shuffle.

“It’s obviously not a random coming together with us finding each other. I have been talking to skiter and Sneyking for a while about playing with them since I knew they had issues with position 4 before the TI. I wanted to play with both of them after TI.

Then, we looked around and added the rest of the roster in offlane and mid. Ammar was our first choice. We always wanted to get him. A bunch of other teams also wanted ATF, so we’re happy we ended up making sure he’s playing with us. Malr1ne was a guy I didn’t know too much, but both Tundra guys knew him well from playing last year. I knew he was a good player”, Andreas “Cr1t” Nielsen said.

Cr1t expressed surprise at ATF’s real-life persona, contrasting sharply with his public image.

“It’s been a fun week, we had a boot camp in Jordan where we kinda got to know each other. I was very surprised, especially with Ammar, the way he is as a person. He’s much different from what the community sees him, from his public picture. I was very surprised by how funny and easy-going he was. He’s also only 18 but quite mature for his age.”

Team Falcons’ Dota 2 Roster

Ceb’s Perspective on Ammar in OG

ATF’s professional debut with Team OG brought him into the limelight, especially after the release of the “The Return of Ceb” documentary by Red Bull. This documentary, which attracted significant viewership, offered a behind-the-scenes look at the team, including interactions that portrayed ATF in a somewhat negative light.

However, Ceb, a senior team member, defended ATF, suggesting that the public perception of his behavior was overly critical.

Community Perceptions of ATF

ATF has been a controversial figure in the Dota 2 community, known for his on-stream outbursts and confrontational behavior. Incidents like referring to Hector “K1” Rodriguez as a “bot” and provocative chat messages during games have contributed to his notoriety. One particular incident involved ATF using derogatory language towards Max “qojqva” Bröcker in an in-game chat, which further fuelled debates about his conduct.

Additionally, Team Spirit’s Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk once expressed that he doesn’t like Ammar’s behavior in matchmaking.

Despite these controversies, Team Falcons saw potential in ATF and included him in their roster. Of course, there’s no doubt that ATF is certainly a player of decent calibre. This decision paid off, as the team successfully qualified for ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 by winning the MENA qualifier against PSG Quest.