Twistzz: "Losing early on in the event kicks us into a different gear"

FaZe head to Washington D.C. on a bittersweet note, falling to eventual IEM Dallas champions ENCE in the semifinals after a competitive three-map series that culiminated in a chaotic quintuple-overtime decider on Ancient. With an opening match slated against Astralis, FaZe are now on the hunt for a grand-final appearance to end the first half of the year strong.

The day before matches kicked off, FaZe rifler Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken spoke with Dust2.us' Samuel "Draik04" Popkes to discuss the results at IEM Dallas, including the tough match versus ENCE, the approach for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, and how the team intends to handle fatigue in the latter portion of the year.

Let's start with Dallas first. How do you think the event went overall?

I think a top-four finish is fine for us. It's a bit disappointing because obviously the last map against ENCE could have went either way, and then maybe this would be a winner's interview after beating MOUZ, because I think we had very good chances against that team. Regardless, top-eight finish at the Major and top-four at Dallas now, I think we're on an upwards trajectory and we're not feeling so bad about it.

That last map versus ENCE has to be one of the most hectic maps played in recent memory. Can you tell me about the mental state you're in as the rounds just keep coming?

ENCE is a very explosive team. I feel like they mimic our playstyle a bit and with the aggression take it a notch up. That's what Ancient was, full-out chaos, at least that's how it felt from my POV. Every CT round was just so chaotic, and the T rounds, you just have to throw the playbook out once you're in second or third OT. It was a fun game to play, and everyone I've talked to afterward is saying it's one of the best games of CS they've ever watched, so I guess on the entertainment point of view it has definitely delivered.

With tough losses like that, how long do you leave them untouched before you go back and review them?

Some of us watch, individually I just went into a server and kinda checked some things that went wrong or things that could have been better. When a game goes into quad OT, both teams are making so many mistakes that teams wouldn't usually make, individual players wouldn't usually make, that it's hard to critique and really judge or fix something. What can really be taken away is how bad our Anubis has been, specifically against ENCE; they have our number on the map right now. For those games, both teams know it could have went either way, I mean we had three match points after a flawless CT-side on our triple OT. There's not much to really dissect, it's just about moving on and knowing we played good Counter-Strike that could have won us the tournament, and take that, and move on to this event.

You guys had a slow start in Dallas, with an overtime BO1 versus EG before getting knocked down to the lower bracket by ENCE. Obviously, you ramped up as the event went on. What would you attribute that slow start to?

Honestly, it's a mystery at the moment with our team and slow starts. It's really hard to see what the problem is. We just don't play the same level of CS as we do when we're in the lower bracket, and that just seems to be the trend for us at the moment, and I don't see it as an issue as long as we're still making it into the playoffs. If it's a group-stage exit, then yeah obviously there's lots of discussing, but going to the lower bracket but still beating really good teams in the lower bracket and beating G2, I think it's fine. I think it's good, and losing early on in the event kicks us into a different gear and gives us something to work on, and then we move on from there.

What are the expectations for this event?

Continue the upwards trajectory. We made top four, top eight before, and now we're looking for a final here to end off the season, so I think finals is a good expectation at the moment, and when we make it there we can discuss about winning the event, but finals is where we're at.

Thoughts on the opening match versus Astralis?

I think it's fun. device has been very exciting since his return to Counter-Strike, obviously a player that I enjoy watching, and he's a very good personality for the scene, very professional player. Astralis, I've obviously played the org a lot when I was on Liquid, so I think it's just a fun matchup and luckily it's BO3 openers here so it should be a good opening series to our event.

At Dallas you guys were the crowd favorites, being the sole representative of NA in playoffs. Are you looking forward to the prospect of being crowd favorites here as well?

That would be very exciting, to end the season with events where I feel like the region is looking at me and my team to carry the NA pride. That would be fun. I know Complexity is here, and for the sake of NA I hope they can get some upsets in. Since I was on Liquid, even when I was on Liquid, I don't think the crowd was cheering that hard. Liquid had a lot of fans for NA events, but Dallas was something new, it was next-level, so it was very fun to have that crowd experience. I know it's going to be a little smaller here in Washington, but I hope they can be just as loud.

You talked about having an upward trajectory in the past few events, but how would you assess the first half of 2023 overall?

Well, we won an event, and we finished off the Grand Slam, and I think it's even very difficult to win one event in Counter-Strike, there's a lot of orgs that still cannot get over this hurdle. To have that, and close out the pressure of the Grand Slam, I think makes our 2023 not that bad. We have had some disappointing tournaments; obviously Rio felt like a waste, the RMR was shaky but we still made playoffs at the Major and delivered some exciting games there too.

At the moment, we're looking at two good playoff finishes to end the year, and I don't think that's so bad given that I think all of us are feeling some level of exhaustion, but I'm really happy with how everyone is still trying. There's a point in time where you're just out of it, but I can see it in everyone that everyone continues pushing forward looking for a better result.

Speaking of exhaustion, you did an episode of Talking Counter where you mentioned that FaZe couldn't say no to attending events because you weren't sure when the Grand Slam would be done. Now that you have the Grand Slam, is there a possibility you guys might reign in the number of events you attend?

Well, here's the complicated thing now about the second half of the year, is that CS2 is looming over everyone, and now it feels like you put yourself behind by not attending all the events that are gonna have CS2. Now you're in a tricky situation; do you wanna risk not having as much experience as other teams are getting in the new game? When we get there, that's something that we're going to have to talk about, but at the moment it seems like the second half of the year is gonna be less packed anyways. I mean the Major isn't there, and that opens up a big timeframe to possibly even have a small break in-between, chopping up the second season into two seasons of its own.

So I think that's how were gonna do it, and make sure that we're not feeling as fatigued as we did in the first season. I think with a new game brings a lot of new motivation, and it's just a lot of new fun, and our team is that team that's just in the practice room and grinds together, that's our team hobby, our team-building exercise. A new game is going to make that a lot more fun, and when we get to that point where we have to skip events, we're gonna talk about it and I think every team is gonna be in a similar situation where they have to discuss what's worth it and what's not.

You obviously still have to finish up here in D.C. first, but looking forward to any plans during the player break?

Well, my player break is filled with fixing some things back home in Canada, so it's hard to fix the more private stuff when I'm in Europe the whole year, and now I have time to do that. I'm kinda in the middle of moving at the moment too, so it's kinda just that type of player break.

Sounds busy.

It's fine really I feel like. A busy lifestyle isn't so bad for me, so it's kinda just doing it and trying to get to a better place. I'm looking forward to the player break regardless, but I'm also just as looking forward to having a good result at this event.

Twistzz and the rest of FaZe will kick off their BLAST Premier Spring Finals campaign later today, with their opening match versus Astralis slated for 07:00PM.