Falcons Bench IGL kyxsan at IEM Rio; He Calls It ‘Unfair’

Falcons benched 25-year-old in-game leader Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski at the start of IEM Rio. In a 45-minute podcast interview, Falcons’ IGL kyxsan described the announcement as a shock and called the timing unfair. He said the roster had been promised more time to develop.

Kyxsan said he learned of the benching after arriving at the event, when he received a message from the team manager asking to talk. He described the message as having a tone that suggested bad news and said there had been no prior team discussion about roster changes.

He acknowledged Falcons’ results this year were below expectations but emphasized the project was intended to be long term. “I understand the decision, that we didn’t do the best this year and that at some point something has to change,” he said. He then added, “we were promised time and that this was something we wanted to do long term.” He also said there is no personal animosity with the organisation.

The timing of the benching affected kyxsan’s options. Because it happened at IEM Rio, he was unable to sign with another team before the Major roster lock. In his final vlog for the club, he said the news disrupted his sleep during the event and that jet lag made recovery harder.

Kyxsan pointed to the seven months he spent playing with Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin as evidence of progress. Over that period, the roster won 76 of 121 maps, missed playoffs twice and reached three grand finals. “We didn’t win a trophy, but most of the time we were playing good CS,” he said, citing those results as reasons he felt the roster deserved more time.

He noted Falcons have made similar roster moves before, referencing prior benchings of Emil “Magisk” Reif and Abdul “degster” Gasanov, but added he was still taken off guard when it happened to him.

Kyxsan discussed pressure from a frequently negative online community, expressed a desire to return to top-level competition as soon as possible and briefly outlined where he hopes to be in five years.

This interview is his first extended public comment since the club announced the benching. He reiterated that, despite disagreeing with the timing, he does not hold personal animosity toward the organisation and expects to continue his career in the scene.