One year after the death of Twisten, who passed away at the young age of 19 in June last year , Salah, who served as head coach at Vitality, looked back on that time on his X (formerly Twitter).
Today marks one year since Twisten passed away. I wanted to write you a letter to tell you how much I miss him and how difficult life has been without him. However, it’s difficult to express everything in words that would do him justice.
So instead, I want to celebrate him by sharing with you some of my favorite moments with him and the story behind this photo (the thumbnail image for this article).
Before the VCT 2023 LOCK//IN in São Paulo, Twisten spoke openly about the struggles he endured over Christmas .
And, ever the open-minded guy, he vowed to donate every kill he got during the tournament to charity . Even when he was struggling, he remained true to his desire to help others.
To me, he was the Ronaldinho of valorant. His playstyle was beautiful and explosive. But there was something about me that couldn’t believe he could overcome the hardships he’d been through and return to the top scene.
After taking a break from competitive play, he struggled a lot in practice. It was concerning to see him not be able to get back to the level he was dominating at, easily racking up over 30 kills. Even after we arrived in Brazil for LOCK//IN, he wasn’t performing as well as he should in scrims until game one.
So on the day of the first game, I was very nervous because we needed him to perform at his best in order for our team to be successful.
But he did one of the bravest things anyone could have done. He came up to me before the game and told me he was nervous and that he wanted me to say something. If you’ve ever been a coach, you know that’s very rare.
And I really wanted him to have an explosive performance on stage, so he went on stage, we formed a circle, and as a last resort, I pulled him over and said,
“You’re a great player, Twisten. We’ll win. We’re always together. I’ll be right behind you. We’re family. Let’s win together, brother.”
His eyes lit up and electricity ran through him. It was like a switch was flipped. Twisten had been struggling a lot in scrims, but he performed phenomenally in the game. He came back to himself and was explosive.
I still remember most of it. In the archive of that game I can see me watching him play and how much fun I had (Vitality played GE in the first round and won 2-1, with Twisten putting up a 60 kill, 36 death performance).
The day I saw him come back to life was the best day of my life. It was proof of his strength. At that moment, I realized, “He’s a true warrior.” I continue to strive to be at the top every day, so that I can get even a little closer to him, who kept fighting.
I love you, brother. I will never give up until I win for you.
