ATF joins Team Yandex to replace DM

Team Yandex now have two The International champions on its roster in Saksa and ATF.

Eastern European Dota 2 powerhouse Team Yandex announced on Thursday (17 September) that they have signed Ammar “ATF” Assaf as their new offlaner to replace Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin, who has been placed on the inactive roster.

ATF joins Yandex as a free agent following Team Falcons' exit from the competitive Dota 2 scene earlier this month. He was a key figure in the Falcons roster that recorded the most games played together for a single five-man squad in the history of Dota 2 at a whopping 799 games. They won 523 of their games together, which also makes them the game's most successful five-man squad ever with a whopping 65.46% win rate.

ATF is now the second member of the former Falcons roster to join a new team following the organisation's departure from Dota 2. Former Falcons carry player Oliver “Skiter” Lepko recently signed with another Eastern European contender in Aurora Gaming.

ATF's addition also brings the number of The International (TI) champions in Yandex's roster to two, with TI 2025 champion ATF now joining TI 2022 champion Martin “Saksa” Sazdov.

With ATF joining the team, here's how Yandex's roster will look like for the 2026-2027 competitive Dota 2 season:

Yandex look to improve with signing of ATF following third place finish at TI 2026

Yandex only entered the Dota 2 scene in June 2025, then grew into one of the strongest teams in the scene during the 2025-2026 season. They won three Tier 1 tournaments and finished in the Top 3 in six others. In TI 2026, they overcame a slow start in the Group Stage to finish in the Top 3, losing to eventual champions Team Spirit in the lower bracket finals.

With ATF now in the fold, Yandex will be looking to improve on their performance in the past season and once again challenge for the Aegis of Champions. Yandex are set to debut their new roster in PGL Wallachia Season 9, the first Tier 1 tournament of the 2026-2027 season, on 19 September.

Yandex's benching of DM and subsequent signing of ATF is the latest major roster change in the ongoing post-TI 2026 roster shuffle. Check out GosuGamers' post-TI 2026 roster shuffle tracker to keep track of how the competitive Dota 2 landscape will look like for the 2026-2027 season.