All news: Twistzz (Russel Van Dulken)

Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken was born November 14, 1999 in Canada. Like most future stars, from an early age he began to get involved in computer games, which later turned into a hobby.

The hobby quickly grew into a full-fledged profession. Already by 2015, Twistzz began his playing career.

Twistzz's early career

For the first time on the competitive scene, the Canadian appeared in 2015. His debut club was a team called Tectonic.

The player did not stay long in Tectonic. After playing there for two months, Twistzz played a number of smaller tournaments, including Fragadelphia Online, where he placed 3rd and top 8 at the RGN Showseries.

In December 2015, Twistzz moved to SapphireKelownaDotCom, where he played a little longer - almost 3 months.

One of the important achievements for SapphireKelownaDotCom is getting into the top four at the local RGN Showseries.

Although at the start of his career, the performance of the Canadian teams left much to be desired, on a personal level, the rifler was convincing.

After SapphireKelownaDotCom, Twistzz played for Team AGG and KKona. While playing for these teams, Russel took part in the qualifiers for tournaments of various sizes.

There were attempts to break into the Intel Extreme Masters X World Championship - North America, DreamHack Masters Malmo 2016, CEVO Season 9 and others. All of them were unsuccessful, the best performance is TOP-8 at each of the qualifiers.

Trying to get to the top, Twistzz honed the skills of the player, which affected his professional future. In March 2016, Twistzz joins the first major team - TSM.

He played for TSM Russel Van Dulken from March 2016 to January 2017. During this time, the player finally managed to get to the top of competitive CSGO and participate in serious tournaments.

Together with TSM Twistzz took TOP-3 at Americas Minor Championship - Cologne 2016, reached the finals of iBUYPOWER Invitational 2016 - Summer, took TOP-4 at Esports Championship Series Season 1 - Finals.

After the initial euphoria, there was a period of stagnation, when TSM still played at major regional events, but were far from good performance.

The last significant result was the 3rd place at Americas Minor Championshp - Atlanta, where in the match for qualifying for the ELEAGUE Major 2017 Twistzz in the company with SEMPHIS, FNS, SicK and Relyks lost to Cloud9.

Twistzz left TSM in early 2017 to join the Misfits. Cooperation with the American club did not last long because in April 2017 the Canadian received an invitation from Team Liquid. It was with the latter that Russel's ascent to the top of the esports Olympus began.

Twistzz in Team Liquid

Having become a member of Team Liquid, Twistzz in the company of nitr0, EliGE, jdm64 and Stanislaw took part in cs_summit 1. The debut event in the new place ended in TOP-6, which later turned into a pattern.

The first year Twistzz played in Liquid at local championships, which, however, did not prevent him from attending larger events. So, with “liquid”, the Canadian took TOP-6 Esports Championship Series Season 3 – Finals and TOP-8 ESL One: Cologne 2017.

In September 2017, Liquid reached the grand final of ESG Tour Mykonos 2017 and the much larger ESL One: New York 2017. At the last Team Liquid lost to FaZe Clan with a score of 0-3.

It was not possible to finish the year on a high note, as Liquid failed Intel Extreme Masters XII - Oakland and ESL Pro League Season 6 - Finals, taking the TOP-12 there and there, but everything was not so sad.

In November 2017, Twistzz won the Americas Minor Championshp - Boston 2018 as part of Team Liquid, which opened the way for the Canadian to the first major in his career. It was ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018.

There was no miracle in Boston and Liquid took the TOP-12 there. The performance led to changes in the roster, and Liquid went to the next major event, cs_summit 2, with an updated roster, but with Twistz in the position of a rifler. The updated Team Liquid roster includes: nitr0, EliGE, Twistzz, steel, NAF.

Spot changes allowed Team Liquid to win the championship, beating their compatriots from Cloud9 in the final. Further, throughout the year, “liquid” systematically increased momentum.

The team took TOP-4 at StarLadder & i-League StarSeries Season 4 and Intel Extreme Masters XII - World Championship. Later, Liquid won ESL Pro League Season 7 - North America, starting to strengthen their status as the strongest team in North America.

On the international arena, “liquid” also advanced: they took 2nd place at the EPL S7 finals and at the Esports Championship Series Season 5 - Finals. Was also TOP-4 at ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018.

In September, Twistzz entered the arena of the second major tournament in his career. The result of the championship in London was the best in a three-year career.

At FACEIT Major: London 2018, Team Liquid took the TOP-4, losing in the semifinals to the future champions from Astralis.

