Top 20 players of 2023: Twistzz (20)

The Canadian is the first name to be revealed in this year’s Top 20 Players of the Year ranking by 1xBet, thanks to his solid base level and incredible trade ability.

Top 20 players of 2023: Introduction

Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken’s track record of Top 20 appearances dates back to 2018, his first full year playing for Liquid. He was ranked the 12th-best player in the world after a string of deep runs at international events and two trophies from small-scale tournaments (cs_summit 2 and SuperNova Malta). He improved on that placing the following year, when Liquid notably enjoyed a period of success before the summer break and locked the Intel Grand Slam prize inside 63 days. Twistzz was named the 9th-best player of 2019, behind his teammates Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski (No.4) and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic (No.7).

Twistzz missed out on the Top 20 in 2020 as Liquid struggled to find their footing in the online era and often found themselves on the losing end of matches against FURIA and Evil Geniuses. As tension grew deep within the Liquid camp, Twistzz opted to join FaZe, where he would enjoy the sort of freedom and space that had come in short supply in North America.

There wasn’t much to write home about for Twistzz in 2021, but he still landed a place in the Top 20 at No.17 because of his incredible consistency as the brightest star on FaZe. It was clear that a firepower upgrade was needed for the team to be able to challenge for titles, and it came in the form of Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, who took Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer’s place in the starting lineup. Twistzz was named the 11th best player of 2022 - his second-highest placing in a Top 20 - for his key role as FaZe won four titles, including a Major, and made several other deep runs.

You can read a more in-depth look at Twistzz's career in his previous appearances on the top 20 list:

- Top 20 players of 2018: Twistzz (12)
- Top 20 players of 2019: Twistzz (9)
- Top 20 players of 2021: Twistzz (17)
- Top 20 players of 2022: Twistzz (11)

Twistzz

2023 Tournament stats

TournamentEvent	Team (place)	Rating 2.0 (in team)	ADR	KPR	DPR	Impact	KAST	Award
IEM Katowice	(7-8th)	1.16 (1st, +8%)	76.0	0.68	0.63	1.16	76.9%
EPL S17	(1st)	1.20 (3rd, +5%)	77.9	0.74	0.57	1.10	76.9%	EVP
IEM Rio	(9-12th)	0.86 (4th, -9%)	64.4	0.55	0.70	0.76	65.9%
BLAST Paris Major	(5-8th)	1.00 (3rd, -3%)	73.5	0.62	0.69	0.92	71.1%
IEM Dallas	(3-4th)	1.10 (4th, +3%)	75.4	0.67	0.62	1.04	72.4%
BLAST Spring Final	(5-6th)	1.20 (1st, +15%)	77.7	0.74	0.57	0.96	79.3%
IEM Cologne	(9-12th)	0.94 (4th, -1%)	64.7	0.59	0.64	0.81	68.3%
Gamers8	(9-16th)	1.15 (1st, +14%)	74.7	0.71	0.61	1.14	75.9%
ESL Pro League S18	(9-12th)	1.01 (3rd, -3%)	69.9	0.66	0.62	0.93	68.0%
IEM Sydney	(1st)	1.08 (4th, -3%)	73.9	0.68	0.64	1.04	73.0%	EVP
Thunderpick WC	(1st)	1.19 (3rd, +4%)	76.0	0.75	0.60	1.15	75.2%	EVP
CAC	(1st)	1.02 (3rd, -2%)	71.9	0.65	0.68	0.90	73.2%
BLAST Fall Final	(2nd)	1.05 (4th, -2%)	72.6	0.65	0.65	0.97	73.5%

5%+ above average

5%+ below average

Closer than 5% to average

FaZe began 2023 in full swing by qualifying for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, though no firm conclusions could be drawn from this tournament: the team competed with Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen instead of Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard, and it beat Complexity and OG (twice), who were ranked 23rd and 12th in the world at the time, respectively.

The first real test came at IEM Katowice, featuring 15 of the top 20 teams in the world at the time. FaZe got their campaign off to a good start, beating Spirit in a 2-0 fashion, but defeats to G2 and Liquid, either side of a 2-0 victory against IHC, cost them a spot in the arena portion of the event. Still, Twistzz had positives to take from the tournament as he was the highest-rated player on the team, in part because of his standout performance against the Mongolians (1.55 rating).

“I don’t really remember the beginning of the season that vividly. I know we started off the year well despite a stand-in situation at the BLAST Spring Groups. We showed good form, and, if I remember correctly, both Katowice matches were extremely close and could have gone either way. But it was indeed a shame that we didn’t make the playoffs in the first big event of the season.”

Twistzz brought out the trophy in Katowice

Pressure intensified as the Paris Major neared, and FaZe brushed off their Katowice disappointment by going all the way in ESL Pro League Season 17. In Malta, the team finished second in. their group to a Vitality side fielding a stand-in before dispatching of FURIA, FORZE, Natus Vincere, and Cloud9 in the playoffs.

