Twistzz: "YEKINDAR took it very personally that he had a bad performance in the RMR"

Liquid are off to a solid start in their first event after a month without officials.

Touted as one of the most exciting lineups pieced together at the start of 2024, Liquid have struggled to stick the landing in a number of different outings throughout the year so far. Amidst their lackluster results at international events, the most disappointing showing by far for the international side was a 2-2 finish at the PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, denying Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's troops the opportunity to vie at CS2's first Major.

With their last official match being a loss to SAW in the online BLAST Premier Spring Showdown just over a month ago, Liquid have been given ample time to practice for their first international LAN outing since their ill-fated RMR showing. An opening victory over HEROIC has gotten the team off to a solid start, but more work is to be done if they want to finish IEM Chengdu with a result worth writing home about.

Shortly after his team's victory over HEROIC, Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken spoke to HLTV regarding the importance of starting IEM Chengdu off on the right foot, the team's last-minute invitation to the event, and the individual form of teammate Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis.

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How important was it to begin the tournament with a victory like this?

It's great. Ancient is been a map that we've been working on and progressing, and when I looked at HEROIC's veto for BO1, I felt like it could only go to Ancient. So it was great, very well prepared for this opening match. We just have to take it from here.

Was there an element of revenge in this match because of everything that happened between cadiaN and HEROIC? Did you talk about it, by any chance?

No, no, that's not something that we focus on. For me, they're like a completely different team.

You got a last-minute invite to this tournament. What was preparation for this tournament like? What have you been doing since the Americas RMR and the Showdown?

We had a decent-size break between the RMR and when we started practice, probably like a week and a half or so. Then we just went full-on, two weeks of online practice. And people were feeling good. We opted for the home solution, the practice online, because we were together as a team for a long time. I think the space was healthy.

Some of the teams that were at the Major didn't have much time to practice for this event. That's not the case for your team. How important is this event for you to bounce back, get some reps, some victories under your belt?

It's very important. The current state of our team… This event sets up everything for the rest of the year in terms of ESL ranking. So we have to play well here. And I think that's kind of the pressure we're riding here.

There was this talk before the match that cadiaN was a little bit under the weather. How is this affecting him? Because he still played a good game.

Ancient was a map that we've practiced and that we've been getting more comfortable on. He has me and YEKINDAR to to be kind of like the other voices, so if he's feeling under the weather, I feel that he's confident enough in us to let us control things a bit. Obviously, it's great that he had a good game. I've been sick before, and when you're not feeling well and you play bad, it's double fucked [laughs]. I'm happy that he was hitting some shots.

One of the biggest talking points during the Americas RMR was that YEKINDAR was going through some personal problems and how this was affecting his game. Can you tell me how he's feeling right now? Is he closer to 100%?

I honestly think this was an unlucky game. We played a scrim yesterday, and he was completely destroying. And he's been playing FACEIT a lot. He took it very personally that he had a bad performance in the RMR and he's been working on himself. I think some things were unlucky. Some rounds, he was forced to have an MP9 or a Mac-10. [And] going first is kind of his role. I think if we slowed our pace a bit when we were up big on the T side, he would have had more openings.

You are now going up against G2 in the next match. What are your expectations, considering you lost to them to the BLAST Spring Groups?

During the BLAST Spring, we had nothing to work with, really. It's going to be a different game. I'm assuming they're probably feeling some fatigue post-Major because they did make it to the semis. I'm hoping for a good game. It's nice to play good teams.

And what your goals for this event? How far do you hope to go here?

Right now, the goal is playoffs. After that, we can discuss how far we can really go. Right now, playoffs are on everyone's mind.