Twistzz

Russel David Van Dulken (born November 14, 1999), better known as Twistzz, is a Canadian professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for Team Liquid.[1] He has previously played for top teams such as Team SoloMid and Misfits. Twistzz was named the MVP of ESL One New York 2018[2] and IEM Sydney 2019 by HLTV.[3]

Twistzz
Russel Van Dulken
Personal information
Born (1999-11-14) November 14, 1999
HometownKelowna, British Columbia
NationalityCanadian
Career information
GamesCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
RoleRifler
Career history
2016Team AGG
2016–2017Team SoloMid
2017Misfits Gaming
2017–presentTeam Liquid
Career highlights and awards
  • IEM Grand Slam champion

Early life

Twistzz began playing video games with his dad and his first FPS game was Quake. After his father moved away, Twistzz started playing games for longer periods of time. Twistzz and his mom eventually moved in with her boyfriend and Twistzz started playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). His mom's boyfriend started verbally abusing Twistzz which stalled his progress in CS:GO. In 2014 his mom chose to leave her boyfriend and Twistzz was able to make progress in CS:GO once again. His mom was supportive of him playing CS:GO because she was aware of where he was at all times.[4]

Career

2015

Twistzz joined his first professional team Tectonic in October 2015. In December 2015, Twistzz joined SapphireKelownaDotCom along with veteran In-Game Leader Kyle "OCEAN" O'Brien. SapphireKelownaDotCom were signed by AGG in February 2016.[5][4]

2016

In March, team AGG released their roster and Twistzz joined team KKona with his ex-AGG teammates for 1 week before receiving a stand-in offer from his first large organisation, Team SoloMid (TSM), along with another veteran In-Game Leader Sean Gares. Eventually, Twistzz was signed by TSM on a permanent basis.[6]

2017

In January, TSM released Twistzz along with his teammates allowing Misfits Gaming to pick up the roster.[7] In April, Twistzz joined Team Liquid (Liquid) after the departure of Jacob "Pimp" Winneche.[8] On Liquid, Twistzz and Liquid placed 2nd at two big events, ESL One New York 2017 and ESG Tour Mykonos.[9][10] In November Twistzz's Liquid won the Americas Minor Championship for ELEAGUE Boston 2017.

2018

In January, Twistzz's Liquid placed 14th at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 with their coach Wilton "zews" Prado standing in for Lucas "steel" Lopes, due to roster-lock rules at the time. In February Twistzz's Liquid beat Cloud9 in the finals to win cs_summit 2, which would be their first win at an event in 2018.[11] In April, Twistzz's Liquid ESL Pro League Season 7 final. Liquid continued to place 2nd against Astralis at the ECS Season 5 Finals and ELEAGUE Season Premier 2018. His performance helped Liquid secure 1st place in the new challenger's stage. Twistzz continued his performance in the FACEIT Major: London 2018 against Winstrike and Ninjas in Pyjamas.[12][13] Liquid were unable to beat their rivals Astralis in the semi-finals and as a result Liquid finished in 3rd/4th place. Even after a loss in the finals at ESL One New York 2018 to mousesports, Twistzz still won the MVP award.[2]

2019

In January, HLTV named Twistzz the 12th best professional player of 2018.[5] Liquid were finally able to beat their rival Astralis in a best of 3 final at the iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 tournament.[14] Team Liquid would place 5th-8th at the major, losing to the underdogs ENCE in the quarterfinals.[15] In May, at IEM Sydney 2019, Liquid went undefeated and secured 1st place, and Twistzz won his first big event. Twistzz was named MVP at this event and had an average HLTV rating of 1.25.[16] In June, Liquid won DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 and the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, beating their rivals Astralis in the round of 6.[17] At ESL One Cologne 2019 Liquid won the Intel Grand Slam worth $1 million in addition to the tournament itself.[18] Despite Team Liquid coming into the Starladder Berlin Major as heavy favorites, they scraped out of the group stage 3-2, and lost to Astralis in the quarterfinals.[19][20]

Tournament results

2018
  • cs_summit 2 - 1st
  • SuperNova CS:GO Malta - 1st

2019
gollark: If you do have income tax, it should at least be done with a sensible formula.
gollark: People didn't actually know they caused lung cancer for a while.
gollark: So was radium.
gollark: That's no longer very cool™.
gollark: "Drugs" are poorly defined. Caffeine is drugs. Alcohol is drugs and oddly popular despite its badness.

References
  1. "OFFICIAL: TWISTZZ JOINS LIQUID". HLTV.
  2. "TWISTZZ EARNS ESL ONE NEW YORK MVP MEDAL". HLTV.
  3. "TWISTZZ SCOOPS IEM SYDNEY MVP AWARD". HLTV.
  4. "The Story of Twistzz". theScore esports.
  5. "TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2018: TWISTZZ (12)". HLTV.
  6. Mira, Luis "MIRAA". "Official: Twistzz joins Liquid". HLTV. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  7. "Misfits acquires TSM's former CS:GO roster". Misfits Gaming.
  8. "OFFICIAL: TWISTZZ JOINS LIQUID". HLTV.
  9. "ESL One Cologne 2017 - North America Closed Qualifier". HLTV.
  10. "Twistzz: Results". Liquipedia. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  11. "cs_summit 2". HLTV.
  12. "FACEIT Major 2018 Main Qualifer". HLTV.
  13. "FACEIT Major 2018 Main Qualifer". HLTV.
  14. "iBUYPOWER Masters 2019". HLTV.
  15. Chiu, Stephen. "How ENCE beat Liquid at IEM Katowice 2019". VPEsports. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  16. "IEM Sydney 2019". HLTV.
  17. "DreamHack Dallas 2019". HLTV.
  18. "Intel Grand Slam the latest achievement in Team Liquid's banner year". ESPN.
  19. Shields, Duncan "Thorin". "Thorin's Top 10 Biggest Favourites to Win a CS:GO Major". Dexerto. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  20. "Astralis beat Liquid in two maps; to face NRG in semi-finals". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
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