For FaZe, the victory, which came with an Intel Grand Slam prize on top, lifted the pressure on the team after they had wasted three chances to collect the $1 million cheque. That was also the closest Twistzz came to winning an MVP medal this year. He was third in the race for the award with a 1.20 tournament rating, 1.10 impact rating and 0.74 KPR.

“Everyone knew that we were running out of opportunities to close out the IGS. For us, it was the main goal we shared going into 2023, so of course it was a massive relief to win it at Pro League. In a way, we collectively got close to our peak as individuals, and you could feel that with each win, confidence grew, especially in the playoffs.”

It looked like FaZe had turned a corner after the rough showing in Katowice, but the team came out sluggish in the European RMRs and was sent to the last-chance qualifier following three straight losses to Natus Vincere, Bad News Eagles and MOUZ. With no margin for error, FaZe beat Aurora and Cloud9 to secure the last spot at the Paris Major, but that wasn’t enough to mask the team’s frailties heading into the biggest event of the season.

“Every game, win or lose, felt like a massive grind, each game and team we played was its own hill, and sometimes it felt like we barely had enough energy to get over it.”

Those issues were again on display at IEM Rio 2023, Twistzz’s worst tournament of the year. The Canadian, who would later admit that “we were just exhausted and couldn't feel the game the way we wanted to” in Brazil, put in a 0.86 rating as FaZe finished in 9th-12th place following defeats to FURIA and Vitality.

Dark clouds loomed over FaZe at the start of the Major, with Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen’s troops having the lowest seed of the Challengers Stage (despite being the No.5 team in the world at the time) on account of their RMR struggles. Twistzz himself said that many in the community had doubts about whether his team belonged in the tournament, but they gave a solid account of themselves and booked a spot in the last-16 stage by beating Monte, paiN and FORZE.

After narrowly qualifying for the Major, FaZe placed 5th-8th in Paris

FaZe got off on the wrong foot in the Legends Stage and found themselves staring elimination in the face following single-map defeats to HEROIC and Into the Breach. Backed into a corner, the team persevered and ground out wins against 9INE, Bad News Eagles and Natus Vincere before their run was cut short by HEROIC in the quarter-finals. Twistzz’s frustrating run of form continued as he posted a 1.01 rating, the second-lowest in the team, and finished only half of the maps he played with above-average ratings.

“The Major, from the qualifier to getting into playoffs, was one of the most mentally taxing things we went through as a team during 2023. Coming back from 0-2, this overtime game in the 2-2 match vs NAVI on Anubis, so much energy and willpower to qualify and play in a big arena again. During that time I was proud of the team, for sure. Reflecting on it again, I still feel the same way.”

FaZe finished the first half of the season with back-to-back events in the United States (IEM Dallas and the BLAST Premier Spring Final). The return to North America coincided with an uptick in form by Twistzz, who averaged a 1.13 rating across those two tournaments, with the team almost making the final in Dallas before losing a marathon of a decider map to ENCE. Twistzz was in fine form in Washington, D.C. with a team-high 1.20 rating, but the rest of the squad couldn’t keep up as FaZe were sent packing in 5th-6th place.

The tournament break seemed to be rejuvenating for FaZe as they coasted through the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where Twistzz averaged a team-high 1.29 rating and 1.22 impact rating. But that intensity was nowhere to be seen in their next tournament appearance, at IEM Cologne, where a 2-1 victory against Ninjas in Pyjamas was followed by 0-2 defeats to G2 and the new-look Natus Vincere — resulting in Twistzz’s second negative-rated LAN event for the year.

FaZe had a short stop in Riyadh for Gamers8, where Twistzz’s 1.15-rated performance against Virtus.pro was not enough to prevent a first-round exit from the $1 million competition. With Counter-Strike 2’s release imminent, FaZe appeared to have mentally checked out of CS:GO, their performances in ESL Pro League 18 also indicative of how out of sorts they looked at the time. After beating 9z and fnatic, FaZe were outclassed by Natus Vincere and MOUZ, with Twistzz ending the latter series at the bottom of the scoreboard (18-37 KDD and a 0.56 rating).

“There is not much to say besides that we tried our hardest to close out the season on a good result. For myself, Washington was the first event where some contract 'drama' happened unrelated to the recent interview. I would say it’s true that for the team we were always thinking and ‘waiting’ in a way for CS2 to release.”

Read more

Twistzz: "My motivation dropped a lot [in CS:GO] with CS2 always being in my mind"

FaZe’s patience and hard work in Counter-Strike 2 immediately paid off, resulting in a burst of success that only a few would have thought possible. That story, made even more impressive by the inner turmoil that Twistzz was experiencing amid contract renewal talks, began in Sydney, where the Canadian earned his second Exceptionally Valuable Player (EVP) accolade of the year with a 1.08 rating and 1.04 impact rating. For FaZe, this was a big test of their mental fortitude as they had to survive elimination series against Vitality, Natus Vincere and GamerLegion in the group stage after a stunning loss on their CS2 debut.

