On Monday, fnatic posted on its Twitter account that Owen «smooya» Butterfield would be sent to inactivate. This decision was made after the team placed 9th-12th at IEM Katowice. In the matches that fnatic has played in this tournament, smooya has not been able to noticeably prove himself and achieve a productive game. Romanian cyber athlete Lulian «regali» Harjau will now take the sniper's place in the main squad.
Owen Butterfield joined fnatic in October 2021. He was successful in several tournaments in the online format, but he did not meet the new year in the best shape. As a result, the team management decided to replace him with another player to improve their chances of qualifying for the PGL Antwerp Major.
Regali has been playing for fnatic Rising since July 2021. Over the past seven months, he has appeared at WePlay Academy and several other events. To date, his rating is 1.15. Regali had previously played with fnatic's main roster for a short time when the team was picking up a replacement for Jack «Jackinho» Strom Mattson.
In a statement regarding the decision, fnatic commented as follows: «Given that qualifying for the majors starts this week and we need to get better and better results, we have decided to move smooya to inactive. However, the team leadership would like to note that they are grateful for his contribution to our CS: GO strategy and will continue to support him as he takes the next steps in his career».
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