Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken broke his silence on karrigan’s departure from FaZe Clan yesterday, confirming in his personal Discord server that the Danish IGL was not removed from the roster. The move to Falcons, Twistzz said, was karrigan’s decision. His two-word summary of how FaZe learned the news: “It was sudden.”
The Canadian star didn’t stop there. When fans pressed for more detail, Twistzz confirmed karrigan “wasn’t kicked,” shutting down the most popular theory circulating since the weekend. But the clipped, measured tone of his responses told its own story. This is a player processing a blindside in real time, and the community is watching every word.
How the karrigan Falcons Transfer Story Unfolded
The timeline is tight and chaotic.
Sunday, April 12. French insider Sébastien “KRL” Perez posted on X that karrigan would be joining Falcons ahead of the IEM Cologne Major 2026, replacing kyxsan as the team’s in-game leader. The post landed like a grenade. Within hours, HLTV published their own report backing the claim, and OverDrive, Team Spirit’s scout, added further confirmation.
Monday, April 13. Twistzz responded to questions flooding his Discord. A fan asked whether the FaZe players had any warning. Twistzz confirmed the news caught the team off guard but clarified karrigan was not forced out. The implication is clear: karrigan chose to leave, and FaZe found out late in the process.
For Twistzz specifically, this hits different. He rejoined FaZe in September 2025 after a difficult stint on Team Liquid, betting his career trajectory on the org karrigan built. Now the architect is gone, and Twistzz is left standing in a building with no blueprint.
The Twistzz Contradiction the Scene Can’t Stop Talking About
This is the subplot that makes the story personal.
Twistzz publicly rejected a Falcons offer during the BLAST Premier Fall Final in late 2023, telling Pley.gg he had “morals” and would never join a Saudi-backed organization. He was blunt about it, saying he did not want to be affiliated with the project at all. It was one of the strongest public stances any tier-one player has taken on Saudi involvement in Counter-Strike.
Now the IGL he chose to reunite with, the leader he trusted enough to come back to FaZe for, is walking through that exact door. The irony is sharp and the community knows it. Fans in Twistzz’s Discord immediately pointed out the contradiction. Some see frustration behind his terse replies. Others see a professional choosing his words carefully because anything more would become the headline.
Either way, Twistzz finds himself in the most awkward position in the roster. He came back to play for karrigan’s FaZe. That FaZe no longer exists.
FaZe Without karrigan: Five Years Erased in a Week
karrigan returned to FaZe in February 2021 and built one of the most dominant rosters in CS history. The PGL Major Antwerp 2022 trophy, IEM Katowice 2022, IEM Cologne 2022, and multiple S-tier titles all came under his leadership. He became the first IGL to win a Major with a fully international lineup and, at 32, the oldest Major champion at the time.
The cracks started showing after ropz departed for Vitality at the turn of 2025. FaZe never found a replacement for that level of consistency. broky’s form cratered, with reports citing a 0.99 rating in 2026. Head coach NEO was fired mid-season. The team scrambled through last-chance qualifiers, forfeiting PGL Bucharest matches to fly to Belgrade for one final shot at the Cologne Major, only to lose to BIG in the grand final after dominating the opening map 13-3 on Dust2.
For Twistzz, the collapse has been especially cruel. He left Team Liquid in 2025 because Liquid wasn’t winning. He returned to FaZe because karrigan’s system was supposed to be the answer. Instead, he watched FaZe post a 3-10 record through early 2026, exit four S-tier events without making a single playoff, and now lose the one person who held it all together.
FaZe face BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 1 on April 29 with no IGL and no obvious replacement. Twistzz briefly led Team Liquid during his time there, but that experiment produced mostly disappointment. The VRS implications are brutal: FaZe need three of five players to keep their core ranking, meaning they cannot rebuild freely even if they wanted to. If the org turns to Twistzz for calling duties again, it would be asking him to repeat the one chapter of his career he’d rather forget.
karrigan and NiKo Reunite in CS2 After Seven Years Apart
The Falcons move reunites karrigan with NiKo for the first time since their original FaZe run ended in late 2018. That split was messy. NiKo eventually assumed IGL duties, karrigan was benched, and the org spiraled into years of underperformance before karrigan’s 2021 return fixed everything.
But context matters. NiKo himself said in January 2026 that karrigan was the best IGL he ever worked with. The Bosnian star has cycled through Aleksib, HooXi, and kyxsan since the original FaZe. None of them unlocked his potential the way karrigan did during the 2017-2018 peak. On Falcons, NiKo will have that partnership back, plus m0NESY, kyousuke, TeSeS, and coach zonic to round out the roster.
There’s a poetic twist in the coaching staff, too. zonic was the man who benched karrigan from Astralis back in 2016, replacing him with gla1ve to begin the most dominant dynasty in Counter-Strike history. Now the two Danes will share a dugout in Falcons, tasked with solving the same puzzle: how to give three elite fraggers enough structure to win without choking their creativity.
What This Means for Twistzz and What’s Left of FaZe
Twistzz is now the most senior voice on a FaZe roster that has frozen, broky, and jcobbb alongside him. He has the experience, the game sense, and the tactical awareness to step into a leadership role. But history suggests that’s not where his value lies. On Liquid, calling duties weighed on his individual output. On FaZe under karrigan, he thrived as a secondary voice with freedom to focus on fragging.
The question isn’t whether Twistzz can lead. It’s whether FaZe can find someone worth following in time for April 29. karrigan built this org’s identity for half a decade. Replacing him isn’t a roster move. It’s a full reconstruction.
Meanwhile, karrigan will play his first matches under the Falcons banner at IEM Rio this week, with PGL Astana and the CS Asia Championships in May before the Cologne Major in June. Twistzz will likely be watching from the outside, preparing for a BLAST Rivals opener against NAVI without the IGL who was supposed to make his FaZe return worthwhile.
The clock started the moment Twistzz typed “It was sudden.” It hasn’t stopped since.
Sources tell FragWire the deal is expected to be finalized following the conclusion of IEM Rio on April 19.
