Abdul "degster" Gasanov and OG are going head to head with FaZe at BLAST Fall Finals in Copenhagen, where the Russian AWP'er will have to perform at the highest level again to fight off Finn "karrigan" Andersen and his troops. 

We spoke with degster on Media Day, where he explained his thoughts on the future of the team. The Russian AWPer also talks about his time in OG where he has been for four months now, after levering Spirit back in July. Here the Russian AWPer explains that he has high beliefs in the squad and that OG has the right surroundings for him to develop as a player and as a person. 

 - I think that in OG I can be the best player in the world, we can be the best team in the world and we can win tournaments. 

You can watch the entire interview with degster down below.

You can bet on BLAST Fall Finals and OG's next game via our betting partners below:

degster

In June this year, OG announced the departure of their star AWPer Abdul “degster” Gasanov due to “personal reasons”. Following the exit, degster has commented on the reasons why on several occasions, pointing towards a [link:{"url":"https://escorenews.com/en/csgo/article/35480-i-was-told-that-spirit-will-fit-my-ideas-but-later-they-declined-degster-on-why-he-left-matchfixing-in-cs-go-and-his-upbringing","isNewTab":true,"text":"different view of how to play the game"}].

[slugORMA:{"slug":"sitdown-with-degster-og-bought-starplayer","isNewTab":true}]

Now the other side of the story has decided to spill the beans with Spirit’s Robert "Patsi" Isyanov accusing degster of lying and being a tough individual to work with, in an [link:{"url":"https://escorenews.com/en/csgo/article/40291-degster-said-we-didn-t-give-him-freedom-but-you-watch-the-games-and-see-that-he-does-the-same-things-patsi-about-rio-major-degster-s-leave-and-his-public-claims","isNewTab":true,"text":"interview "}]with escorenews.com.

- Abdul wanted to fulfil his "I want." There were problems with it all the time. Like, we play the game and ask him to do something the team needed, and we lose. The next day there is a team talk: "Guys, let's play for me, we won't win like that." It was very strange. It certainly did not help our work and did not speed up the process of team development.

- I wouldn't say anything about him if he had not started saying untrue things in interviews. If you read them, then there were always very strange statements about us, like: “The old team did not give me the freedom that I want. And in the new team, I do everything I can.” But you watch the games and see that he does the same things, Patsi has stated to escorenews.com.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Patsi_Adela-Sznajder__dcod9v","originalWidth":5472,"originalHeight":3078,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Adela Sznajder, ESL","alt":"Patsi"}]

According to Patsi, degster didn’t say goodbye to the team and “just left the chat and that's it.”

- He said that the team didn't work as hard as he did, but he was the first to leave the practice during the Major. It was another very strange moment. We would have kept this between ourselves if it weren't for so many interviews from him. There were at least five of them where he told a lie, an outright lie.

- Maybe it's wrong to do that in public, but I can't leave it like that. Everyone will think that he is very cool, and we are the bad guys, Patsi has stated to escorenews.com.

Patsi

Spirit

Today’s match between OG and IHC came way closer than many expected, however, in the end, it was still the favourites led by Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic who ended up on the winning side of things.

That means OG stay alive at IEM Rio with a confident 2-0 victory, while the Mongolian underdogs on the other hand are eliminated from the $1.25 Million tournament. OG is set to play again tomorrow in the swiss format, where they will go up against another 2-2 team to determine their fate.

OG – IHC 2-0 | IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage

16-11 (Inferno) | {cflag:RU} degster – 1.59 Rating / 28-15 K-D / 101.5 ADR

16-14 (Ancient) | {cflag:RU} degster – 1.31 Rating / 27-18 K-D / 73.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Abdul “degster” Gasanov – 1.44 Rating / 55-33 K-D / 86.8 ADR

Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov and OG lost against FURIA earlier today, where OG once again was struck by technical issues. Yesterday OG had to wait for more than an hour to restart their match against Grayhound, which clearly has caused frustration for the Russian sniper, who spoke about the issues after the FURIA match.

- I have played the last three Majors now. I remember people telling me, that PGL Majors was bad. But guys, I played the first game, where we stayed for two hours with technical problems. And right now we played a game, where my teammate crashed at the start of the round, and we are told, that we can't replay the round because we got damaged at the start of the round. 

