Cover-Credits:
With the ESL One Berlin Major 2023 coming to a close, teams have already started to make changes, with Nigma Galaxy being among the first. Following the departure of midlaner Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan from the active roster earlier today, the safelaner of the team Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, has also left as per information available on the Dota 2 Majors Registration Page. After a month on the inactive roster, ATF's time with Nigma is coming to an end, an official announcement is still awaited. The roster changes come after Nigma had a prolonged period of poor performances in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC).
ATF has left Nigma Galaxy as per Valve’s Majors Registration Page
Immediately following SumaiL's departure, the Dota 2 Majors Registration Page showed that ATF had been removed from the team.
Due to the departures of the two core players, Nigma's roster has been reduced to three players.
TBD
TBD
Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov
Maroun "GH" Merhej
Kuro "KuroKy" Takhasomi
ATF joined Nigma after The International 11 (TI11), replacing Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi, who had taken a break to focus on his health. While ATF knows his way around the offlane, many in the Dota 2 community were surprised to see him play as the safelaner for Nigma.
While Nigma's roster changed once again, its struggles continued in the games, as the team finished sixth in Tour 1 of the DPC 2023 without producing much threat. It wasn't very different in Tour 2 as well, as Nigma slipped to the eighth spot and was relegated to Division II.
There were even attempts to swap roles and try new playstyles, but Western Europe (WEU) proved to be too challenging for the team.
ATF was placed on the inactive roster before the DreamLeague S19 season began. Miracle- returned for the tournament, but the team's results did not improve with this change either.
Now that ATF and SumaiL are gone, Nigma fans will be anxious to find out how the team will restructure in the future. While the core group, consisting of some of the most decorated Dota 2 players, has remained together, success has eluded them for way too long now with subpar performances in both the DPC 2021-22 and DPC 2023.
Meanwhile, as SumaiL has already settled into Team Aster until The International 12, it remains to be seen where ATF will head for the final Tour of the DPC 2023.
