Twistzz confirmed today that he’s one of the CS2 stars who was approached by Falcons, a Saudi organization trying to build a superteam for 2024. While most pro players have been quiet about the growing Saudi presence, Twistzz had some strong words to say about Falcons.
“I guess I can say that publicly […] they just contacted me but I turned it down fast,” Twistzz said in an interview with Pley during the opening day of the BLAST Premier Fall Final on Nov. 22. “Because if it was about the money then… obviously, if I wanted the bag and I didn’t care about my career, then I would go to Falcons. But I do care about my career. I have morals and it’s not about the money.”
While Twistzz didn’t elaborate on his thoughts about Falcons and Saudi Arabia’s growing interest in Counter-Strike in the same interview, his response in regard to “morals” could be related to the country’s poor human rights record, anti-LGBTQ+ laws, and media censorship.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has notoriously used traditional sports to try to cleanse the country’s image in the rest of the world—a strategy called “sportswashing” by specialists. And now, we’re seeing something similar in esports as Saudi Arabia currently owns the ESL FACEIT Group, is building a huge gaming hub in the futuristic city NEOM, and will organize a $45 million Esports World Cup in 2024.
Falcons hasn’t achieved anything meaningful in Counter-Strike esports since the organization started investing in CS:GO in 2021, but this could change soon as the org is seemingly splashing money in an attempt to build a superteam. Falcons already poached the legendary coach zonic from Vitality and has reportedly signed Magisk and Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer. The organization also nearly secured a deal with NiKo, but he refused to play there.
Though Twistzz didn’t want to leave FaZe Clan for Falcons, he’s reportedly returning to Team Liquid.
