In under two months since they made their debut in the Dota 2 space, the Saudi Arabian organisation Team Falcons has already established itself as the strongest competitor coming from the MENA region.
January was a month filled to the brim with regional qualifiers in the Dota 2 scene. Teams from seven different regions had their chance at qualifying at three upcoming LAN tournaments, each boasting an impressive $1,000,000 prize pool.
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) finally got its own regional slot towards the end of last year, when ESL hosted qualifiers for ESL One Kuala Lumpur. Around the same time the qualifiers were about to start, Team Falcons announced their entry in the Dota 2 space with a quite interesting roster.
Team Falcons has a mix of seasoned veterans, TI winners, newcomers, and established names that put together delivered results almost instantly. When the team was announced, it was clear that Falcons have one of the most skilled and talented rosters. The question, however, was “will these personalities mesh well together?”
How Team Falcons roster was formed
Immediately after the team was announced, Falcons proceeded to crush the ESL One Kuala Lumpur qualifiers and just before flying to Malaysia, they also claimed their very first title at the online Pinnacle: 25-Year Anniversary Show. The tournament in Kuala Lumpur was the very first LAN tournament for the newly formed roster and the first real test. Despite coming to KL just two weeks after the roster was formed, Falcons placed second in a group that featured the likes of Tundra, Team Liquid, and LGD Gaming.
While the players were focused on much-needed practice during the tournament, we had the chance to talk with the team manager, Mohammad "AfrOmoush" Abu Al Eis. For those who have followed or played Dota 2 for a while now, AfrOmoush should sound familiar. He is a former pro who mostly competed in North America. Now he is back home in Jordan and has become the Team Falcons manager.
It all started with ATF
“Falcons contacted me saying that they want to build a Tier 1 team. They literally told me ‘we want to build one of the best teams’” AfrOmoush explained to us when we met in Kuala Lumpur. From his initial conversation with Falcons, he understood that he needed to build a perfect team. So who else in the Dota 2 world would one go to talk to and try to get on his perfect team if not Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi and Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan? However, neither of the two could commit to the new Falcons project, so the next person AfrOmoush went to talk to was the young prodigy Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf.
At only 18 years old, ATF has already established himself as one of the best offlaners in the world. He boasts top 4 placements at some of the biggest Dota 2 tournaments, a Major title won with OG, and a top 8 finish at his very first TI appearance.
While others tried to integrate ATF into their team and make him fit with an already existing roster, AfrOmoush took the exact opposite approach and decided to build the Falcons’ Dota 2 team around him.
“I wanted to build the team around him so we gave him a free hand and he started to look for players that wanted to play with,” Team Falcons manager told us.
From there, ATF spoke with Oliver "skiter" Lepko and Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu, who came together at Falcons and they brought Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen in too. For the midlane position, the group was looking at multiple options, and one of them was the Team Nemiga youngster Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak.
They agreed that he was the best fit as everyone who was now on the Falcons roster had previously played with Malr1ne. He stood in for Tundra when skiter and Sneyking were there and he previously played with ATF in the Creepwave stack when both of them were making their debut —so there was no question about whether he would fit or not with the rest of the team members.
One of the main objectives that AfrOmoush had when he started to build the roster was to get a team that would not look like a stack. “I wanted a group of players that know each other and have previous experience together,” he explained, and about two months after the line-up was finalized, it looks like he indeed found quite the perfect combo.
Three out of three qualifiers sweep, LANs next
“We are here to conquer DOTA 2” bluntly stated Team Falcons when they announced their entry into the scene. Since then, they have won every MENA qualifier possible. Only this past month, they’ve claimed the only qualifier spot available in their region for BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024, DreamLeague Season 22, and ESL One Birmingham 2024.
BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 is the first LAN of the year. It’s set to start this coming Sunday, on the 4th of February, where Team Falcons' journey will truly begin. From there, the team will be competing from a bootcamp in the DreamLeague Season 22, which starts on the 25th of February. In April, the fans will get to see Team Falcons in action on LAN again, at ESL One Birmingham.
“Building a new team is kind of a gamble because you don't know how it is going to do, but it seems like what we've built here works out,” said Team Falcons’ manager after seeing the roster in action at their very first LAN.
The final puzzle piece: Aui_2000
Since December, when they were competing at ESL One Kuala Lumpur, Falcons look even stronger, judging by how they performed in all the qualifiers rounds last month. They also got new reinforcements by welcoming Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling in the coaching seat.
Aui_2000 needs no introduction. He is the only person in the scene to have won The International as an active player and as a coach. He has been the mastermind behind Tundra’s utter domination at TI11 and he is now reunited with skitter and Sneyking, who continue to be one of the deadliest safe lane duos. So, with Aui_2000 now joining Team Falcons, all eyes should be on this roster that might just do what they came here for, “to conquer Dota 2”.
headline picture credits: Adam Lakomy|ESL One
