Degster ready to play immediately after Falcons bench

Abdul “degster” Gasanov, benched by Falcons in April 2025 and currently a free agent, says he is fit and ready to join a roster with no long warm‑up despite roughly a year away from tier‑1 events. He discussed his status and recent career in an interview with Duncan “Thorin” Shields.

Degster left Spirit in 2022 after a semi‑final run at the Antwerp Major. He then had spells with OG and HEROIC before signing with the Saudi Falcons at the start of 2025 alongside Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski and René “TeSeS” Madsen. He was in the Falcons starting lineup for under four months before Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov replaced him.

He acknowledged he struggled for form during much of his time with Falcons but finished that stint by earning an MVP award during Falcons’ title run at PGL Bucharest.

On the benching, degster said he accepted the organization’s decision and raised the reported interest in m0NESY with team leadership during the squad’s first bootcamp. “I understand Falcons. I don’t have anything bad to say,” he said, adding, “The only thing I didn’t expect was for it to happen before the [Austin] Major.”

Since being benched and entering free agency in December, degster reported he has not received a serious tier‑1 offer. He described one interested team as lacking the budget, and said several top‑20 or top‑15 organizations made inquiries that did not develop into formal talks. About nine months earlier he was contacted to stand in for HEROIC, but travel plans to visit family in Dagestan prevented him from taking that opportunity.

Degster said he has continued training and remains motivated to return to competition. “I’m not just available; I’m still in shape. I’m still capable of playing. I still grind,” he said, adding he would need little time to slot into a new team. He acknowledged that being out of regular competition can cost an AWPer awareness of small meta details but described those issues as fixable.

His résumé includes the 2022 Antwerp Major semi‑final run with Spirit and the PGL Bucharest MVP with Falcons. Degster said he is ready to rejoin active competition and is seeking opportunities to return to a starting roster.