Twistzz: "We're working towards the future and our results so far are showing that"

"I think we have good chances against any top 5 team if we can be consistent in the right areas," the Canadian skipper said during media day.

Liquid enter BLAST Open Lisbon with the goal of building on their top-eight finish in ESL Pro League 21, where they notably managed to beat Eternal Fire and 3DMAX before losing to eventual champions Vitality in the quarter-finals.

Liquid may not be championship-winning material just yet, but Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken prefers to focus on the positives, noting how the team's results have been steadily improving this year. "It seems we're leveling up, we're progressing, which is good for where we are as a team," he told HLTV during media day.

The Canadian IGL admitted that there are some role issues that still need some ironing out, which he owed to the way in which the roster was put together. "It was always going to be a bit scrappy," he acknowledged. "I knew that it would take patience and changing some positions occasionally."

After beating Eternal Fire on Train and taking down Falcons and FURIA on Dust2, Twistzz is more confident about the state of his team's map pool. Asked about his goals for this event, he said that anything less than reaching the playoffs would be a disappointment.

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You had a top-16 finish at BLAST Bounty, top-12 in Katowice and top-8 in EPL. How do you look at your results so far this year?

When you say the results to me like that, it seems we're leveling up, we're progressing, which is good for where we are as a team.  I think we had a very close match against Vitality, even though we made a lot of mistakes, missed utility, I had some bad calls, lack of team play, a lot of people playing off their own feeling. And both maps were still 13-9. It was a competitive game.

I think our results are leveling up. I think the BLAST Bounty one, despite us not having that much time to integrate NertZ, was still a disappointment. And Katowice, it wasn't obviously the way that we wanted the event to go anyway. So it was sad to go out like that. We're working towards the future and our results so far are showing that.

If you had to run a diagnosis of the team, what would you say? Because you have four great experienced players and then ultimate, who doesn't have a lot of experience, but it feels sometimes that the team is worse than the sum of its parts.

My diagnosis of that would be that it kind of portrays the way that the team was built. It was always going to be a bit scrappy. I knew that it would take patience and changing some positions occasionally. jks and NAF are very eager to progress and improve in the areas they can. Let’s not forget NertZ doesn’t have the same experience as the rest of us. He was a late bloomer, which makes it even more impressive how good he is.

I think from a statistical perspective, it seems that way because some roles are hard to define in our team, which is something we’re actively working on. We need to continue leveling up our communication. During EPL we were set up next to MOUZ when they were playing, and I was so impressed by the level of communication they had. Something I want us to strive for.

At Pro League, NertZ told us he thinks the team is at 70% of its potential. Would you agree with that? And what do you think the team still needs to work on to reach the same level as a team like Vitality or Spirit?

What I said in the diagnosis. I think we need to be confident in our progression and do what we can to make sure everyone is 100% online. Then I think we have good chances against any top 5 team if we can be consistent in the right areas. We’re not far from where we’re expected to be.

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NertZ: "When we have the small details and communication, we will be at the Spirit and Vitality level"

In that same interview, NertZ also said you're still figuring out how to play the game and making constant changes. How is that process going for you, considering how new you are to the IGL role?

I think it's more about finding what's best for the team, in the sense, like, 'Do we need more structure? Do we need to narrow things down to what we're good at? Should we play the game fundamentally?' I mean, you look at Spirit, and chopper is amazing. What he's amazing at with all his teams is that they master the fundamentals. They play basic CS to the highest level possible.

That's why I'm kind of figuring out, Like, 'Are we that type of team? Are we not?' And sometimes we lack supportive elements, I feel. So you kind of have to take an untraditional approach to CS where maybe your AWPer even with rifle is being set up a bit more.

It feels sometimes that ultimate has a lot of impact on the CT side, but on the T side, you could play around him a little bit more. Would you agree with that?

