ATF flatly rejected Team Liquid, choosing Team Yandex instead

William “Blitz” Lee stated that Team Liquid had considered Ammar “ATF” al-Assaf but received a flat refusal from the player.

The Dota 2 team’s coach made the statement on Telegram.

“I think the first person we spoke with was ATF. But that conversation didn’t go according to plan at all. We actually talked for quite a while. I think at The International 2026, we just sat there for about three hours discusing everything under the sun—life, all sorts of things, and so on.

And at some point, he told me, ‘Listen, if Team Yandex makes me an offer, I’ll take it. You guys won’t be able to beat Team Yandex anyway.’

And I told him, ‘We literally beat them in this tournament. And we could easily have beaten them again.’ And he said, ‘No, the gap is too big.’ I told him, “That doesn’t make any sense at all.” And he said, “No, you really can’t. You guys just play really, really badly.” I was like, “Fine. Do whatever you want, king.”

Acording to a statement by William “Blitz” Lee, the Team Liquid coach struck up a friendly conversation with Ammar “ATF” al-Assaf, which lasted quite a while, but at some point, the esports player bluntly stated that he was more interested in playing for Team Yandex, since he rates that team much higher. Moreover, when the coach tried to change the player’s mind, the player stated that he rated Team Liquid’s level of preparation extremely low.

As a reminder, Ammar “ATF” al-Assaf had previously commented on Team Yandex’s victory at PGL Wallachia Season 9.