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The OG player also talked about the issues with the microphones, when they played on the stage in front of the crowd at the Riocentro Arena.

- The microphones we have playing on the stage don't work sometimes. We spoke with Nexa today on Overpass, and sometimes we can't hear him. So when we take a tactical pause we tell him to just scream. Because otherwise the microphone just eats some words from him and we don't understand him. So he started to scream because otherwise, we could not hear our in-game leader, degster told Pley.gg.

You can see the full interview with degster down below.

ESL has since responded to degster's comments on Twitter.

International roster seems to be the new normal in the professional world of CS:GO. With FaZe being the first team to perhaps accomplish consistent success with such an international roster, many teams have now opted for the international route as it allows teams to bring in exactly the player that is needed, no matter the nationality of that given player. 

A team that has also taken the international route is OG. Since bringing in their new star player in "degster", OG have looked incredibly cohesive and a scary opponent for almost any team to face. 

After beating FaZe yesterday, OG continued their strong form by taking down the iconic Danes of Astralis today and securing a spot in the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Finals event. We spoke with "degster" about OG's recent performances and asked him about the future of OG as a team: 

To hear more from one of the most talented AWP'ers in the world after having just beaten Astralis, you can watch the entire interview down below: 

The North Americans from Complexity have been sent home to the states after losing 2-0 against OG in the elimination match at BLAST Premier Fall Groups. OG, on the other hand, is through to the next round where they will take on FaZe.

Despite presenting a strong fight on OG’s map pick of Ancient, Complexity ended up being dominated massively on the second map giving up a tame performance against a well-playing Abdul “degster” Gasanov, who led OG to the decisive map victory on Overpass. The Russian AWPer rounded off the Bo3 series with a stellar 1.49 Rating giving his rival AWPer Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli an extremely tough battle.

OG – Complexity 2-0 | BLAST Premier Fall Groups

16-13 (Ancient) | {cflag:PL} f1ku – 1.23 Rating / 25-19 K-D / 88.3 ADR

16-4 (Overpass) | {cflag:RU} degster – 1.91 Rating / 24-9 K-D / 100.7 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Abdul "degster" Gasanov - 1.49 Rating / 47-27 K-D / 89.5

compLexity Gaming

We had the chance to sit down with OG’s newest member in Abdul “degster” Gasanov, who is currently preparing for their opening match against Vitality at BLAST Fall Groups with the rest of the OG squad in Copenhagen.

During the summer there were multiple offers for the 21-year-old Russian, who impressed widely and gained a lot of attention with his stand-in performance at BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon. In our interview with degster, he shares everything regarding the chaotic summer, where a lot of teams tried to get him on their roster, and much more.

Watch the full interview with degster right here:

OG has secured themselves the final spot of IEM Rio Europe RMR after a win against the "Portuguese Family" in a 2-0 match with victories on Vertigo (19-16) and Dust2 (16-8).

The win at the qualifier made Abdul "degster" Gasanov's first event as an OG player very successful. degster has been building upon the team's 3-4th place finish at the BLAST Premier Spring Final when the AWPer helped OG win over teams like Natus Vincere and ENCE.

The next big event for OG is the BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 which is held from Aug 19th to Aug 28th. The OG squad is in the same group as Vitality, OG, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Astralis. 

A new CS:GO silly season is upon us after the conclusion of the first part of the 2022 season. The player break is known for presenting several prominent transfers and roster moves as teams seek to rebuild or upgrade their lineup - this year looks to be no different. 

In this article we’ve tried to compile all the transfer moves in CS:GO to keep you updated on all the many changes. Check it out down below. 

Sanjar "neaLaN" İshakov and Jadan "HexT" Postma will replace Stewie2k and Rush at EG.

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The prolific American starplayer could not make it work as a player for Evil Geniuses. The former Major winner will now focus his time on content creation and streaming for the NA Organization. 

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Complexity bench Junior and signs hallzerk

After a disappointing first half of 2022 the North American Organization has switched out their AWPer. Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli will be the new face of Complexity, where he will pick up the "big green". The Norwegian sniper joins after a two-year stint at Dignitas.