It's something we're trying to do, but it also involves someone needing to be the supportive figure. I guess there are growing pains and so on, but from our results, we're going in the right direction. That's all I can say.  We're going the right way, we're working the right way, and we just need to keep on track.

 You have all but guaranteed a Stage 3 spot at the Major. Did you breathe a sigh of relief when you saw that 200-point gap over FURIA, who will also be here in this tournament?

Considering we missed Cluj, it is good. The Eternal Fire win was huge. Luckily for us, losing to Vitality, we only lost one point. It is good knowing we didn't really get punished. It would have been pretty sad to have a bad result at one of the last events and feel that we would now suffer the consequences of that. But it's good. That's what we want, trying to secure the Legends spot at the Major.

You still have a lot of growth to be had as an IGL. You're still very new to the role. And it feels that after every loss, after every setback, there's this debate that you playing as an IGL is a waste of your talent and you should focus on fragging and let someone else do the calling. Do you pay any attention to that? Do you have any moments where you second-guess yourself?

I would not say second-guess. Criticism exists because people expect greater things from me. It’s on me to work, learn and produce results both through the team playing well and the individuals.

We've had close losses. We've also beaten good teams. The grind continues and never really stops, but we need to be more consistent in general.

It feels sometimes that it is hard to identify your best map. At Pro League, you picked Inferno, Anubis and Ancient in different series. Back at the BLAST World Final, I even discussed that with NAF, how your map was a bit all over the place. At the same time, you hadn't played Train at all before the match against Eternal Fire, you were banning the map constantly, and you managed to beat them on it. What would you say about your current issues with the map pool?

I feel like, for other teams too, eventually you realize things are just slowly changing.  And you start to feel more comfortable on one map because, say, your opponent is picking it all the time and you start getting more experience on it and you're, like, 'Oh, this is something that is actually good for us.' I guess the story is kind of tidying up our map pool and not being punished too much on Dust2. I feel like Dust2 was a strong map for us in Pro League, so it was nice to find success there. We beat Falcons and FURIA on it, we had a close game against Vitality.

Train is fun. I think we pulled it out at the right time. It was funny because NAVI did it the same day. So it was cool to see another team kind of take the risk as well and trust the map, trust the work that's being put on it.  For me, CS is in such a competitive state. It is just so fun to see all the work that gets put in by all the teams.

And the calling perspective, you pay so much more attention to the small details and you can really, truly appreciate what the best teams are doing. You know, watching Vitality, watching Spirit, is just… CS is more of an art, like in my eyes, seeing all the intricate pieces, the timings that are crafted and made for players to get.

And you see that more than as an IGL than before, I imagine.

Yes, a hundred percent. It's like… I don't know.  I would feel like with this experience I have now, I could have held different relationships closer to me. I already appreciated karrigan before, but I feel like now... it's to a new level, you know? And the same goes for the other captains, like MAJ3R and apEX and everything. Seeing how they're working, seeing the details in their game and everything. It's super cool. It's so much fun to just study the game.

Date	Matches
BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
20/03/2025	Eternal Fire 14:50 Liquid	Match

 And that Train victory against Eternal Fire. Has that given you some food for thought for this tournament?

 I think we had a good debut on the map. T side was a bit tricky because Eternal Fire showed a new instant T main from CT. It broke a lot of our openers that we had practiced. Luckily, four rounds were enough on T for regulation.

And yeah, it was good. It was probably the most fun map of CS that we have played this year. It was super enjoyable, super fun. I've always loved the overtime games. It's nice, it's intense. There's clarity that, 'Okay, there's another map in our arsenal that we can play.'

What expectations do you have for this tournament? You said that the team has been on an upward trajectory. How important would it be to stay on that path?

Making the playoffs is once again the goal for us, and anything other than that is a disappointment, especially because the playoffs are only top six, so we want to continue leveling up. Anything less than that is not good and I would be sad. I'm not trying to give disappointing results here. So yeah, definitely wanting playoffs.