PGL Wallachia Season 2 has started not only with high stakes in-game confrontations, but also with a physical fight between two popular players, Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf from Team Falcons and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev from AVULUS. The event started with the usual pub banter and then went offline, turning into an actual fight that stirred up the Dota 2 community and its members’ opinions.
Even after the statements from PGL and both teams involved, there is still a lot of discussion regarding who was at fault, which has been widely discussed on social media.
What happened between SoNNeikO and ATF?
The first indication of a problem was when PGL imposed a Level-3 penalty on AVULUS for the entire series against Team Falcons. The punishment caused AVULUS to lose 110 seconds of bonus drafting time. However, it was not immediately clear what exactly had happened in this penalty and the details behind it and thus the community was left guessing.
Soon after that, Team Falcons and Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf came up with their side of the story. As per Falcons’ statement, SoNNeikO was the one who initiated the fight with ATF in a hotel lobby. The story has it that SoNNeikO tried to embrace ATF, which resulted in a fight. Although the specifics of the event are still unclear, the event has caused a lot of debate, both among the audience and players.
Pro Player Reactions: A Divided Community
Such drama is not unheard of in Dota 2, but it is quite unusual when things go beyond words being said. This event can be compared with the shoulder check between N0tail and Cr1t- at TI8, but even in this case, there were no fights.
The problem of toxic trash-talking has been a hot button for a long time in the Dota 2 community. While some players consider it as just part of the game and some form of fun, others believe that it goes overboard and is similar to bullying. This debate has only been fueled by the SoNNeikO vs. ATF incident, and key personalities have chimed in.
One of the most memorable has been between David “Parker” Nicho Flores and Quinn “Quinn” Callahan on X, which used to be Twitter. Parker also took time to condemn those people who use computers to insult others, stating that such people would not dare to do it to the face of the person they are insulting. On the other hand, Quinn appeared to support ATF arguing that there is a clear distinction between verbal abuse during a pub brawl and threats of physical violence. He even went to an extent of arguing that PGL should have penalized AVULUS more severely and even disqualify the team.
Their discussion then turned to insults about each other’s previous behavior, which only proved how contentious this event has become.
The General Consensus and iNSaNia’s Take
However, a more balanced view came from TI Champion Aydin “iNSaNia” Sarkohi. As iNSaNia said, of course, trash-talking is already bad enough, but when things are taken to the physical level, it is much worse. This sentiment seems to be common among many in the community—while things may get out of hand in the game, and people may say things they later regret, there is no excuse for violence.
But there is still disappointment that no penalty was given to ATF, who, in the opinion of many, initiated the shooting. Although SoNNeikO’s actions are considered wrong, players and fans believe that ATF should have suffered some form of retribution for leaving the game.
This is not the first time ATF has been in the middle of controversy or the first time he has been accused of misconduct. His prior confrontation with Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, which consisted of an exchange of insults, did not end with a fight but was still unpleasant for some. I get the feeling that ATF is always on the borderline between teasing and aggression, and this time it is no different.
The Need for Professionalism and Stricter Consequences
The SoNNeikO vs. ATF fight shows that there is an increasing lack of professionalism in the Dota 2 competitive scene. As much as trash talking is considered part of the culture, there is a thin line between talking and actions that are considered to be unsportsmanlike. As Dota 2 remains to be an esport, such cases make us realize that there should be and must be rules to be followed.
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