OG ATF Explains Why He Stopped Dropping Mantles of Intelligence in the Enemy Base

OG’s young offlaner Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf has gained a reputation as a player who likes to taunt and throw banter at his opponents. As part of his teasing inside the game, which has received both positive and negative reactions, he drops Mantles of Intelligence just outside the enemy's base when his team is on the verge of winning. ATF was not seen following this tradition in the recent win against Tundra Esports, and the reason why was subsequently asked in the post-match winner's interview. ATF said that other players had already replicated this practice and that he therefore no longer liked it.

ATF does not like dropping Mantles of Intelligence anymore

In the third game of the series against Tundra Esports in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Western Europe (WEU) 2021-22 Regional Finals, OG won a massive teamfight in the enemy base at just 21 minutes, finding itself cruising to victory. In contrast to his teammates who took the Barracks and retreated to other lanes in the game as the tier 2 towers remained, ATF, as usual, walked over to just outside of Tundra Esports' Fountain and started high fiving. Unlike many other times in the past, he was not buying and dropping Mantles of Intelligence.

“I think it became old and now people start doing it so I don’t like it anymore,” ATF said during the post-match winner’s interview in response to why he wasn't seen dropping Mantles of Intelligence.

With a subtle smile on his face, ATF responded when asked if he should copyright this practice of dropping Mantles,” Maybe maybe, we will see. Who knows?”

Since his initial rise to popularity as a pubstar and then as OG's new offlane, ATF has developed a reputation as a player fond of tips, all-chat, dropping items, and other ways to tease opponents while playing in both official and pub games. A notable reaction to this came from The International 10 (TI10) champion Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk. When Tour 1 of the DPC was on, Yatoro said OG was a good team, but he disliked their behavior in official games. He also sarcastically said that ATF types 'GG' way too fast before he has a chance to drop Mantles of Intelligence.

ATF describes his preparations for the Gaimin Gladiators matchup

Later today in the lower bracket final of the DPC WEU Regional Finals, ATF and OG will face off against Gaimin Gladiators. As for his specific preparation for that game, the player said that he only practices by playing ranked matches.

“I mean I don’t know about preparation. I just go now, play ranked and tomorrow is like the same day, like any other day. I just treat officials and scrims like they are ranked and just play the game. Nothing new for me.” he said.

The winner of this series will compete against Team Liquid in the grand final of the WEU DPC Regional Finals. The winning team of the event will receive $50,000 USD in prize money and 250 DPC points.