How a Self-Obsessed AWP Prodigy Almost Destroyed His CS:GO Career

When it comes to competing at the highest level in esports, confidence can be key to winning in high stakes situations.
Not having enough self belief at the right moment can mean the difference between a monumental victory and a soul-crushing defeat, whereas having too much faith in your own ability can end up biting you where it hurts.
And perhaps in all of CS:GO no one has navigated the line between confidence and overconfidence quite like Owen "smooya" Butterfield: a prodigious but enigmatic talent from the land of tea and crumpets who has made his name flexing on fools with the good ole big green.
But the thing about smooya is that the unshakeable self-belief that’s made him so dangerous on the server has also caused him a lot of problems off of it.
Written by: Alina Sotula (@ASotula)
Hosted & Produced by: Dimitri Pascaluta (@DPascaluta)
Edited by: Matt Massey
Produced by: Miles Hackett (@miles_hackett)
Thumbnail by: Brandon Mistele
Special thanks to smooya for taking the time to talk to us, you can find him on Twitch here!:
/ smooyacs
Footage credits:
pastebin.com/w...
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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[@EpochIsEpic]

“Played for like, a year and got worse”. Sounds like I’m on the right track

[@ChessCat1500]

LMAO yes

[@breggsgonzales2924]

@4:03 and then 2 weeks after buying a new pc you get global elite. damn...

[@bolofotinha5621]

Me too

[@nothankkyou3176]

Don't forget he said all that changed to make him better. Was new gear

[@AllThatHarbin]

You and me both! 😂

[@DerBarrakuda]

getting tabsen, one of the nicest players in pro cs, to be mad at you, just proves how over-confident and problematic smooya was

[@yomamaMTV]

I think tabsen is just a pr god

[@falaflani4831]

@@yomamaMTV ok smooya

[@k0ufaR]

*is

[@frittatasTV]

He still is over-confident and problematic

[@llovebeats3749]

you dont know tabsen, you will never know tabsen, you are a fan

[@ilym1st670]

no one: smooya: "I was like literally bhopping around the room"

[@heyrellic]

bruh

[@SnowyIsHere]

bruh

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

Bruv

[@jxy_vbn8156]

@@nurlindafsihotang49 this is a certified Bruv moment

[@bluz9951]

that’s what happens when you play a game too much you start using in game terms for real life

[@falcon3169]

smooya : "I can't hear you s1mple !" s1mple : time to babysit this clown

[@PK-lo6ws]

no one talks shit to simple

[@SwedeenXBL]

@@PK-lo6ws True, if you do you're bullying him

[@alexbeaven8532]

Haha I think s1mple loves it, he's just like young s1mple

[@nilzstarz]

s1mple loves him , it's all fun

[@Iamapsycho231]

@@SwedeenXBL Why you bullyin me

[@thebluecollarkid1831]

There's a fine line between confidence and over-confidence! You have to be careful about what side do you stand!

[@JustAPokemonCommentingOnVideos]

i honestly don't know how egoistic and over confident people are able to pull it off personally i am the exact opposite , i overthink every decisions and opinion even if it is the right one

[@JonathanPaspula]

I would phrase it this way, there's a line between confidence and arrogance, and you would do well to know the difference.

[@zkkkk.8889]

@@JustAPokemonCommentingOnVideos same with me bro...its really hard... i overthink a lot cant stop it

[@lolly4961]

@@JustAPokemonCommentingOnVideos you dont have to overthink, when you know you´re right:)

[@iamclydieCS]

@@zkkkk.8889 same bro

[@dfsempire2712]

Can’t believe fnatic are starting the first ever British csgo team project

[@dfsempire2712]

@@Sem0733 how did that work out

[@lele_goof]

Bri'ish chewsday innit

[@V-O-V]

@@lele_goof Hilarious. Honestly the more a joke gets repeated the funnier it gets...

[@dfsempire2712]

@@Sem0733 you sure because this was just during the covid era of world ranking so it was pretty bad. Not to mention world ranking is still bad and always is I mean g2 top 3 when they bombed out of groups now there good but really?

