Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov will miss the first matches of IEM Cologne 2024 due to visa problems, which will be the second tournament in a row that he will miss. HEROIC will again play with a substitute, but this time it will not be the coach.

In the past 4 tournaments the team has played with degster, only twice. He joined the team after ESL Pro League Season 19, where they took 21-28th place. With degster, the team placed 3-4 at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 and 7-8 at YaLLa Compass 2024.

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Reasons for skipping

The reason for missing the first games will be visa, according to HLTV. It is unknown at this time how many games degster will miss, as the organization is still waiting for visa approval and is ready to fly in immediately.

They also reported that the replacement will not be coach sAw, as it was for BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024. And the replacement will be a player whose identity is not yet known. The community suggests that it could be Casper "cadiaN" Møller or Volodymyr "Woro2k" Veletnjuk, who are currently without a team. c

The reaction of the talents and the player himself

How much longer before they start looking for a replacement? The uncertainty is extremely demotivating for the other players on the roster and Heroic needs to figure this out ASAP.

YNk on his Twitter

Realisticly we're close to the point of Heroic should already look for a new 5th. This can't be sustainable, especially when you dont have a 6th backup player ready. What a mess

Bubzkji's comment

Thank you all for this hate. In general, considering that I know that I never gave up and always did my best to make people who support me/my team happy, it's doubly nice to realize how you are treated by your own community

wrote degster in his telegram channel.

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Tournament info

IEM Cologne 2024 will kick off on August 7 and run through 18 with $400,000 in prize money and a spot in the IEM Katowice 2025 and BLAST Premier World Final. In the first round of Play-in, HEROIC will play MIBR in a BO3 format. If they win, their opponents will be the winner of BetBoom / 9z.

To advance to the main stage they need to win two matches, either in the top or bottom set. In BLAST the team managed to win with a coach, but whether they can do it at the tournament in Germany, but already with a player remains a mystery. Which adds interest to not only watching the tournament, but especially their matches.

Conclusion

The team is also most likely to get a spot at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR, which will be held in Shanghai. After all, the team is currently in 10th place in Valve's rankings, but whether they will definitely get a spot will be known on August 7, when invitations will be issued.

Many analysts believe that they need to find a replacement, but as reported by degster he, warned the organization that he may have problems getting a visa. But they still decided to sign him.

SOURCE - HLTV