Owen “Smooya” Butterfield is Counter-Strike’s most eligible bachelor. He’s AWPed at the top tier with BIG and Epsilon, but has been a free agent since leaving Chaos Esports Club earlier in the year due to visa issues. His recent trial with c0ntact ended on good terms as he wanted to pursue a primary AWPing role rather than the rifling role they offered him. He’s spent the year being linked with every roster spot going, and he’s said he’s willing to consider any team at ESEA Premier Division (MDL) or above. So what are his options right now?
Back to Germany
Smooya spent just shy of two years playing with BIG Clan in Germany, and while his time there came to an acrimonious conclusion with him being removed from the roster shortly before the IEM Katowice Major 2019 (and then again at the start of 2020), there are plenty of other teams in Germany who could be interested in his talent.
Sprout are probably the second-biggest team in Germany, and it’s no coincidence that BIG have reached great heights since signing k1to and syrson from them. They are an international roster with two Poles and given their form this year, a roster change would be surprising — but a recent report suggests dycha and snatchie are indeed leaving. Smooya could be a candidate to pick up the AWP if they want to stay international, having played in Germany beforehand. Should Sprout go back to an all-German roster as is rumoured, that would not necessarily be bad news as that would leave a hole at…
Alternate ATTAX, rumoured to be losing slaxz and kressy to Sprout in this roster move. The third best team in Germany found success earlier this year finishing 3rd in MDL and winning Malta Vibes 2, but have stagnated since. If they are willing to go international, smooya would be a great pickup, and possibly the impetus they need to crack the top 30 on HLTV, as well as potentially challenging Sprout and BIG more consistently — but, having not gone international before, that will be one for the players to ponder.
There’s also mousesports — but we’ll cover that one later under “long shots”…
International Line-Ups
In truth there aren’t that many international rosters going at the moment, at least in MDL. Most of the MDL teams are single-nationality, or at the very least, communicating in a native tongue that isn’t English. Of the teams possibly looking at roster moves, this probably rules out PACT (Polish), Galaxy Racer (Swedish) and FATE (Bulgarian — and that’s if they stay up) unless they decide to make a switch.
Endpoint would seem like an ideal place on paper: they’re a UK org, he’s played for them before, and he’s teamed with Surreal and robiin at Epsilon. But they have the tiny problem of already having a talented AWPer (Cruc1al) who recently signed a new 18-month contract with the organisation. Unless Cruc1al leaves, or his form falls off dramatically, Smooya would surely be too big a risk.
Similarly, Team Secret have anarkez, who I’ve written about previously — he was the 4th highest-rated player in the league, getting rid of him would seem foolish in the extreme.
That leaves only one international MDL team — GamerLegion. While they have young Swede eraa on the AWP, they have been struggling and Smooya could offer a firepower upgrade. They also have two Brits on the roster already in Adam9130 and Dobbo, alongside ashhh coaching. Smooya could provide experience and firepower to boost a young roster — but would GamerLegion want to drop one of their two Swedes to go majority UK, and would Smooya commit to a side that only survived in MDL by the skin of their teeth two seasons in a row?
If Smooya did want to go somewhere with a higher class of talent, he could do worse than EnVy. While the new roster looks set to fall out of Flashpoint, their first tournament, they have experience, Flashpoint partner status, and a reputation that would likely see them get tournament invites. It would also see him reunite with Thomas, a close friend from the UK scene, who they signed in September. If they can be persuaded to drop Nifty, something fans have been calling for, Smooya might be the missing piece they need.
Building something new
Smooya confirmed on HLTV’s podcast that he tried out for the new Cloud9 “Colossus” roster, to join fellow Brits Alex and mezii, but lost out to woxic for the AWPer role. Cloud9 aren’t the only org putting together a top-tier CS:GO roster, though. Extremum (a Russian organisation best known for competing in DOTA) are in talks with the core of the ex-100 Thieves roster while planning to pick up two Europeans to play alongside them, while Guild Esports, fresh off success in Rocket League and entry into Valorant, have appointed Thorin to a consulting role to help build their team. FunPlus Phoenix lurk in the background; potentially in talks to buy the GODSENT roster, potentially still looking to build their own team; GODSENT, for their part, would be looking for a new roster if they did lose theirs, potentially building around IGL Krystal.
All of these come with caveats, of course. Extremum have an AWPer in Gratisfaction — so someone would have to budge on AWPing. Guild, quite aside from their eyebrow-raising finances, would have no guarantee of success or tournament invitations to start out. Plus, it isn’t really a buyers’ market for players right now. FPX are a huge org but still seem unclear what they’re doing, and that is hurting GODSENT as well. But all of those are definitely viable options.
A second stab at NA?
Now we’re getting into the realm of the unlikely. Chaos were unable to secure Smooya a visa due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it impossible for him to stay on the team. Could another team fancy a go in different times and under different leadership? Gen.G are playing Flashpoint with two stand-ins, if they could convince autimatic to drop the AWP Smooya could fit in there nicely. Any MDL team in need of an AWPer would pick him up in a heartbeat; though given the state of the NA CS scene right now, which has been devastated by players moving to Valorant, it remains to be seen whether Smooya would reciprocate.