[@polexx1875]

@@Sem0733 London Conspiracy?

[@adhinraj2967]

Here we are now. When Smooya has been benched on FNATIC.

[@chugalingus4642]

I hope this is the turning point of his career. He was over confident for sure, but I hope he can become a showman and an embassador. He certainly has the likeness, and the personality

[@sigmundfreud2443]

Aaaaaaaand het got kicked.....

[@chugalingus4642]

@@sigmundfreud2443 yeaahhhhhh.. seems it was more because of fnatic shifting gears, rather than Smooya sucking.

[@andreascristea3960]

@@chugalingus4642 andddd he s gone now

[@chugalingus4642]

@@andreascristea3960 yeah.. pain

[@marko02501]

@@andreascristea3960 he’s back to streaming or just retired completely?

[@ATS1031]

his banter with s1mple is great i hope he redeems himself on fnatic

[@scars2856]

This didn’t age well

[@ayush6025]

Well this aged like fine wine.

[@ATS1031]

@@ayush6025 lmao

[@felobatirmoheb4884]

@@ayush6025 What happened

[@Bubbles1709]

@@felobatirmoheb4884 my man got himself kicked off the fnatic roster sadly because they didn’t like him very much. Really hoping smooya can land a good and stable team ready for Antwerp. Turns out you really can’t even pay a bunch of us British to play a game together lol

[@charliesheen111]

7:44 thats all im going to say about the s1mple vs smooya thing lmao

[@justinperry7465]

This video didn’t age well lol

[@tharetsku]

he's the opposite of f0rest, and I like him almost as much.

[@ahbabraufahmed3058]

wdym?

[@weesijieMUFAN]

@@ahbabraufahmed3058 f0rest is a god but is as humble as it gets

[@arfanzufar5148]

cadiaN?

[@memeguy-jz4kv]

tbh until now I never knew why did smooya get sacked, he was usually smashing everyone on the server

[@wallacemunene6952]

He was said to be toxic

[@manfromwuhan714]

@@wallacemunene6952 yh coz his team was utter shite

[@flux3033]

@@manfromwuhan714 it would be hard to focus and get motivated when u got a mf bitching in ur ear all the time

[@mintu7541]

@@wallacemunene6952 Met him on faceit today, played on the same team. He was toxic as fuck 😂

[@whoami8247]

@@mintu7541 why did he leave fanatic?

[@uditgoel6925]

Still toxic and overconfident

[@illastration1]

As a Brit I like him because his toxicity is honestly pretty normal amongst young British lads. He seemed to grow out of it later than most (probably because he spent years in his bedroom playing CS). Happy he's maturing now though. TBH s1mple was the same when he was younger and has now matured in to a really respectable person. I'll be supporting Smooya and Fnatic for sure.

[@bohanxu6125]

People grew up in different situation, so I'm not accusing or anything... but it's not good to have a culture that is proud of being toxic. Making toxic people famous is not good for people overall.

[@Goudafarmer]

Not British people realising why nobody likes them

[@cc3]

@@bohanxu6125 yeah as a brit, I did not get along at all with other teenagers for this reason, it's surprising just how superior some of them act just because they're surrounded by other yes men. To be fair it sounds like smooyas WoW mates embodied this description more than him. I doubt he was really kicked for his low skill (he comes off as toxic and entitled, I wouldn't play with him) but if he was then that's pretty shitty. Fortunately most of the bigger twats end up going nowhere in life so our culture does have some sort of hidden system in place.

[@shin29534]

S1mple is still the same he just wins

[@reachCS]

I dislike many young 'lads' ur talking about because of this toxicity.

[@tomerator]

3:25 s1mple is a savage LMFAO

[@robertneville4469]

the subject matter of these videos is not bad, which is why I watch them. coverage across multiple topics is decent. but watching this clown over exaggerate his facial expressions and deliver an esports piece as if it's some Pulitzer winning crap - just painful.

