Top 20 players of 2018: Twistzz (12)

Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken clinches 12th place in our Top 20 ranking of 2018, powered by EGB.com, to make his first appearance in the list due to reaching great heights in the second half of the year.

Top 20 Players of 2018: Introduction

Fresh off his 16th birthday, Twistzz first appeared in HLTV.org records in December 2015, jumping from a Premier-level team Tectonic to SKDC, who later became AGG, to play his first season of ESL Pro League in early 2016. Coupled with exposure from the newly established FACEIT Pro League, the short tenure there saw his quick progression continue, as he joined TSM in March to play with a team featuring both experience and rising talent in Pujan "⁠FNS⁠" Mehta, Kory "⁠SEMPHIS⁠" Friesen, Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta, and Hunter "⁠SicK⁠" Mims.

"I first started to take CS really seriously when I got into FPL, before that I still played a lot but it was mostly because of how much I enjoyed and how much fun the game was and is to me. After getting into FPL, I learned a lot due to the number of pros that were playing, I quickly learned what and what not to do while being able to create my own style. When I got asked to play the first season of Pro League with SKDC, that's when I really started to learn about esports. I would watch matches, usually only the major ones, but I never followed it fully, I always focused on my own play time. I never wanted to be or copy someone else.

"I went from team to team pretty quickly, so I was forced to do and play a lot of different positions and roles. Looking back, I think this was very important. During my time with SKDC, that was when I found the spots I felt I played well and my strengths were clear to me. When joining TSM, I had to move into spots that were new to me, while having to switch to new gear after using mine for years, I think this impacted my performance throughout the early stages of joining. Halfway through after joining, my current teammates on that team helped me find my issues as a player, while I also learned what not to do while watching them play."

With that lineup, the Canadian got to experience his first international LAN at ECS Season 1 Finals and had a great debut, helping TSM go toe-to-toe with some of the world's best at the time, Astralis, fnatic, and Luminosity, to finish third-fourth in London.

"The only thing I remember being new to me [at ECS Season 1 Finals] was playing in front of a crowd, I don't remember if it affected me, it probably did a tiny bit back then, but I got used to it quickly. I'll be honest, I don't remember anything from that event besides individual experience."

Otherwise, the North American side was unable to achieve anything of similar grandeur throughout 2016, most notably finishing third at the Minors ahead of MLG Columbus and the ELEAGUE Major. In the meantime, Twistzz was evolving, waiting to make another step up like his teammate autimatic, who joined Cloud9 halfway through the year.

After TSM qualified for the fifth season of ESL Pro League, a dramatic exit from the organization following the players' protest against PEA's attempt to make an exclusive league saw the core of the previous squad, bolstered by Shahzeb "⁠ShahZaM⁠" Khan and Sean "⁠seang@res⁠" Gares, transfer to Misfits in January 2017. However, the new lineup only went on to attend one LAN, DreamHack Masters Las Vegas, in the first three months of its existence before Twistzz moved up to Liquid as a replacement for Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche.

"Joining Liquid was a goal I had set in my mind for a while, even when I played for TSM. My time on Misfits was very important for me being ready to move into a top team, Sean has an amazing mind for the game and back then, he taught me things that would help me get to the next point in my career."

Having attended only two big events before then, the young Canadian's exposure increased tenfold after the transfer, with his new, well-established team traveling to many tournaments throughout the year.

"I was more than prepared to travel, I remember I moved to LA eight hours after I got back from Australia, I was on a small break during the contract negotiation period. After joining, I felt like it was meant to be and I played non-stop, I learned so much in a short amount of time watching my teammates play in 2017, I always felt like I would play better individually If I'm learning from better players around me."

Still quite an inexperienced young gun, then 17-year-old Twistzz tackled that challenge head-on, putting up consistent showings under Liquid's banner in 2017, helping them reach semi-finals at ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals early on before also getting to play his first grand finals at ESG Tour Mykonos and ESL One New York. By the end of the year, he attended 16 tournaments — nine of which were Big events — and averaged an impressive 1.15 rating over the eight-month period.

"In 2017, we didn't win any events, but it was still a good experience for all the players involved. The highlight for me during that year would be ESL One New York, it was the first time having the crowd on our side and it was also the first event my mom attended that had a crowd."

Only at the end of the year did Twistzz look underwhelming as the squad replaced Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz with Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes — who could not play with them at one of the last tournaments of the year, ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals — and struggled to make it far across three events.

"Personally, I struggled with the roster change, I didn't have to move any positions, but I feel like stanislaw had a very positive impact on me as a person and a player and the presence of having a different player made things feel weird to me. ESL didn't allow us to use steel for Pro League Finals, so we had to try and practice with zews, as well, and it was very hard for me to get used to the team environment when it was never consistent. I think every person involved felt uncomfortable with the situation, as well."