And — here’s one that should possibly go in the “long shots” category — what if Team Liquid finally decide to go with a dedicated AWPer? Their five-rifle setup has flattered to deceive so far this year, with NAF and Stewie2k not able to find the same impact when they pick up the sniper. It would be the longest of long shots — but then who saw them dropping Nitro for Grim? Stranger things have happened in 2020…
The long shots
It’s probably unfortunate for Smooya that most of the top teams who might consider picking him up would be considered “long shots”. There’s a couple of reasons for this, most of which comes down to the composition of the teams: a number of teams at the top level now play, like Liquid, without a dedicated AWPer. Sometimes it will alternate between players depending on the map, sometimes the AWPer is a rifler who picked up AWPing because someone had to do it, and some maps the T-side doesn’t need an AWP at all (most notably, some teams ditch the AWP on Nuke). It makes finding a playing spot more challenging as there is fiercer competition for fewer spots.
We’re going to stick to international rosters here, partly because the list would go on forever otherwise but mainly because hypothetically any team COULD decide to go international, but there’s no point waiting around for them to do so (especially if, like MAD Lions, they immediately undo their decision). And on the subject of MAD Lions, North have gone international with the addition of Lekr0, but they are probably not going to kick msl — who is both their AWPer and their IGL — any time soon.
I mentioned mousesports back when talking about Germany. The German org with an international roster dropped woxic earlier this year and since then the AWP has alternated between IGL karrigan and versatile Dutchman chrisJ, with the roster still only finding inconsistent patches of form (such as 4th in ESL Pro League being followed up by a last-place finish at Dreamhack Open Fall — where they narrowly avoided missing out on qualification entirely). They could add Smooya and kick a rifler — but that would mean a big role reshuffle just to accommodate a new player. I wouldn’t put money on it.
OG and FaZe Clan are a similar situation. OG have mantuu — who predominantly played as a rifler before joining — on the AWP and showing great form, but some of their other players have underperformed. A defeat where they were swept by FaZe at IEM NY in the grand final appears to have hindered their progress as they have struggled since; hypothetically, perhaps they could kick one of their riflers, move mantuu back there and add Smooya — but there are probably easier ways of achieving what they want. FaZe have an open spot on the roster, with olofmeister being pretty clear he is only playing as a stand-in after NiKo’s exit, but broky is playing very well as an AWPer — it’s possible they could tempt broky back to rifling, but again, unlikely and there are easier options out there.
One last long shot, of a different kind, revolves around Vexed Gaming, who have qualified for the Climber Cup having finished 2nd in ESL Premiership. If they make MDL Relegation, and if they secure a spot in MDL, and if they kick or lose AWPer shynne — maybe that’s a spot Smooya could fill, bringing experience to a young line-up and returning to the UK for the first time in years. Again, though, the number of factors involved mean the odds of that happening are roughly the same as hitting a blind wallbang headshot on Vertigo.
The Game That Shall Not Be Named (oh, alright, it’s VALORANT)
While it would suck to lose another Counter-Strike talent to its rival from RIOT, it would be remiss not to mention it. VALORANT has already claimed a number of pros from North America but the UK CS:GO scene — demoralised by years of nearly moments and roster instability — has also seen a number of players make the switch, with several teams picking up UK pros known for their Counter-Strike prowess like weber, dephh, and most notably the Team Liquid roster with 4 UK players and Belgian former CS prodigy SCREAM.
VALORANT teams are known for providing good (some would say inflated) wages to their players and the pro CS players who have switched titles have commented that many of the same skills needed for Counter-Strike can be transferred within the first few scrim matches. I would be surprised if Smooya isn’t at least considering the option for a steady paycheck, especially as he would be on the younger side and still able to develop his talent.
And finally — in the shadow of the Colossus…
As mentioned above, Smooya tried out unsuccessfully with Cloud9. But Cloud9 GM HenryG has talked of his plans to sign a “sixth man” for the roster, with the idea being said player would be experienced and able to play multiple roles. Vitality have been showcasing just how effective this can be since adding Nivera to their roster, with the young Belgian subbing in and out depending on the map; G2 are trying something similar, with JACKZ and Amanek alternating depending on the matchup, though with less success.
Well, we’ve seen from his time at c0ntact that Smooya can rifle as well as AWP — similar to Nivera. He’s experienced, he’s keen to work with ALEX and mezii, and he’s available without a buyout. If he’d be willing to suck up not being primary AWPer and bide his time for his chance — there are worse benches to sit on, and he could even find himself back in a starting role if HenryG and kassad’s big plans don’t come to fruition. But those are some big ifs…
I hope that we don’t lose Smooya. When he left BIG he spoke of having unfinished business and it always hurts to lose talent before its time. He definitely still has the talent — his grinds in FPL and even his time in an unfamiliar role at c0ntact prove that. 2020 has been a brutal year for him so far — maybe 2021 can be better.
