Esports Star Karel "Twisten" Asenbrener Dead at 19

“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,” he wrote in a message re-tweeted by the team. “Words can not describe the grief or emptiness I’m feeling right now. I loved him and forever will. Rest easy brother, we all love you.”

In a follow-up message, Team Vitality emphasized the importance of mental health, urging those wrestling with inner battles to reach out and seek help.

Earlier this year, in a Feb. 25 tweet, Karel opened up about his battle with depression and self-harming behavior, sharing that he had spent some time in a mental health hospital.

“I have been dealing with depression for over two years now,” he wrote. “I don’t know if people saw it at the event here at the LOCK/IN but over Christmas I did bad things to myself.”

“I self harmed and my was in bad situation for a few days and was considering ending it all but my dad saved me,” Karel said. “I spent few days in the ‘worst’ Mental Health Hospital for people that have serious problems.”

He noted he had a “new fresh start” afterward and was able to bounce back and “get his s–t together.

“It was the hardest time for me as a person and as a professional eSports athlete,” he concluded. “But after that time I knew why I’m playing games and what my team means to me.”

Karel’s final tweet on the evening of June 6 was “Good night.”