ATF: "I've sacrificed school, my social life, and my health to finally reach to this point"

Thank you. To be honest, it feels amazing to lift the Aegis. The emotions really hit me more before and after the win. Overall, it feels incredibly good and is probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.

For Malr1ne, Cr1t, and myself, it was super emotional. It was our first time winning TI, especially for Cr1t, it meant so much because he’s been chasing this for nearly a decade. Nothing can be more fruitful than this.

For Sneyking and Skiter, it was different. They were happy, but a bit more composed. You could say they were kind of used to it, having won one title already.

That said, during the Grand Finals, they really showed up. That last game might have been one of the best games they've ever played. So even if they weren’t showing it emotionally, they definitely were feeling it.

They were proud and happy, but had we not won, it would’ve felt like a disappointment. My family has sacrificed a lot for me to reach this point. They came just to watch me, not to enjoy TI as fans.

When we lost TI last year, I was really disappointed in myself. My mental state was so bad that I didn’t care about anything else, but to win TI. So finally winning it meant everything.

I have sacrificed school, college, university, whatever you want to call it. I have no social life, and I’ve sacrificed my health too. Playing this much Dota isn’t enjoyable. In 2019, I was just 3k MMR, and had to grind really hard to reach this point.

My family helped a lot. My brothers had to travel with me because I was under 18 and couldn’t travel alone from Jordan. My mother helped with visas and a lot of personal stuff. They did a lot behind the scenes, even more than I probably realize.

I’ve learned a lot since joining Team Falcons. When you play with experienced players, you start to see the game from different perspectives. You pick up things you never thought about before.

My teammates are really smart, so it’s easy to listen, understand, and execute what they say. But in the end, as I always say: I carry the noobs, and I win because I’m good.

You could joke and say the coach has a negative impact, or perhaps even zero, but honestly, without Aui, it would’ve been much harder to improve. Everything became easier once he became our coach, right from drafting to change in mindset.

The proof is simple: before he joined, we were getting top 6. After he came in, we started winning every qualifier and tournament with ease. I can’t list every specific thing he did, but he has made a big difference.

For me, it was picking Ursa in the Grand Finals. That hero is one of my best, and being able to play it on such a big stage was really special.

I was really comfortable with the hero, but I didn’t know how good it would actually be. It’s not a typical offlane hero. I just focused on my own game. Basically, it was a very weird pick because if my team didn’t perform well in their lanes, the hero could be useless. But they all showed up, so I just farmed while they made plays. It worked out perfectly in the end.

Honestly speaking, I never felt like we were losing throughout the series. All of us were comfortable in every game. We just took it one game at a time, and never thought of things like, “This is it, one more loss and we’re done.” That mindset didn’t affect us. Even in Game 5, where some of us didn’t play our best, we stayed focused and didn’t panic.

My goal is to farm as much money as possible. I don’t really have a specific tournament goal or a number of TIs I want to win. Of course, we want to win everything, but for me, it’s not about counting titles anymore. I just want to keep winning and make as much money as possible.