Report says MIBR’s FalleN may be up to replace Twistzz for TL

Russell “Twistzz” Van Dulken is done with Team Liquid, and that has a lot of folks asking some big questions.

Where will Twistzz end up? Will Twistzz take anyone with him? And who will take Twistzz’ spot on Team Liquid? The latter question might actually have an answer, as Rush B Media is reporting Team Liquid is looking to replace Twistzz with MIBR’s Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo. WIN.gg has not verified this report, and neither Team Liquid nor MIBR have acknowledged the matter.

According to Rush B Media, the team has been working with FalleN since October while Twistzz was away on a mental health break. Alongside this, Liquid was reportedly shopping Twistzz in the past and was looking to add former Cloud9 AWPer Josh “oSee” Ohm, though these talks never went too far. 

The addition of FalleN might sound a bit strange due to his lack of experience outside Brazilian teams, but the veteran does tick a lot of the boxes that Liquid has empty right now. Team Liquid has dropped its longtime coach Eric “adreN” Hoag, as well as in-game leader and primary AWPer Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella over the last five months. Former caster Jason “moses” O’Toole was added as Liquid’s new coach while Liquid secured Triumph’s Michael “Grim” Wince to replace nitr0.

Though moses and Grim have their respective skills, there is evidence to suggest that the losses of adreN and nitr0 left the team with something of a void when it came to strategy and shot-calling, as well as a primary AWP. FalleN has extensive experience in all those roles, capturing two major titles in 2016.

He also wouldn’t be completely unfamiliar with the current Liquid roster. He previously competed alongside Jake “Stewie2K” Yip at MIBR, something Stewie2K fondly remembers.

“I learned a lot from MIBR, and I felt like I grew a lot as a person there… they [told] me my mistakes and helped me to be more mature,” Stewie2K said previously.

What happened to FalleN?

FalleN is currently riding MIBR’s bench. Earlier this year, the organization decided to bench FalleN’s longtime teammates Epitácio “TACO” de Melo and Fernando “fer” Alvarenga. FalleN then deactivated himself in protest of the move.

He is still contractually bound to MIBR and will be unable to leave the team unless the organization transfers him or releases him. FalleN does not seem to be eyeing retirement or a move to Valorant, so odds are that he will be back in action playing pro CSGO at some point.

What is Twistzz’s role?

Twistzz has long been one of Team Liquid’s star riflers. He was one of the team’s top performers during its heyday in 2019, but went into a statistical decline in 2020. He is hoping that a move to a European team will help lead him back to the top.