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A long period on the bench has now come to an end for François "⁠AMANEK⁠" Delaunay, with the Frenchman transferring from G2 to LDLC. The move will see the 28-year-old player drop down to the lower tiers of CS:GO, however, it will also grand him more official playing time on the server, which he hasn't seen much off this year. 

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Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski missing out on BLAST Premier Spring Lisbon ended up being more costly for the Polish AWPer than first expected. Because his temporary stand-in Abdul “degster” Gasanov did not settle with one event for OG, as they decided to buy the Russian star from Spirit.

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Asger "AcilioN" Larsen and Hugo "Chawzyyy" Günther are no longer in Apeks’ plans after the Norwegian team decided to bench the IGL and young rifler. AcilioN didn’t really achieve to lift the roster under his leadership, nor did Chawzyyy manage to carry out his otherwise high potential.

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GODSENT trio acquired by coldzera and co.

Epitácio “TACO” de Melo, Bruno “latto” Rebelatto, and Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer were all signed by 00Nation in an immense rebuild after benching malbsMd, VSM, and leo_drk. That means the two Major winners TACO and coldzera will reunite after a long period apart.

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Jakob "Jabbi" Nygaard rounds off Heroic’s roster with the agreement coming to place between the Norwegian organization and Copenhagen Flames. The 18-year-old rifler will replace Ismail “refrezh” Ali who got demoted following to this transfer.

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After parting ways with star AWPer Abdul “degster” Gasanov in mid-June, Spirit had to find themselves a new AWPer. The Russian team decided to bring in the 17-year-old Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov to take over the big green, who most recently has played for HellRaisers.

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It only took six months before Liquid signing the legendary Frenchman Richard "shox" Papillon and his later benching on the roster. The 30-year-old veteran couldn’t find his footing among NA players like EliGE, NAF and oSee, which became quite evident on the server for both shox and the team.

Liquid also decided to remove Eric “adreN” Hoag, their head coach at the time.

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Ismail "refrezh" Ali has been moved to the sideline at Heroic after a 16-month tenure with Casper “cadiaN” Møller and company. The move came only a couple of days after a report stating that Heroic are set to sign CPH Flames rifler Jakob “Jabbi” Nygaard.

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Ten days ago OG announced the transfer of the profiled AWPer Abdul “degster” Gasanov after a successful BLAST Spring Final Lisbon campaign, where the 21-year-old Russian ended up as one of the top individual performers.

However, the thing with transfers is that there’s almost every time one person who comes out on the “losing side of things”. In this case, that person is Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski. [link:{"url":"https://www.dexerto.com/csgo/out-of-og-mantuu-can-start-playing-csgo-like-himself-again-1879912/","isNewTab":true,"text":"In an interview with Luis Mira and Dexerto"}], mantuu opens up about the benching and how he has experienced a lack of communication between him and OG, despite having represented the team since 2019. 

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In the interview, manutuu also touches on his own role on the server, while playing under the leadership of both Aleksib and nexa and how he wanted to “fix some things in himself” in order to fit in nexa’s playstyle.

You can read the entire interview right [link:{"url":"https://www.dexerto.com/csgo/out-of-og-mantuu-can-start-playing-csgo-like-himself-again-1879912/","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

mantuu

nexa

Aleksib

It was earlier rumored that Abdulkhalik 'degster' Gasanov would be joining OG, and the organization has now finally confirmed that he will be their new starting AWPer. The Russian will immediately be stepping into the shoes of the last standing member of the original OG squad; Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski.

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When 'degster' stood in for OG at BLAST Premier Spring Final in June he was massively successful. The 20-year-old star was the sixth highest-rated player at the event, and he led the team to 3rd-4th place, and almost to the final.

According to the two media outlets [link:{"url":"https://www.dexerto.com/csgo/sources-degster-set-to-join-og-1871810/","isNewTab":true,"text":"Dexerto"}] and [link:{"url":"https://www.1pv.fr/news/142038-og-to-replace-mantuu-with-degster","isNewTab":true,"text":"1pv.fr"}], Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski will be removed from OG’s starting lineup after having represented the team since December 2019.

