Twistzz: "We moved on from Dust2. We reset, like a good f**king team"

The Canadian IGL hailed his team's ability to bounce back from a tough loss against FURIA.

Liquid became on Thursday the eighth team to secure a spot in the Shanghai Major's Opening Stage by defeating FURIA in three maps in the 2-1 pool. It is a return to Counter-Strike's biggest stage by Liquid, who missed the Copenhagen Major at the start of the year.

It was a bit of a bumpy road to the Major as Liquid found themselves 0-1 in the RMR after losing to Wildcard in their first game. But they dusted themselves off and comfortably dispatched KRÜ and BESTIA before edging past the Brazilians in a tight series.

Liquid went into the RMR after a week-long bootcamp in Singapore. The decision to stay in the Asian country after the BLAST World Final was questioned by many, but Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken sure it was the right one, "Very, very useful," he told HLTV after the match against FURIA. "We hadn't had actual practice like that in a while, probably since the lineup debuted, to be completely honest."

The Canadian skipper also touched on the work Roland "⁠ultimate⁠" Tomkowiak has been putting in to avoid being countered by opponents, praising the Polish AWPer for showing up "big time" in the second half of Inferno against FURIA after a rough T side.

Looking ahead to the Major, Twistzz has his sights set on reaching the playoffs and playing in front of a big crowd for the first time in his IGL career. "Every stage is played with a crowd, but I definitely want the biggest crowd," he said.

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Major number nine. Could you ask for a better birthday present than that?

No, honestly, the best birthday present. It's not very often that I play officials on my birthday. The closest probably would have been last year at CAC, but I missed it by one day. As a birthday present, I've felt loved the entire day so far. I woke up with nice messages. I got a birthday cake from the team and everything. The vibes have been amazing. It's great.

Was it extra sweet to do it against FURIA, because they were the ones that denied you last time? Since then you've won four in a row against them. What is it in the matchup against them that kind of gives you the edge?

Could be stylistic stuff. I feel very confident against them. I obviously knew they were going to be a tough opponent. They've been improving, they had this run at IEM Rio, so you cannot doubt them as a team. You need to prepare for them as if they can do the same that they did against NAVI or how they played against MOUZ before. But, yeah, it felt great to beat them.

And, you know, the second we got a matchup against them, people are saying, 'Fucking FURIA again. Every RMR playing FURIA.' I didn't experience that before, I only experienced that the first RMR this year. But yeah, it felt good to win due to, I guess, the org rivalry.

And what is it like being the in-game leader this time around? How different is it being the one kind of preparing all of this stuff?

I mean… (laughs) It's very different, sacrificing sleep and individual playing time to the benefit of everyone around you. I'm still in the process of learning how everything is going and every leader has to find their own way. And at the moment I'm learning to let others help me a bit more, as in mithR and our analyst, and kind of alleviate some of that. So far, the main thing that has been sacrificed is probably sleep. That's about it.

But yeah, it's obviously different and in tense moments and stuff, everyone is relying on you, and you can feel the nerves around others. This time around, you cannot let it impact you in any way. You have to remind the guys that everything is fine. 'Just breathe, don't stress about it.' After Dust2, I was, like, "Don't even fucking talk about Dust2, just let it go.' And we moved on. We reset, like a good fucking team.

You had a tough run of events, playing all the best teams in the world every week. What was it like having that week in Singapore to try and reset for this tournament? You weren't playing similar opposition to what you might expect to play here. What was the week like?

Honestly, very, very useful. We hadn't had actual practice like that in a while, probably since the lineup debuted, to be completely honest. Before Singapore, our practice could have been a bit better if we didn't have to deal with some visa stuff, and people having to go back home to their respective countries. Luckily for me, I was able to do mine in Europe. But having NAF go back to Canada…. Visas take like easily a week away from your playing time and you can only do so much with 170 ping.

This week of practice in Singapore made a big difference. Funny enough, I feel like our main partner buddy was Lynn Vision. Unfortunately, they could not qualify for the Major. But I feel like we got decent practice in the region.

Was that important for ultimate as well? Because when you're new to tier one, it is difficult to have the level of scrutiny and study on you. What has helped him bounce back at this event?

I'd have to probably say like himself. I feel like he is very reflective. He works hard. He's very aware of himself. Even in his own interview, he's calling himself out for being lazy. That's the type of stuff that builds stars and superstars. And he's also looking for help, you know? He's looking for others to assist him and kind of lead the way. And also it's on me and mithR to kind of give him the reinsurance. 'Take the handle. People can play around you. You have the only gun in the game where people have to play around you.'

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ultimate: "I'm trying to avoid big changes and not go from playing really aggressively to passively"

He's kind of learning a new style where he's finding his middle game, where he doesn't have to worry about always being aggressive and he doesn't have to worry about being too passive. I think, more importantly, the second half on Inferno is probably why I'm so happy for him right now. Not only did we qualify but he had a bad T half. I guess some circumstances could be from my calling being catered a certain way for riflers. And yeah, he showed up big time.

And him being so aggressive, is it hard to try and find that middle ground without… Because you don't want to over-coach players like that, right? How is it trying to coach a player into changing a little bit without affecting his actual overall play style?

Obviously, that type of stuff is always a fine line, because you never want to take away the originality of the player. That's why player styles exist in the first place. It was more so like making him realize, like, "Bro, just because you didn't get a 2k in the first 10 seconds of the rounds it doesn't mean that you're useless.' That's not how the game is, right? And I think after that, and I've had many individual one-on-ones with him and bonding a bit more. It's been great. But most of the work is himself doing it.

And now it's like two and a half weeks you get to practice with the European teams, like you said on the broadcast. How important will this period be in terms of setting you up for the Major?

Just as important as it is for every other team that's going to be qualified. For us, it's actually good that we are not the last RMR. Definitely having more time, EU practice, get the mistakes fixed, get the mental reset. But there are ups and downs. People could also say that playing the last group, the last RMR group and going pretty much right into the Major also has its benefits, right? So I guess it's just how the outlook is and how teams view it. But I think for us, this is a useful period.

And are you going to get that big arena match? Because you're kind of always nearly there. Is this the tournament to change that?

I think so. I think so. I mean, we had, I guess, a crowd in Malta. Fucked up badly in Cologne. Should have had that one. But yeah, we're looking forward. It's going to be fun. Every stage is played with a crowd, but I definitely want the biggest crowd.