Candian professional CSGO player Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken announced he would be leaving Team Liquid almost immediately after the team’s defeat in the IEM Global Challenge 2020 Finals, and we may already know who his replacement will be next year.
Team Liquid has had a rough year in the pro CSGO circuit, ending with just one trophy in 15 tournaments they played. While the org did manage to reach the Grand Finals of the IEM Global Challenge to finish 2020 off, it was a one-sided affair against Astralis that ended 3-0 in the Danes’ favor.
Almost immediately after that match had concluded, Twistzz announced in the post-game interview that he would be parting ways with Liquid, but hinted on Twitter that he would be heading to another EU team.
I'll comment about my future soon, I hope I bring the NA support where ever I go in EU. I wish all the best to and for my teammates. Happy holidays everyone and stay safe 😊
— Russel van Dulken (@Twistzz) December 20, 2020
This might be rough news for Liquid fans, seeing as how Twistzz was the second longest-tenured member of the roster behind Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski; spending three and a half years there and helping the org to a number of titles before the 2020 troubles happened.
But, barring an amazing upset of Astralis to close out 2020, something had to change going into the new year, and it seems like the team’s higher-ups agreed with Richard Lewis that the 21-year-old Canadian had to be the one to go if things were ever going to start getting turned around.
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We also didn’t have to wait long for news on who would be replacing Twistzz either. According to a report from Rush B Media, Liquid is looking to replace him with MiBR’s Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo, and are already in talks with the Brazilian organization, even though no contracts have been signed.
FalleN parted ways with MiBR earlier in 2020 after the team finally pulled the trigger on kicking Epitácio ‘TACO’ de Melo, Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga, and coach Ricardo ‘dead’ Sinigaglia on September 13. The 29-year-old would bring years of experience as an in-game leader and could be a good piece of what Liquid is looking for to turn things around.
While FalleN certainly seems like a likely pick, only time will tell what the actual contract is, and when he’ll begin playing, but when and if the change does go through, Liquid’s lineup would look something like this:
- Jonathan ‘EliGE’Jablonowski
- Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip
- Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic
- Michael ‘Grim‘ Wince
- Gabriel ‘FalleN‘ Toledo
The Brazilian certainly wouldn’t be the end-all, be-all solution to the problems facing this team, but something had to be done about the recent underperformance, and it seems like Twistzz is the first domino to fall.