The Polish AWPer will allegedly be replaced by the 20-year-old Abdul “degster” Gasanov, who played as a stand-in for OG at the recent BLAST Premier Spring Final in Lisbon – something he did with great success.

If OG decides to bench mantuu it means that there will be no players left from the original roster, which contained NBK, Aleksib, ISSA, valde and lastly mantuu. But despite being OG’s highest-rated player throughout 2022, it still looks like the organization has chosen to go for degster and his services.

Neither Spirit nor OG has confirmed or said anything publicly about the transfer.  

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/mantuu_xna8hr","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

OG's potential lineup would look like this:

{cflag:RS} Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković 

{cflag:IL} Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan 

{cflag:PL} Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski 

{cflag:DK} Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså 

{cflag:DK} Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen 

It was Portugal vs Dream Team at the showmatch before the Grand Final at BLAST Premier Spring Finals.

Playing on the "Dream Team" was degster, karrigan, m0NESY, ropz, and JACKZ, who went up against a Portuguese team where Ricardo "fox" Pacheco was leading the pack. The two teams played on the old Counter-Strike map Tuscan, which has been reworked since the good old 1.6 days.

You can see the highlights from the match here.

karrigan

m0NESY

JaCkz

ropz

There are few in that know as much about the world of Counter-Strike as Jacob "Pimp" Winneche. The former player and now CS:GO expert and analyst is one of the brightest minds behind the scenes of professional CS:GO and never fails to give a well-reasoned take on anything that revolves around the beautiful game of Counter-strike. 

We talked with "Pimp" shortly before the Grand Final between Natus Vincere and Vitality. When asked about the event in its whole and what player has impressed him the most, the answer was quite straightforward: 

When asked in further detail about what team should look into signing the talented Russian AWP'er, "Pimp" explains that there are few teams who wouldn't benefit from having such a dangerously skilled player as a part of their roster: 

When talking about major talents, currently on the transfer list it is difficult not to mention "YEKINDAR". When asked about the future of the talented rifler, "Pimp" sang his praises and explained just how big of an asset "YEKINDAR" can be for any roster: 

To hear more from our talk with CS:GO expert "Pimp" you can watch the entire exclusive interview down below: 

YEKINDAR

One of the hottest names currently within the professional CS:GO scene is without any doubt "degster". The 20-year-old Russian AWP'er has been putting up incredible numbers as of late and is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. After being benched at Team Spirit, many different teams have been rumored with the talented AWP'er. For the time being, he has been acting as a stand-in for the international OG roster at the ongoing BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 event. Having just been knocked out of the event in a semi-final brawl against Natus Vincere, we talked with "degster" in Lisbon, Portugal about OG's run. 

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An all-in-all happy "degster" explained that whilst it was, of course, a tough loss, he was just happy to see such a high level of Counter-Strike: 

When asked about his own current situation and his individual performance at the tournament, "degster" explained the following: 

To hear more about what the talented AWP'er "degster" had to say regarding his run with OG in Lisbon and his current situation as a free agent, you can watch the exclusive interview with him down below: 

Natus Vincere

While we wait for the playoffs to begin later today we have gathered some of the best clips from the tournament in Lisbon.

[twitchClip:VastCogentEggJebaited-5euhE3CjqeNaG8F2]

[twitchClip:FancyProudMallardBudBlast-BHJleoVkNCYIBiLY]

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degster has been a superb stand-in for OG. His good chemistry with flameZ has been visible through the many hardcore slaps, that he gives out to his new teammate.

[twitchClip:ExpensiveColorfulLaptopGivePLZ-EQweY0IC__RVcPHJ]

How about a running headshot entry from huNter?

[twitchClip:CarefulOutstandingCurryKappaRoss-A62Jbe3tzOx29Dk_]

Magisk made magic happen with his insane spray on Dust2.

[twitchClip:PiercingRichPorcupineHeyGuys-dvltsnR7obtpm5Uf]

BIG may be out of the tournament, but their wholesomeness belongs to the top!

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A beautiful ace from Misutaaa rounds of this list.

