Team Yandex has signed Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf as its offlaner for the 2026-2027 Dota 2 season, the organization announced on September 17. ATF replaces Dmitry "DM" Dorokhin in the position, according to reports from Dot Esports and Esports.gg.
ATF, who previously played for Team Falcons, is a winner of The International. Esports.gg reported that DM has been moved to Team Yandex's inactive roster, which leaves the organization able to negotiate a buyout should another team want to sign him. Aurora Gaming took the same approach with its former carry, Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko, the outlet noted.
Debut at PGL Wallachia Season 9
Team Yandex confirmed that ATF will make his debut with the team at PGL Wallachia Season 9, which Dot Esports reported is the first competition following The International 2026. The event is scheduled to begin on September 19 in Bucharest, Romania, and carries a $1 million prize pool. Esports.gg noted that the timing leaves the new lineup little opportunity to build chemistry before competing, and reported that Team Yandex's first group-stage opponent is MOUZ.
Team Yandex's roster for the tournament, as listed by Esports.gg, is:
- Carry: Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov
- Mid: Ilya "CHIRA_JUNIOR" Chirtsov
- Offlane: Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf
- Soft support: Martin "Saksa" Sazdov
- Hard support: Arman "Malady" Orazbayev
In its analysis of the signing, Esports.gg described ATF as a position 3 player able to play either aggressively or greedily, and noted that during his time with Team Falcons he often ranked among the top three players on his team in net worth. The outlet said that pairing him with watson, a carry known for scaling into the late game, gives Team Yandex two farm-dependent cores, placing more of the burden of creating space on the rest of the lineup, including CHIRA_JUNIOR in the mid lane.
Esports.gg also pointed out that ATF's former Falcons teammate Oliver "skiter" Lepko now plays for Aurora Gaming, another tier-one team in the PGL Wallachia Season 9 field.
