CSGO AWPer smooya joins Fnatic on trial

British AWPer Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield has joined Fnatic’s CS:GO lineup on a three-month trial after being released from his contract with Movistar Riders.

The 22-year-old impressed during his time standing in for Fnatic, helping the team to book a spot in the closed qualifier for IEM Winter with an average 1.35 HLTV rating in their final three matches.

His addition should help solve one of Fnatic’s biggest problems in the last 18 months. Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Jack ‘Jackinho’ Ström Mattsson both struggled in the AWP role, with the team also briefly playing with academy talent Iulian ‘regali’ Harjău.

Fnatic’s announcement came just hours after smooya revealed that he had been released by Movistar Riders. The Spanish organization had benched the British AWPer in August to build an all-Spanish roster, which ended up sealing a historic qualification for the PGL Major in Stockholm.

Joining Fnatic

On Fnatic, smooya will play alongside fellow British players Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin and William ‘mezii’ Merriman who were recruited in early August as the team moved away from their Swedish roots.

Smooya will be hoping to make the most of this opportunity as he looks to kick-start his career. Despite his undeniable talent, he has found many doors closed to him since leaving BIG because of his reputation as a toxic player.

In a recent interview with Dexerto, smooya lamented that he was still being judged by his past behavior. He also vowed to do his utmost to stay at the top if given another chance, noting that he “over-performed in every situation possible” on the server.

Despite previously saying that he wanted to be a “household name” in Counter-Strike, smooya teased a potential move to Valorant on October 15 by saying that he was open to offers from Europe and North America in both games.

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Such thoughts have now been put to rest, but there’s every chance that he will reconsider his options if his Fnatic trial is not successful.

After missing out on qualification for PGL Major Stockholm, Fnatic will now turn their attention towards securing spots at IEM Winter and DreamHack Open November. The closed qualifiers for both tournaments will run between October 18 and 21.

Fnatic CS:GO roster

• Ludvig ‘Brollan⁠’ Brolin
• Freddy ‘KRIMZ⁠’ Johansson
• Alex ‘⁠ALEX⁠’ McMeekin
• William ‘mezii⁠’ Merriman
• Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield (trial)
• Jamie ‘⁠keita’ Hall (coach)