[twitchClip:VibrantSpunkyDogeUnSane-VkOPVSUw1g0UrcPY]

Magisk

huNter

Misutaaa

It has not been a year to remember so far for the fans of G2. But at BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon, the hopes of success for the team have been ignited again. The almost monumental victory against FaZe yesterday to qualify for the Semi-Finals has reminded everyone of the lethal firepower and raw talent that the team possesses.

With several clutches, Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov has been the talk of the town at the event, but looking deeper into the numbers reveals how dominating his Bosnian teammate Nikola "NiKo" Kovač has been. With an outstanding 1.41 rating after six maps, NiKo is leading the race to become the MVP of the tournament.

You can see more stats from the event down below:

Highest rated at BLAST Premier Spring Finals:

NiKo

s1mple

ZywOo

G2 Esports

Team Vitality

A spot in the semi-final at BLAST Premier Spring Final was on the line when ENCE and OG took to the server. 

The series began on OG's choice of Dust2, and early on it did not look good for 'nexa's troops. The OG boys had some trouble with their time management which lost them a couple of rounds early on, but as soon as they solved that problem they were extremely hot. Led by stand-in 'degster', OG grabbed ten rounds on the T side.

ENCE, led by 'Maden', managed to close the gap between the teams after the break, but OG persisted and narrowly won Dust2 at 16-13.

The action continued on Vertigo where the teams were neck-and-neck throughout the first fifteen rounds. ENCE, wanting to come back in the series, got the best start, but at halftime, it was anybody's game.

In what was a superb team effort, OG played an immaculate T side where they only dropped two rounds to the world's current #2 and secured the map at 16-9. 

OG have secured a place in the semi-finals while ENCE will have to play the quarter-finals.

ENCE - OG 0-2 | BLAST Premier Spring Finals - Lisbon

13-16 (Dust2) | {cflag:RU} degster - 1.51 Rating / 27-13 K-D / 89.8 ADR

9-16 (Vertigo) | {cflag:CZ} NEOFRAG - 1.45 Rating / 21-15 K-D / 95.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Abdul 'degster' Gasanov - 1.39 Rating / 48-28 K-D / 84.3 ADR

ENCE

In this video, Niels Christian "NaToSaphiX" Sillassen is taking a closer look at how Team Spirit managed to upset a lot of teams at the PGL Major in Antwerp. Here we get a glimpse of some of the excellent teamwork, that the Russian team provided at the event, where new stars as Robert "Patsi" Isyanov took the world of Counter-Strike by storm with some impressive performances.

You can see other videos in our series "Deepdive feat. NaToSaphiX" in the links below.

* This video was made before the news about the departure of Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov.

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NaToSaphiX

While IEM Dallas was filled with stand-ins and replacement teams the BLAST event in Lisbon has avoided any big cancellations from the participating players and teams. Until now.

OG's Polish AWP'er Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski will watch the event from home, while Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov did not have to spend a lot of time on the bench at Spirit before being called to action again. On Saturday the Russian Sniper was benched after disagreements with Spirit.

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OG and degster will face NAVI in the first round of BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon on Wednesday.

Remember to follow the event closely here on Pley.gg, where we have travelled down to Portugal to cover the event.

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	2	16
Maps count	4	32

degster

Player stats

Articles mentioning degster

degster: I think that in OG I can be the best player in the World

Patsi hits out at degster after problems in Spirit: He didn’t even say goodbye to us

OG survive another day at IEM Rio Major

degster lash out on ESL: What is going on guys?

degster: When we play like this, why can we not be the best in the future?

Complexity eliminated by nexa’s troops

A sitdown with degster: OG bought me to be a starplayer

OG to IEM Rio Europe RMR

CS:GO transfer and roster moves - Summer 2022

mantuu on OG benching: It was weird for me; There was never a talk

OG officially sign 'degster'

Media: OG set to replace mantuu with degster

Video: See highlights from the BLAST Lisbon Showmatch

Pimp: "degster has been the most positive story"

degster: "I'm happy I got this chance to prove myself"

Great moments from BLAST Premier Spring Finals

NiKo leads the MVP race at BLAST Premier Spring Finals

OG secure semi-finals spot over ENCE

Why was Team Spirit so good at the Major?

OG fields degster as last minute replacement for mantuu at BLAST Spring Finals

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