UPDATE (February 7th): smooya has been banned from the FaceIT Pro League (FPL) after telling another player, refrezh, to ‘go kill yourself’ (clip here) after refrezh supposedly gave up trying to win a game. smooya has since apologised on Twitter.
BREAKING NEWS: PLAYER BANNED FROM FPL
I’ve been suspended for the foreseeable future for my comments towards @refrezhCS. I don’t agree with what I said nor do I think it’s right in anyway. I will take the week to relax! This isn’t any way reflective on @BIGCLANgg, it’s on me.
— Owen Butterfield (@smooyacs) February 6, 2019
FaceIT confirmed the temp ban/break here.
There’s more info in this post on Dot Esports.
Original article (February 2nd): UK pro CSGO player Owen “smooya” Butterfield is leaving German esports organisation BIG (Berlin International Gaming) Clan.
Johannes “nex” Maget has instead returned to the roster, taking smooya’s first-team spot.
The org announced that smooya ‘will be stepping down from the active line-up, and will be allowed to search for new opportunities from a benched position’, confirming his time at the org is coming to an end.
However, it was a heartfelt goodbye message from BIG, who thanked him for his performances including the FaceIT London Major and when the team finished second at ESL One Cologne.
smooya shines on the BIG stage at ESL One Cologne
Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić, head of CSGO at BIG, said: “Not everyone could have dealt with the fast success and playing on stages in front of massive crowds as well as he did. The fans loved him for his emotion, so did we.
“However, it’s not always easy if you are the only foreigner in a team. We had some different opinions on how to approach the game and team development and it turned out that his and the team’s [do] not align. I’m sure that he is a great addition to any top team and I personally and the whole BIG family wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.”
The feeling was mutual, with smooya saying: “I think they already have an insane system that just needs a little bit more work and they will become a standout top five team in the world, but sadly I don’t think I’ll ever fit into this system simply because of playstyles.
“There is no bad blood between anybody in the team, I just think personally they would be better with another player to do my role, as I’ve never really had the main AWP role since being here.”
“I am open to all offers from EU/NA, but my main focus would be wanting to move to America full time so I can really work on my craft and have zero distractions outside of the game.”
smooya
smooya also touched on his ambitions, his time with BIG and plans for the future in a Twitlonger post.
He said: “At the start of 2017 my goal of was to end up being in a top 20 team by the end of 2018 and everybody laughed. I managed to do way more than that which makes me smile knowing how many people doubted me in the first place – and this is also another reason why I’m comfortable with making this decision.
“Maybe you’ll see my face being a troll in some FPL games but apart from that I’m going to just relax until after the major so I can see what teams might come available for myself.
“I am open to all offers from EU/NA, but my main focus would be wanting to move to America full time so I can really work on my craft and have zero distractions outside of the game.”
smooya is also standing in for Denail as they play in the IEM Sydney Qualifier:
I’m only standing in guys, don’t worry:>
— Owen Butterfield (@smooyacs) February 1, 2019
Image source: Nathan “Lexo” Cooper/ESL
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.