FaZe won the first Big Event in CS2, IEM Sydney

Twistzz had remarkable performances in the playoff matches against ENCE (1.79 rating) and MOUZ (1.52), but his disappointing display in the grand final against Complexity (a series-low 0.75 rating) kept him out of the race for the MVP award, which went to rain.

FaZe returned to Europe for a brief spell before hopping on a plane again, and made good use of that time by winning Thunderpick World Championship 2023, an online tournament with a $500,000 prize pool. Twistzz was one of the top performers in the matches against SAW (1.51 rating), Monte (1.47) and MOUZ (1.21), but he couldn’t keep that level up and his numbers dipped in the semi-final against Cloud9 (0.96) and the title decider against Virtus.pro (1.03). In the end, he had to settle for an EVP nod, his third and final of 2023.

“To be the best, you need to work smarter and harder than everyone else. We eagerly waited for the release of the game and began to play upon release. ropz and I were playing a decent amount even before that. Regardless of my situation during CS2, we practiced, worked and played to be number one.”

Next came the CS Asia Championships in Shanghai, a tournament without the glamour or acclaim of some of the other events on the circuit, but still a $500,000 competition with three top-five teams in attendance. ropz was head and shoulders above his teammates, who struggled to post above-average numbers despite FaZe hoisting the trophy after beating ENCE and MOUZ in the playoffs. Twistzz returned from China with a 1.01 rating and 0.89 impact rating — numbers that weren’t high enough to warrant an EVP accolade.

By then, FaZe’s incredible winning streak in CS2 had become quite the talking point in the scene. Twistzz had a bright start to the BLAST Premier Fall Final in Copenhagen, posting a 1.48 rating against Ninjas in Pyjamas and a 1.10 rating against Cloud9, but his level dropped in the playoff stages. His 0.71-rated performance in the grand final loss to Vitality, which ended FaZe’s streak at 18 matches, brought his tournament rating to 1.05 and cost him an EVP nod.

A second place in Copenhagen brought the curtain down on Twistzz's FaZe tenure

That turned out to be Twistzz’s final appearance in a FaZe jersey. Shortly afterward, he parted ways with the North American organisation, which signed David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský ahead of the BLAST Premier World Final in Abu Dhabi. On December 7, Twistzz confirmed his return to Liquid, though he will have to wait until 2024 to play his first match with the team.

“After three years in one organization and playing with that specific lineup for over two years, you can believe that it felt very weird to watch the first game they played, but I have moved on and look forward to my journey with Liquid.”

Read more

Exclusive: Twistzz on why he left FaZe, second thoughts, declining Vitality (Part 1)

Why was Twistzz the 20th best player of 2023?

Twistzz was a reliable performer with solid numbers from an exceptionally large sample, in addition to frequent peaks, as illustrated by his high percentage of maps (31%) with 1.30+ ratings. He was also among the most consistent players round-to-round in the scene, with his 73.7% KAST ranking him 15th in the Top 20.

One particular aspect in which Twistzz stood out was his incredible trade ability. He ranked fifth for trades involved per round (0.30), ninth for trade kills per round (0.16) and 11th for percentage of deaths traded (23.6%), putting him as one of the best traders on both sides. This is best evidenced by the fact that he had the second-most trade kills per round win in the entire Top 20 at 0.18.

“I’m happy to be on this list again but disappointed with the individual year I had. I’m not a player to chase these individual awards as I believe they are a side-effect to playing good CS as a team and when you do your role well within a team exceptionally well. I look forward to my years with Liquid and seeing how far I can push my level. I know Casper (cadiaN), Wilton (zews) and the rest of the supporting staff will help me with that push.”

Twistzz said he is "disappointed" with the level he showed in 2023

Even without any MVPs, Twistzz’s EVP accolades highlight his role in some of FaZe’s biggest successes. He was an EVP in one elite-level event (IEM Sydney), one high-level tournament (ESL Pro League 17), and one medium-level online competition (Thunderpick World Championship).

With only two bad events out of 18, Twistzz had a solid base level, but his output wasn’t high enough to justify a better place on our list. His 0.68 KPR, 1.03 Impact and just 16.3% of rounds with multikills were among the lowest in the Top 20 and showed a considerable drop-off when compared to some of his previous years.

When asked about his goals for 2024, Twistzz said: “Push myself harder, increase my floor and ceiling, help my guys in and out of the game and win. Let’s keep it simple.”

Bold prediction by 1xBet

r1nkle

Twistzz's bold prediction

Twistzz selected Artem "⁠r1nkle⁠" Moroz as his bold prediction for 2024. The Ukrainian AWPer, who plays for B8, notably posted a 1.20 rating in the European RMR leading to the Paris Major. The 19-year-old is averaging a 1.17 rating in CS2.

"He has been on this B8 team for a while. He is still young, has very good stats and I think his name will appear in some roster shuffle eventually."

Stay tuned to our Top 20 Players of 2023 ranking and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.