KuroKy Discusses ATF’s Addition to Nigma Galaxy & Missing TI For 2 Years

Nigma Galaxy’s captain Kuro "KuroKy" Takhasomi was pulled aside for a winner’s post-match interview following its important victory in Division I of the Western Europe Dota Pro Circuit 2023 (WEU DPC 2023): Winter Tour against Team Secret to remain in Division I for the upcoming Spring Tour.

During the interview, the German support player talked about the team’s decision to recruit offlaner Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf as a carry and coach Daniel "ImmortalFaith" Moza. He also explained the team’s situation after missing out on two consecutive TIs (The International) in the past two years.

KuroKy is grateful for his teammates’ belief in him

During the winner’s post match interview, KuroKy started off by talking about the team’s decision to recruit coach Daniel "ImmortalFaith" Moza. “So, ImmortalFaith reached out to me after TI11 and we decided that we wanted to try new things. We had a good run with Roman [rmN-], he is one of my best friends but changes were needed sometimes. ” he said.

He added on by talking about the controversial decision of picking offlaner Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf to replace Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi in the carry role as the latter went on a hiatus to focus on recovery. He noted that ATF had offers from different teams, however the player decided to play for KuroKy’s outfit. 

“As for Ammar [ATF], he was interested to play for us but at the same time he had multiple offers from other teams. However, he ended up playing for us and Miracle- decided to take a break. Personality-wise, he’s a vocal player and he has his own ideas on how to play the game so we just rolled with it.”

He then went on to explain about the team’s feelings after missing out on two consecutive TIs (The International) in the past two years, saying that the morale of the team was understandably low and that he would allow his teammates to pursue other opportunities. “When we failed to qualify for TI10, that hit us very hard because that was the first time we ever missed a TI. However, there was never a moment where it felt like anyone wanted to leave the team. Obviously, we had the talk and whoever wants to stay, they can stay.”

However, he also expressed his gratitude for his fellow teammates as they chose to not abandon despite being given the opportunity. Additionally, he noted that the team held onto hope that Nigma Galaxy could be title contenders once again.

“My teammates are amazing players, I think they can play for any team in the world and be successful. But they decided to stay and try to prove the doubters wrong. We all thought that  it’s going to be a hard 1 or 2 years but we’re trying to make it work. We’re holding onto that small hope that we could be on top again.”

While Nigma Galaxy will remain in Division I after its victory against Team Secret, the team still has its final match of the tour against Entity on 29th January.