British Valorant analyst and YouTuber, Ryan ‘RyanCentral’ Horton, has set up a fundraiser in memory of the late pro player Karel ‘Twisten’ Ašenbrener (pictured above).
The analyst, from Yorkshire, has launched The Twisten Shorty Drive campaign to raise money for Rise Above The Disorder, a charity that covers the cost of mental health care for people around the world.
Those who want to support the initiative can donate money based on each kill made using the Shorty weapon at the VCT Masters Tokyo event, which is taking place at the moment.
This honours Twisten, who donated €25 per Shorty kill at VCT Lock/In Sao Paulo to an animal welfare charity. Overall, there were 58 kills and Twisten raised €1,450.
RyanCentral posted full details of the fundraiser on his Twitter page:
“You can donate as much or as little as you’d like,” RyanCentral said. “Choosing a custom amount which also gives you a rough estimate on how many shorty kills we could see.
“Twisten’s passing is a devastating loss for the Valorant community as a whole. As a way to honour Twisten’s legacy, to continue his memory and let him live on through that, many of the Valorant community are taking part in a clever little challenge that Twisten actually did himself earlier this year [at VCT Lock/In].
“Many have wanted to do something similar at VCT Masters Tokyo. The campaign will stay open for a couple of weeks after VCT Masters Tokyo.
“Let’s enjoy Masters Tokyo, let’s celebrate the Shorty, and also be sure to celebrate Twisten, who was not only an outstanding player, but he was a lovely, genuine, absolute standout person who is going to be missed a lot. So let’s celebrate him, and let’s get our Shortys out.”
RyanCentral
“You can also follow along with the challenge yourself and donate to a different charity, that’s more than fine, I just wanted to set up a page where everybody could come together and be involved as much or as little as you like.
“Let’s enjoy Masters Tokyo, let’s celebrate the Shorty, and also be sure to celebrate Twisten, who was not only an outstanding player, but he was a lovely genuine, absolute standout person who is going to be missed a lot. So let’s celebrate him, and let’s get our Shortys out.”
$1,976 is expected to be raised so far, based on 66 estimated Shorty kills throughout the tournament. The overall target is to raise at least $5,000.
There’s more information on the Twisten Shorty Drive in this video from RyanCentral here:
The Valorant esports community has rallied around the rundraiser, with many sharing the news and supporting it.
Update: Initiative raises over $8,000
RyanCentral has posted an update following Valorant Masters Tokyo (which was won by Fnatic), saying the fundraiser has raised more than $6,000 for Rise Above the Disorder so far.
At the time of writing this (June 29th) it’s now on $8,500+. Some have also donated direct to the charity rather than through the Pledge It page.
Twisten Shorty Drive fundraiser comes after sad news of Twisten’s passing
The fundraiser comes around a week after Team Vitality announced that Twisten had passed away.
The Czech player was just 19 years old and had previously spoken about his depression and suicidal thoughts earlier this year.
Gorilla, Vitality’s assistant coach, said in this tweet: “I woke up this morning to the news of one of my closest friends, someone who genuinely felt as if he was my brother, taking his own life. Words can not describe the grief or emptiness i’m feeling right now. I loved him and forever will.
“I’ll leave this with a quote from his favourite show, and something he used to say to me when I felt down: “If you are feeling disheartened, that you are somehow not enough, set your heart ablaze.”
“Rest easy brother, we all love you.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
