Twistzz — Russel Van Dulken

Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken is a Canadian professional Counter-Strike 2 player who currently competes for FaZe Clan as both the star rifler and in-game leader. He is the most accomplished North American player in Counter-Strike history, the first Canadian to win a Major, the holder of two Intel Grand Slam titles, and one of only a handful of players to have competed at the highest level for over a decade.

Twistzz’s career reads like a history of Counter-Strike itself. He debuted in ESL Pro League before Counter-Strike was even a year older than him. He was part of Team Liquid’s legendary 2019 roster that won the Intel Grand Slam in just 63 days. He was the backbone of FaZe Clan’s 2022 Major-winning super-roster. And now, at 26, he has returned to FaZe to lead the team as IGL through one of the most difficult rebuilding phases in the organization’s history.

What makes Twistzz exceptional is not a single skill but the totality of his game. His headshot percentage is consistently among the highest in professional Counter-Strike. His crosshair placement is textbook. His spray control is pristine. And he brings a level of professionalism and work ethic that elevates every roster he joins. From a team management perspective, Twistzz is the kind of player you build an organization around: reliable, versatile, and driven by a hunger for trophies that has not diminished after a decade of competition.

Russel Van Dulken was born on November 14, 1999, in Toronto, Canada. He was introduced to gaming through his father, with his first FPS being Quake. After his father moved away, Twistzz began spending more time with video games. He and his mother eventually moved in with her boyfriend, who subjected Twistzz to verbal abuse, stalling his progress in gaming. When his mother chose to leave the relationship, Twistzz was finally able to pursue CS:GO without the toxic environment holding him back. His mother was supportive of his gaming because she always knew where he was.

By 2015, at just 15 years old, Twistzz had joined his first professional roster, Tectonic, and was already competing in the North American scene. He was one of the first professional players to be younger than the original Counter-Strike itself, a distinction that highlights just how early his career began.

Twistzz is a star rifler who has recently transitioned into the IGL role for FaZe. His mechanical style is defined by one of the highest headshot percentages in professional Counter-Strike history. He does not spray wildly or rely on volume. He places his crosshair at head level with surgical precision and clicks heads. That fundamental discipline has made him one of the most efficient fraggers in the game for over a decade.

His spray control is equally pristine. When he does commit to a spray, his recoil management is textbook, and his ability to transfer between multiple targets mid-spray is a skill that separates him from other riflers. Combined with his crosshair placement, this makes Twistzz lethal at every range and in every engagement type.

The IGL transition adds a new dimension to his career. Leading a team while maintaining star-level individual output is one of the most difficult challenges in professional Counter-Strike. Twistzz’s work ethic and competitive drive suggest he is willing to put in the effort required, but whether he can balance tactical leadership with fragging at the highest level remains the defining question of this chapter of his career.

Twistzz was one of the first professional CS players to be younger than Counter-Strike itself when he debuted in ESL Pro League.

He completed the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 with Liquid in just 63 days, the fastest completion in history at the time.

Twistzz is the first Canadian player to win a Counter-Strike Major, achieving the milestone at PGL Antwerp 2022 with FaZe Clan.

He is one of only two players to win two Intel Grand Slams (alongside ropz), having won with both Liquid and FaZe.

Twistzz began playing video games with his father, whose first game with him was Quake. His mother’s support was critical to his career, providing a stable environment after a difficult period in his childhood.

He is ranked 98th in the all-time esports earners list, with over $1.4 million in prize money. He is the fourth-richest Canadian in esports history.

The community has nicknamed Twistzz “Handsome” due to his distinctive appearance, a running joke that has persisted throughout his career.

At IEM Kraków 2026, Twistzz publicly claimed that tournament admins pressured him to play without his preferred config settings, sparking a community debate about player treatment at events.

Twistzz matters because he is the most accomplished North American Counter-Strike player in history, and his career spans the entire modern era of the game. From Liquid’s Grand Slam dominance in 2019 to FaZe’s Major victory in 2022, Twistzz has been at the center of some of the most important moments in Counter-Strike.

His longevity is remarkable. Eleven years of professional competition, with five HLTV Top 20 placements across different eras and teams, demonstrates an ability to reinvent and adapt that very few players possess. He has been a star fragger, a support player, and now an IGL, evolving his role to match whatever his team needs.

For the North American scene specifically, Twistzz is a torchbearer. At a time when NA Counter-Strike has declined significantly, with fewer players competing at tier one than at any point in the game’s history, Twistzz remains a constant presence at the highest level. His continued success provides hope and a role model for the next generation of North American talent.

At 26, Twistzz is in his prime competitive years but facing the biggest challenge of his career. FaZe are in a genuine rebuilding phase, with karrigan gone, ropz on Vitality, and the team relying on stand-ins. Twistzz has taken on the IGL role, which means he must balance tactical leadership with maintaining his individual output.

The next few months will be critical. FaZe showed promising signs at BLAST Rivals Spring 2026, and Twistzz’s public statements suggest he is fully committed to the rebuild. Whether FaZe can attract the right permanent additions and develop a new tactical identity under Twistzz’s leadership will determine whether this chapter ends in a resurgence or a further decline.

Regardless of FaZe’s results, Twistzz’s individual legacy is already secure. A Major, two Grand Slams, five HLTV Top 20 placements, and over a decade at the highest level make him one of the most decorated players in the history of the game. The only question is how much more he can add before his career is over.

Twistzz’s eDPI of 680 is significantly lower than the professional average of approximately 844. This low sensitivity demands large arm movements and a generous desk space but provides the pixel-perfect precision that defines his headshot-heavy playstyle. The 4000 Hz polling rate on his Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro ensures exceptionally smooth cursor tracking. His sensitivity has been remarkably stable throughout his career, reflecting the importance he places on muscle memory.

Twistzz uses a thin cyan crosshair with zero thickness and a tight gap of -4. This ultra-minimal design creates the smallest possible aiming point, ideal for the headshot-focused playstyle that defines his career. The lack of outline and zero thickness mean the crosshair never obstructs the target, a critical detail for a player who aims almost exclusively at head level.

Twistzz uses a standard competitive viewmodel with the weapon pushed to the far right and lowered. Viewmodel recoil is disabled for a clean visual during sprays. This is a default configuration that maximizes screen visibility and is consistent with his overall philosophy of keeping settings simple and distraction-free.

Below is a consolidated console command snippet that replicates Twistzz’s core settings.

// Twistzz CS2 Config Snippet — May 2026

// Mouse & Sensitivity

sensitivity "1.7"

zoom_sensitivity_ratio "1"

// Crosshair

cl_crosshairstyle 4

cl_crosshairsize 1.5

cl_crosshairthickness 0

cl_crosshairgap -4

cl_crosshaircolor 5

cl_crosshaircolor_r 0

cl_crosshaircolor_g 255

cl_crosshaircolor_b 255

cl_crosshairalpha 255

cl_crosshairdot 0

cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0

cl_crosshair_t 0

// Viewmodel

viewmodel_fov 68

viewmodel_offset_x 2.5

viewmodel_offset_y 0

viewmodel_offset_z -1.5

viewmodel_presetpos 2

viewmodel_recoil 0