It’s been a controversial start to PGL Wallachia Season 2, as pub beef goes beyond in-game trash-talking, with physical altercation that involved Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev from Team Falcon and AVULUS, respectively, grabbing headlines.
While the tournament organizer, PGL and Team Falcons have issued statements, there is an ongoing debate about which side was ‘in the right.’
What happened between SoNNeikO and ATF at PGL Wallachia S2?
Image Credit: PGL/Sebastian Pandelache
The first announcement about the SoNNeikO and ATF incident to reach the public was PGL’s press release on AVULUS being issued a Level-3 penalty for the entire series they have against Falcons. That’s -110 seconds bonus drafting time, but that’s really it as far as information about the incident went.
That was until Team Falcons and Ammar provided their own statements on the matter. Team Falcons put forward a version of events that seemed to suggest that SoNNeikO was the instigator due in-game pub beef. Allegedly SoNNeikO and ATF incident started when the former player placed his arm around the latter while they were waiting at the hotel lobby. A physical confrontation followed, which we’ve summarized in our article linked above.
What the pros have to say about SoNNeikO vs. ATF?
We’ve perhaps not had such spicy Dota 2 drama since N0tail got shoulder barged by Cr1t- during TI8, but never a confrontation leading from trash talking to real world physical confrontations. Nevertheless, toxic trash talking and beef have always been a hot debate among Dota 2 players, with some saying it’s just harmless words, and others equating in-game trash talking with real-world insults and cyberbullying.
One ongoing debacle that has been going on X/Twitter is between David “Parker” Nicho Flores and Quinn “Quinn” Callahan. While Parker’s take on the whole SoNNeikO and ATF incident is that only cowards insult behind a computer screen and not face-to-face, Quinn seemingly sides Ammar instead. In Quinn’s posts, he shared that there are major differences between physical threats and some words in a pub match. Additionally, he believed PGL’s punishment was insufficient, and AVULUS should have been disqualified from PGL Wallachia S2.
The thread between Parker and Quinn goes on quite a bit, but at the end, both players seemingly began trash talking one another’s past actions.
While pros have their different takes on the incident, many Dota 2 players seem to agree to TI Champion, Aydin “iNSaNia” Sarkohi’s consensus: While trashtalking is toxic and bad, getting physical is worse.
SoNNeikO’s physical altercations are never justifiable, regardless of the reasons. However, many players are also unsatisfied that PGL did not impose any form of punishment to ATF, who technically started the beef.
This isn’t the first time ATF has had a similar beef with other Dota 2 pro players. Infamously, his beef with Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek involved vulgar language in-game, albeit it didn’t reach an altercation. In such instances, ATF seems to take it as harmless banter. Unfortunately, not every toxic action is banter to another person, and ATF seemingly barely got away scot-free during the SoNNeikO vs ATF incident.
In these instances of conflicts that clash with the ideals of professionalism and sportsmanship in Dota 2, it would be ideal for tournament organizers to take action to ensure adherence.
For more PGL Wallachia S2 coverage, stick with Esports.net. And if you think that this incident will spark a fire in ATF, perhaps you fancy your chances betting on Team Falcons at this event?
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