After one of the most dramatic and unusual incidents at any Dota 2 event, a confrontation between Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev and Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf, the two players have squashed their beef – in part due to the intervention of Team Nigma founder and coach Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi acting as mediator.
On Oct. 6, news broke that a physical confrontation had allegedly taken place between ATF and SoNNeikO at PGL Wallachia Season 2 with the latter putting his arm around the former and refusing to let go. After the dust had settled, AVULUS, SoNNeikO’s team was saddled with a 110 second draft penalty, and both sides put out slightly conflicting statements.
Image Credit: Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev and Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf via X/Twitter
But it seems elder Dota 2 statesman KuroKy has stepped in to mediate the issues as a photo of the former Team Liquid TI champion flanked by the two players was posted online by both ATF and SoNNeikO.
In ATF’s post he kept things short and sweet:
“drama aside goodluck everyone its time to win.”
SoNNeikO’s post went into more detail:
“We resolved problem.
Thanks to KuroKy for helping us talk things out. As soon as we actually got the opportunity to talk, we could resolve the problem in just a couple of minutes. Next time I will be able to handle situations like that better.
Let’s play dota and have fun!”
It’s a positive end to what could have been an ugly and unfortunate incident in the Dota 2 world. The confrontation set the Dota 2 community alight and sparked discussion about cyber bullying, toxicity in-game and the relationship between in-game trash talk and real-world repercussions.
In the end though, a potentially harmful confrontation has been turned into a teaching moment, potentially for all parties.
The result is also a big win for KuroKy, cementing him as a peacemaker and positive influence in the Dota 2 scene – even if Team Nigma’s in-game performance at PGL Wallachia Season 2 couldn’t match the success of his mediation skills.
Team Nigma were eliminated in 12-14th place and eliminated from contention via the modified swiss system after one forfeit, one win, and two losses. The FF came after travel delays affected Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi and Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan.
