Twistzz: "I dislike seeing so many changes every break, it feels like teams restart their progression"

Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken talks FaZe's form heading into the new season and comments on off-season changes in the scene.

After returning from the summer tournament break, FaZe have so far gone undefeated at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, beating Evil Geniuses and HEROIC in comfortable best-of-one matches in Copenhagen, and await their opponent in the Group C final.

Meanwhile, we've had the chance to catch up with Twistzz to find out what form FaZe are in following the break and to get the Canadian's thoughts on who he thinks made the biggest improvement out of the top teams who made changes in the off-season.

You can hear his thoughts on changes in Vitality, ENCE, and G2 in the video interview above, or read the transcript of the interview below:

Back from the break, so far it seems pretty good. I know rain said on the stream that you guys have felt pretty comfortable with the practice that you got in - how are you feeling with your form? Are you back to that Cologne winning form that you guys had towards the end of the season?

I actually think so. I think everyone was missing Counter-Strike on their break and people really couldn't stay away from our group chat, so we were just talking every day and it was a nice feeling. When we came back, it kinda felt like we never left each other, so practice instantly started feeling good and everyone put in the effort before playing to make sure they weren't rusty in-game. So far it's felt like we haven't had a break, but we did.

Compared to the last season you were one of the few who didn't make any changes, a lot of things changed around you. What do you make of some of the big teams who made changes and who do you see has made the biggest improvement?

It's really tough to say because... I mean, you could probably say that Vitality made the best change, but I don't know, I think their main issue was communication, so I don't know if it's gonna fix that entirely. But they definitely have more firepower now. I would like to say that G2's change will be beneficial for them in the future, I just think they need to give one of their many rosters that they've had more time than they actually do give them. Obviously, I really like jks as a player, I was always talking to him before and I was happy that he found a team, finally...

ENCE, we played them in practice, but it's not really much. Right now, every in-game leader kinda has a foundation, a system in place, so if you play a team you don't really feel you notice the differences, so for ENCE it kinda just felt the same. Only time will tell about which organization made the best change. Hopefully, all these rosters, give them some time and... I kinda dislike seeing so many changes every break, because it feels like teams restart their progression. They don't try to find the full potential of the lineup.

But people are maybe looking for the ropz addition that finally gets them to that next level.

Yeah, maybe. You can also look at NAVI, how taking Perfecto was helping them already get to the next level, you don't necessarily have to take such a star player to reach the best part. You can see karrigan and RobbaN have found what pieces of the puzzles really belong together, and I think he's found all four of it.

So do you see NAVI as still your biggest challengers heading into the second season?

Yeah, of course. We're the teams that didn't really restart our progression. We stayed the same because we love our rosters, we have like a family going on, and it's the same for them, they're playing together for a while already, and I think that's why it's just going to be the two of us battling out for number one.