smooya to stand in for OG in BLAST Showdown quarter-final

The British AWPer will take the place of Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov, who is out due to illness.

OG have announced that they will not be fielding star AWPer degster in their BLAST Showdown match against Ninjas in Pyjamas at 16:30 because the Russian sniper fell ill earlier in the week and has not yet recovered.

Manning the big green in his stead will be none other than Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield, the former BIG, Movistar Riders, fnatic and Into the Breach marksman.

smooya will stand in for OG against NIP

The Englishman has been without a team since the summer of 2022, but has put together mix teams in Major open qualifiers, including the one for the IEM Rio RMR, which he and his Benched Heroes qualified to although they were in the end unable to attend due to visa issues.

This momentary loss of a star player is a big hit for OG, who have been struggling to find form ever since their in-game leader Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković stepped down from the active roster and Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen was brought on as a long-term stand-in and interim caller until the end of the Major cycle.

The BLAST Showdown series will be a replay of the recent ESL Pro League Season 17 Group C match which between the two struggling teams in the Last Chance group stage bracket. That time around the Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen-led squad came out on top 2-0 to knock their rivals out of the competition.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Europe
29/03/2023	Ninjas in Pyjamas 16:30 OG	Match

OG's lineup in the BLAST Showdown match against NIP will be:

Adam "⁠NEOFRAG⁠" Zouhar
Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan
Maciej "⁠F1KU⁠" Miklas
Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen
Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield (stand-in)

Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due (coach)