After hitting a rough patch at the end of 2017 with steel missing Pro League Finals, the same happened at the ELEAGUE Major, where Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado was called upon again. Under normal circumstances, Liquid would have been eliminated after a 2-3 record in the New Challengers stage, but thanks to 100 Thieves pulling out of the tournament, a ninth slot in the next stage became open and the North American side made it through after a close win over AVANGAR. This was a milestone in Twistzz's career, as he had never played at the Major before, having come closest to a Major attendance with a 9th-11th finish at the PGL Major Main Qualifier in 2017.

"I don't really count the ELEAGUE Major as a true first Major, we had to play with zews and another player that we were already replacing, once again things felt off and the main goal for that event was to qualify for the top 16 to retain the spot at the qualifier. I enjoyed playing in it still despite us being at a disadvantage, we still had a lot of fun and took maps off other good teams."

Liquid then went 1-3 in the New Legends stage to close one chapter in their history and start writing another, with Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic entering the team in lieu of Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano after the Major. Twistzz had started off the year with the team's tied-highest 1.12 rating in Atlanta and he kept a respectable record over the next three tournaments, from which Liquid came away with their first title at cs_summit 2, with the Canadian star locking down his first EVP of the year there, and top fours at StarSeries i-League Season 4 and IEM Katowice.

"Before the major started, I really wanted to play with NAF, he's a complete player and is consistent in any role. He meshed well with the entire team and to kick things off we won our first event with him, which really boosts the vibe of the team. We were really happy with our lineup and could finally start building on something. As a team, we talked about roles and everyone enjoyed what they were doing."

This was a level of consistency Liquid had had trouble reaching during the previous year, but despite that, steel left the team after the Polish event, with Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo coming in to fill the gap after his compatriot.

"It was a change that we didn't want as a team, but steel decided to leave us. This time around, I didn't suffer from the change because TACO brought a different form of positivity and happiness into the team and I was looking forward to working with him, as most of us saw this as an upgrade over steel. All of us knew that this was the last change we'd make for a while, we had all the pieces in place, it just came down to practice and confidence."

It took a while for the new roster to click into place. Liquid went out in the group stage of DreamHack Masters Marseille, with Twistzz playing well in their two matches against Gambit, but less so in a blowout from Astralis, to whom the previous lineup had lost in Katowice in similar fashion. The North American team met their demise at the hands of the Danes once again at the next event, ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, but their improvement was obvious as it was in the final, after Liquid defeated serious competition in MOUZ and Natus Vincere beforehand.

The Canadian added another solid event to his resumé in Dallas, but he was yet to get an award from a big event at that point, lacking the peak performances to do so. That streak continued at StarSeries i-League Season 5 Finals, where Liquid were eliminated by NRG in the quarter-finals with Twistzz putting up a 1.18 rating (his highest of the year up to that point), as well as at ECS Season 5 Finals, another event where the team fell to Astralis at the final hurdle despite a great effort from the 19-year-old on the opening map, Mirage (1.47 rating in a 14-16 loss).

For the first time in 2018, Twistzz dipped into the red zone at ESL One Belo Horizonte with a 0.99 rating overall because of a poor series in the group stage against MOUZ despite consistency in the other three, which included a respectable performance in a rather one-sided match against FaZe that saw Liquid eliminated in the semi-finals. Another sub-par showing followed when the roster as a whole crumbled at ESL One Cologne, placing last in Germany after losses to BIG and North.

The latter tournament marked the end of Twistzz's underwhelming period. Instead, he kicked into another gear at ELEAGUE Premier, as some peak performances against MIBR and Natus Vincere (five maps above a 1.40 rating) saw him secure the third spot in our list of EVPs from the Atlanta event while Liquid finished second to Astralis for the third time.

"I started to build a lot of confidence, I had other things in my life taking my focus away from CS, so I could let my mind rest when I needed it. I mention my health issues a lot, but in this case, I think it helped me because I have to take care of myself in a different way. In-game I mainly focused on my play style, I don't watch that many demos, I try to create my own things and that helped me improve throughout the year. Halfway through the year is when we started to perform at our best as a team after finally getting practice down with taco and we were all performing at a high level."

Following the off-season, the team would travel to London next for the FACEIT Major after the rest of the scene went to DreamHack Masters Stockholm. Twistzz led them in the New Challengers stage and kept great form in the next, where the North American side finally beat Astralis to go undefeated into the playoffs. There, they passed HellRaisers in a three-map quarter-final series, but their Danish rivals still proved too difficult to take down in a best-of-three as Liquid fell in the semis.

A few days later it was time for ESL One New York, where only about half of the best teams went as the rest opted forthe clashing BLAST Pro Series Istanbul, most importantly Astralis, who had been a thorn in Liquid's side since the beginning of the year. That put Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella & co. in the position as favorites, which they were living up to en route to the final, with Twistzz getting off to a good start with some standout maps against NRG and Gambit.

