Quest Esports’ ATF: “It’s a good win in any way you can take it by beating my former teammates. They’re still my friends and it’s cool to beat your friends always.”

The career of Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf added another team to his timeline so far as the 2023 Western Europe Dota Pro Circuit Summer Tour goes. Following the relegation of Nigma Galaxy to Division II at the end of the Spring Tour, ATF was loaned out to Quest Esports for the Summer Tour after he was approached to play for the latter for a few small tournaments.

Having liked the partnership during that test run, ATF joined the team that was previously known as Ooredoo Thunders, which placed fifth in the previous split within a league that featured major contenders like OG, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, Entity, and more.

Although Quest started the Summer Tour on a bad note via a 2-1 defeat to reigning two-time Major winner GG, the team bounced back by defeating OG, ATF’s former team from 2022, by a 2-0 margin off a strong display by the 18-year-old Jordanian Position 3 player.

Following Quest’s DPC victory over OG, Natalie “NatTea” Mahoney, Dominik “Lacoste” Stipić, and Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann spoke to ATF for an interview on playing with his new team, how he performed against his former team, reflecting on the series against GG, and more.

This interview was edited for brevity.

ATF Fitting In With Quest

Natalie “NatTea” Mahoney: Congratulations. You guys had a really great showing two days ago [against Gaimin Gladiators] even though you weren’t able to win that series, but for today, you were able to defeat OG. How does this start of the DPC feel for you, especially on a new team?

Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf: It’s a good win in any way you can take it by beating my former teammates. They’re still my friends and it’s cool to beat your friends always.

Dominik “Lacoste” Stipić: There’s no bad blood between you and them?

ATF: No, there’s no bad blood.

NatTea: That’s good to hear. I do want to know how it has been gelling with Quest Esports and the four others? Do you feel like you get a bit of freedom to be pretty vocal with your ideas?

ATF: This team is really good. They’re really good teammates, they’re really good players, and they allow me to play my only hero pool that I can play which is five heroes. They’re really fine with it so I like it.

Lacoste: I want to know who [from Quest] approached who, Ammar? Did you just scout things out and saw that this was the team you wanted to play with? I’m sure you had other offers from other teams, so who was the one who made the first contact?

ATF: They contacted me after Season 2. They asked me to join and tested with them and played some small tournaments and we won it so I decided that I would join them and yeah.  I like it here so it’s good.

Lacoste: I see that you guys are bootcamping. Where are you guys at right now?

ATF: In Jordan, my home, so it’s very easy for me.

Very nice. Eating your local Jordanian food. That’s very good. What’s your favorite dish?

ATF: Right now, I only eat grilled chicken because I eat very low and I’m on a diet. I need to get thinner.

Lacoste: I wanted to ask you about that. Are you going to the gym because you’re looking real good.

ATF: Yeah, I’m going to the gym. It’s just that for the last three days, I couldn’t go to the gym because our scrims and games are really late, but yeah, I go to the gym and eat only healthy food right now.

Lacoste: I got one more question regarding the coach. You guys don’t have a coach at the moment, correct?

ATF: No, we do have a coach. His name is Accell [Alexander Litvinenko]. He’s a Russian. It’s not the Peru guy.

Lacoste: What does he do for the team? Who has the last say when it comes to decision-making?

ATF: In this team, the team believes in the coach and what he is saying and they believe when he says a pick and such. He does drafts and he always makes sure to watch replays—basic coach stuff. He does them and all the players also trust him when he tells them [to use] a hero [to play].

Playing OG and GG

Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann: I’ll give you some real Dota questions, Ammar. For Game 1, what went wrong? You guys had an okay lead in the game. What do you think you guys screwed up on in that game?

ATF: I think OG bzm [Bozhidar Bogdanov] playing Invoker and he did OG bzm things with Invoker and there is no explanation to this game other than OG bzm playing Invoker.

KheZu: For Game 2, I hated the Razor pick so can you tell me if I’m wrong, and if so, why? Why did you want to last-pick Razor in Game 2? Convince me. Tell me I’m stupid.

ATF: It was already good—no, I don’t think you’re stupid. Anyone will tell me I’m stupid if it was how it was gonna go. I saw Morphling and it just made me want to pick Razor. Everyone says Morphling counters Razor and I wanted to show that it’s the opposite so that’s why I just did it.

KheZu: Why do you think it’s the opposite? Is it because you play it differently compared to others in [terms of] itemization with Heaven’s Halberd? Does that help you or is there something else to it?

ATF: It’s just that he doesn’t really win as he used to be because now there is Level 25. I mean, the new BKB changes is maybe annoying because he can buy Aghanim’s [Scepter] and break Linken’s [Sphere]. He can’t play because if he went from unlinking them and his fight is finished, he can’t do anything. Right now, it’s like a bit too weider.

KheZu: You said you have a five-hero pool and your team is cool with that. So it’s Razor, Timbersaw, Mars, and what are the other two?

ATF: No no. It’s Razor, Viper, Huskar, Mars, and Timber. It’s just Viper and Huskar are not there yet.

KheZu: So why did you guys play Tidehunter in the first game [against GG]? Was that why you lost? You just picked a non-pool hero?

ATF: I mean, I don’t know what was in my brain. I didn’t buy normal items. I forgot how to play the game in that game. I lived in 2018 or something and I got Doom and the money printer wins always.

 

Feature Image Credit: Valve