Team Liquid ended the year in the same tone: the team took 2nd place at Intel Extreme Masters XII - Chicago and ESL Pro League Season 8 - Finals.

Twistzz and the “Team Liquid era”

In 2019, Twistzz is still a Team Liquid player. Steel is replaced by Stewie2k and the club line-up is as follows:

• nitr0
• EliGE
• Twistzz
• stewie2k
• NAF

Success awaited Twistz and Team Liquid at the first tournament of the year: the team won iBUYPOWER Masters IV, followed by Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Katowice Major 2019.

The third major in Russel's career ended with an average result: in Katowice, Liquid took the TOP-8, but then the rise began, which grew into the shortest “era” of CSGO.

In the period from April to July, Team Liquid played 10 tournaments, of which they won 8. Starting with a victory at ESL Pro League Season 9 - Americas and Intel Extreme Masters XIV - Sydney, they continued to TOP-4 at the Esports Championship Series and second place at cs_summit 4.

Next, Team Liquid were relentless. The team won the following tournaments in a row:

• DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019.
• GG.Bet Cologne Invitational.
• ESL Pro League Season 9 - Finals.
• ESL One: Cologne 2019.
• BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019.
• Intel Extreme Masters XIV - Chicago.

A streak of 6 won tournaments, as well as a triumph at ESL Pro League Season 9 and Intel Extreme Masters, allowed Team Liquid to win Intel Grand Slam Season 2.

At the upcoming StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, Team Liquid were the main favorites, however, Liquid was not destined to win. Astralis intervened, leaving Team Liquid in the TOP-8.

Until the end of the year, Liquid took 2 more TOP-2 at prestigious events: Esports Championship Series Season 8 - Finals and BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019.

In 2020, the world was covered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to downtime. Team Liquid played online in North America and stagnated.

After winning many events and becoming the creator of one of the biggest streaks, Twitstzz played the last tournament for Team Liquid in December 2020. It was Intel Extreme Masters XV - Global Challenge, where Team Liquid took TOP-2.

In February 2021, Twistzz became a FaZe Clan player.

Twistzz in FaZe Clan and World Championship

The transition to FaZe Clan marked a new page in Twistzz's career, but at first the idea of making a multi-star roster seemed like a sham.

As part of FaZe, together with rain, coldzera, broky and karrigan, Twistzz played 3 major events in 2021, one of which was a major.

• Flashpoint Season 3 - TOP-16
• Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Fall: Europe - TOP-9
• PGL Major Stockholm 2021 – TOP-11

In the intervals between failures at the title events, there were performances at smaller ones, but it would not be possible to call them more successful. The classic ESL Pro League for Twistzz, which the esportsman won as part of Team Liquid, ended with FaZe in the TOP-20 in the 13th season of the tournament. It was also hard at ESL Pro League Season 14 - TOP-16.

Changes in FaZe suggested themselves and they happened: coldzera left the team, and ropz came to replace him. FaZe revived and in 2022 it was visible.

FaZe won BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022, Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 15. A little later, FaZe will take 3rd place at PGL Major Antwerp 2022: European RMR A, in order to win at the Major itself.

Twistzz earned his first win after 5 tries. The Canadian, together with his teammates, tried to build on his success by participating in tournaments and further, but after winning the Major, FaZe “fell silent”.

There were victories at Intel Extreme Masters XVII - Cologne and Intel Extreme Masters Road to Rio 2022: European RMR A, but there were also disappointments like ESL Pro League Season 16 and the most fatal failure of the year - TOP-16 at IEM Rio Maior: 2022.

The last tournament in 2022 for Twistzz and FaZe was Blast Premier: World Final 2022, where the team lost in the semifinals to the future champions from G2 Esports.

Facts about Twistzz

• The community has the nickname "Handsome".
• Became the first Canadian to win a Major (PGL Major Antwerp 2022).
• Three times he was in the TOP-20 of the best players of the year (TOP-12 in 2018, TOP-9 in 2019 and TOP-17 in 2021).
• MVP ESL One: New York 2018 and IEM Sydney 2019.
• He took part in the Born to Be Brave charity tournament organized by NAVI to support the people of Ukraine in the war with Russia.

How much did Twistzz earn?

Since starting his career in 2015, Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken has earned over $1,200,000 in cashes from 113 tournaments. Included in the TOP-100 of the richest esportsmen in the world, ranking 98th in the ranking. Fourth richest Canadian in esports history.