In the final against MOUZ, he shone above everyone else from start to finish, but his heroic efforts were in vain as Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong & co. pulled off a huge comeback when they were down 1-2 in the series and 4-13 on the fourth map, Dust2, to deny Liquid their first big win. In the end, the star was awarded the MVP of the tournament in one of the rare occasions in which a player on the losing side of the final received the medal, though his expression in the picture taken after the final said it all.

"[At ESL One New York], I really didn't touch cs besides matches, I showed up feeling ready to play, but I mainly spent time with my girlfriend. I was confident from start to finish like always throughout all events, but during New York, I felt like my voice was heard more in my team and I just happened to be in key spots consistently.

"The New York final is one that buried itself in my mind, we couldn't close it out as a team and, realistically, that should have been our trophy."

EPICENTER and IEM Chicago followed in late October to early November after everyone went home to spend the first few weeks after New York and Istanbul playing the online leagues. In Russia, Liquid came out on top of highly favored matchups in Swole Patrol and AVANGAR before falling to the eventual champions, FaZe in the semis, while in the States, they made it all the way to the final, all the while taking revenge on FaZe in spectacular fashion in the top-four stage before conceding yet another series to Astralis in the best-of-five final. Twistzz ended up with a 1.19 rating at each event, with the latter earning him an EVP award after he was the leading candidate for the MVP medal ahead of the final on the back of some great performances; a 1.36 series rating against MOUZ, 1.40 versus LDLC, and 1.38 in the FaZe rematch.

"[Best memory from 2018?] Winning SuperNova Malta or beating FaZe at IEM Chicago, for some reason it felt so good to me, I was jumping out of my chair after we won. 3-0ing both stages at the FACEIT Major was also a good feeling."

Two weeks after that, Liquid once again competed in their home region at ECS Season 6 Finals, but it turned out to be their second last-place exit and the Canadian's worst event of the year by far, with a 0.74 rating putting him at the bottom of his team after the losses to North and NRG.

"I don't like having reasons that look like excuses, but from the very first day of [ECS Season 6 Finals], I was overwhelmed with stress. My hotel room was covered in bed bugs, I was covered in bites from my neck down to my feet and I had to get all my clothes washed, which took three days. I had technical issues during both our matches, like loss of sound during rounds or randomly disconnecting from TeamSpeak. There was a lot to deal with at once and if a similar scenario happened in the middle of the year, I would have considered taking a small break. Constant traveling while being under immense stress is an awful combination and it really does try to bring you down. I know that event was a one-time occurrence and I quickly moved on from it, but I still let my team down though as I did play badly individually."

He was immediately back in good form later on in November at SuperNova CS:GO Malta, Liquid's second medium-sized event that they ended up winning, adding another EVP-worthy run while beating Virtus.pro, NRG twice, and BIG on the way to the trophy.

To end the year, the North American side went to Denmark for the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals. The tournament was one of their best of the year, as they decimated all of their opposition aside from Astralis, who once again beat them twice throughout the event, once in groups and once at the very end. Twistzz finalized his 2018 resumé fittingly, locking down his fifth EVP on account of a highly consistent run that saw him finish the event with a 1.16 rating, the third-highest within his team.

Why was Twistzz the 12th best player of 2018?

Despite a few hiccups during 2018, Twistzz garnered quite the resumé throughout the year with stable contribution to Liquid's success in the first half of the year and, more importantly, great heights in the second, as he earned an MVP award at ESL One New York alongside EVPs at three Big events (ELEAGUE Premier, IEM Chicago, and ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals) and one medium-sized event (SuperNova CS:GO Malta) in July-December.

Some of the stats showing his impressive usefulness include the third-highest KAST at Big events (73.7%), clutching ability (46 1vsX situations won, 10th most), as well as how often he survived (0.62 deaths per round, ninth fewest) and got multi-kills (18.3% of rounds, 18th most). He also stood out with a high percentage of traded deaths (23.2%, seventh most), showcasing a strength in positioning.

Although this didn't have any effect on his placing and rather speaks to his playstyle, Twistzz also led the charts in the headshot department with a 63% headshot ratio and 0.46 headshots per round. When asked about this ability and where it comes from, he simply said:

"Practice."

What helped the Canadian reach the 12th spot in the ranking was his ability to keep performing in the playoffs up to the same level as in the group stages, with his 1.13 playoffs rating at Big events ranking eighth highest. Meanwhile, this is as high as he could place due to making less impact in the first half of the year and thus not having more standout events.

"[My personal goals for 2019 are] to remain consistent and, of course, lift as many trophies as possible. I also have some new spots to learn, so I'm going to work at becoming the best I can be at those as well as my other positions. Very confident in my teammates."

Bold prediction

Twistzz reckons Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov, who has been competing in North America for over a year under NRG and earned some accolades in 2018, including an MVP at IEM Shanghai, will make it to the top 20 in 2019:

Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov

"I think CeRq will be in the top 20 next year after the experience he got in 2018, he's a fast young AWPer and just needs to build consistency."

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2018 ranking powered by EGB.com and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.