Following his teams’ impressive victory of Natus Vincere, Steven Cropley had the opportunity to speak with Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken from Liquid. Twistzz speaks of his past, progress, and the upcoming match with the Danish powerhouse of Astralis.

VPesports: You’ve come a long way – you’ve come from being on some smaller teams but getting your big break with major organization Team SoloMid picking you up. What’s it like to have gone from being on TSM and fighting to break into tier one to being on a team that is widely concerned a top-five team in the world?

Twistzz: When I joined that team I didn’t really have any help improving. I was on my own. I learned the game myself, I improved on my own and that’s the mindset I’ve always had. So coming up to a professional team, I always had the thought that if I had better teammates around me, I’d play better individually so I was really excited about joining Liquid. But before joining Liquid I was on Misfits with seangares and he helped me a lot like he helped me to understand the game in a way I didn’t understand before. He helped me believe that I could be on a top team. In terms of Liquid, I actually moved before I signed a contract. I moved down there for a boot camp and signed the contract a week later.

VPesports: Looking at previous events, for awhile it was always EliGE standing at the top, but now you’re contesting for that. You’ve really stepped up to the point that your team really does look a lot like Astralis as dupreeh and zonic mentioned in that almost every player is consistently playing well and fulfilling their role well. Do you think that’s the team coming together or the individual players on the team growing their own game like you have?

Twistzz: I think it’s every individual player growing their game. That’s how a team runs at 100% is because every person has to be improving on their own as well as improving as a team. I’m more of a support role in this team, I don’t mind it. It’s pretty laid back and seeing my teammates shine makes me feel good, like when I see NAF playing well it’s a really nice thing. Nick’s playing super well this event and I’m super happy for him because confidence was low individually and I’m happy for him now. I feel like that’s how it happened for Astralis, all of their players improved individually. That’s why they’re really good now. It’s going to be a tough match tomorrow.

VPesports: Both dupreeh and zonic have stated that you have similar playstyles. How do you think you guys match up because you are so similar?

Twistzz: I think it takes a different type of playstyle to beat Astralis, one we haven’t really practiced so we’re just going to keep playing the same style. We keep getting closer every time versus them and I think tomorrows match is going to be pretty even.

VPesports: Now that you’ve reached this top tier of Counter-Strike, is there still a player that you look up to or watch plays of and think that this is how you want to play or the role that you want to have?

Twistzz: I used to do that. It’s not like that anymore. Players I have enjoyed watching but never wanted to be just like them is like f0rest, olof, coldzera. coldzera is like the only player that I really wanted to try and mimic but I found my own style and that’s what matters most to me.

And it’s clearly working for the young gun and his team as they reach the finals where they’ll meet the number one team in the world, Astralis.