Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken has made history as the first player to claim the esteemed title twice.
FaZe has claimed the $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam prize by becoming the first team to secure four Big Events organized by ESL within ten consecutive events, which must feature at least one of IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, or an ESL CS:GO Major. They achieved this after their 3-1 grand final triumph over Cloud9 at ESL Pro League Season 17.
The multinational team is only the fourth team to accomplish this demanding feat, following the highly dominant CS:GO team, Astralis, in 2018, Liquid’s remarkable 63-day streak in 2019, and Natus Vincere’s team of the year performance in 2021.
FaZe is also the first international team with players from non-common language countries to attain the title.
FaZe’s victory came after being named the best team of 2022, during which they won three of their four titles: IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 15, and IEM Cologne. They concluded their successful run in 2023 by hoisting the trophy in Malta at ESL Pro League Season 17, over a year after their initial victory at the ESL Championship-level event in Poland.
Although FaZe had two more opportunities to claim the $1 million prize after winning three of four tournaments in 2022 and then missing out on the next three qualifying events, Robin “ropz” Kool emphasized the importance of their current opportunity before the grand final, stating, “this is where we need to do it, and it’s not going to get better than this.”
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