Saksa: "ATF still lets us play our way and tries not to interfere too much in the game"

Team Yandex support Martin 'Saksa' Sazdov, in an interview after the victory over LGD Gaming in the quarterfinals of the upper bracket of BLAST SLAM VIII, spoke about the difficulties that the team faced in the match, and also spoke about communication in the updated lineup and playing together with Ammar 'ATF' al-Assaf.

Most likely, the difficulties were in the drafts. We couldn't decide what we wanted to do. The opponents looked more prepared, and they had good ideas on the second map. But in the third game we were able to adapt to them and it became easier to play.

It seems to me that players still do not communicate so actively. I think we are still in the process of adapting to each other and the players are afraid to take up more space. ATF still lets us play our way and tries not to interfere too much with the game. We try to communicate more and gradually realize that we can allow each other to take up more space. We tell each other: “Guys, speak more English.”

[What about the language barrier on the team? ] Some guys try to remind me to speak more English because we have ATF now. We need to adapt to this and communicate in English more and more.

ATF is a completely different playstyle than DM. He is more aggressive and wants to focus on the strong lane, putting pressure on his enemies. If we talk about the pool of heroes, then, frankly speaking, it is huge. He just sometimes doesn't want to play certain characters for some reason. So I think sometimes he needs a little convincing. But I'm just trying to understand what heroes he wants to play and in what situations this can be realized.

It will definitely be a tougher opponent. They are the favorite of the tournament. We may not be in as good shape as we expected. Let's see how it goes. PARIVISION is a favorite, but I like to surprise the audience.

Previously, Jake 'SirActionSlacks' Kanner gave reasons for watching BLAST SLAM VIII. The presenter noted that Team Yandex is very fun to watch.