[@abhyudaytiwari630]

Hahah... My thoughts exactly

[@SpiralOut8888]

loool

[@123-x6f]

I cannot help myself but relate to this guy. When I was a kid there was no one who would've told me to shut up and come down to the Earth. Now I am having lots of psychological issues stemming from that. This is fucking hard. gl smooya, this won't be easy.

[@willparker7763]

this is why god made fathers and father figures.

[@braulioxDify]

@@willparker7763 do you mean grandparents

[@Tobi-wt4sh]

​​@@willparker7763od? You mean the Parents lmao

[@leemarquez8995]

lol disco doplan killed his career with those usp misses

[@Nazzigrag]

How about NBK ? I would really like to see a summary of his career, from a Major Winner to basically not being seen on the official stage for quite some time. He was the mirrored version of smooya

[@s0meRand0m129]

formed a team brought in Alex make Zywoo a star player bring glory to the team get fucked by the org after major

[@s0meRand0m129]

Vitality did NBK dirty

[@whoami8247]

@@s0meRand0m129 why did they kik him

[@s0meRand0m129]

@@whoami8247 Dunno why but mouz they only want new young talents and then sell the players to different org , that is what mouz want to do now

[@whoami8247]

@@s0meRand0m129 I was talking about vitality😎

[@yeahhyouvish]

I like smooya man, he's definitely a great player and the fact that he's actively working on changing his behavior will only make him better in my eyes.

[@juliancaesar4575]

It’s called growing up

[@oaklandoof994]

smooya was my fav eu player when he was on BIG. So happy hes back into T1 with fnatic, think that team has a shot to be good

[@qwq3699]

fnatic t1 kekw

[@admiralburger]

@@qwq3699 they are winning back to back

[@phoon4703]

Benched LUL

[@andershermansen1131]

Smooya is one of my favorite players! butt load of confidence, and not afraid to show it, gotta love it! also being liturally the only good englishman on the scene

[@TotalxTroll25k]

I could see Smooya and S1mple being best friends that have explosive ass fights

[@RaccCantAim]

Dimitris beard makes me feel things

[@davidloux578]

Sexual things?

[@thebluecollarkid1831]

Is that a sexual reference?!

[@RaccCantAim]

@@davidloux578 nooo…..

[@lazyboi7114]

sus

[@plastic12345]

._.

[@w96yia]

please do not cut player interviews out of context and making it seem like theyre saying something completely different thank u :)

[@xImpactBlue]

Can we get a full "The Story of Rain"?

[@xImpactBlue]

We got it :)

[@NatteNek]

Hope you guys will make something of a story of KiXSTAr.

[@nep8998]

I really hope they do

[@joespagnola9253]

keemstar

[@get_obliterat8642]

Yeahhh

[@jmmjjmmjjmmj]

who the fuck is that

[@NatteNek]

@@jmmjjmmjjmmj Ex R6 Pro and their vest caster, passed away in a car accident a few weeks ago

[@freddiem6805]

So he's like a less skilled , more toxic s1mple ?

[@yav1d]

Just like s1mple on liquid LOL

[@wallacemunene6952]

You cant really hate Smoooya this guy is just pure comedy

[@akhiljacob2089]

im seeing this video after he got benched again

[@bejko6186]

what ? hes just british

[@ImmenselyTilted]

reminds me of dardoch. it doesn't matter how good of a player you are if you can't be a good teammate. no org wants a toxic player for the long haul

[@randhika5636]

he's probably the only highest skill brit that actually playing in competitive esport and he act like an idiot, but goddamn sometimes it's good to se someone this real in csgo scene

[@jessicawilliamson640]

A true man from Huddersfield

[@robbielea1107]

Couldn’t believe it

[@mitchhirt]

When I clicked on this video, I thought to myself: "If anyone other than Dmitri is narrating this I'm clicking off." I wasn't disappointed.

[@emran3588]

Nobody can make tabsen mad...Hes so nice....But smooya can....He still have over confidence..But its not that bad

[@jon2957]

"boom they take mix well, what the hell just happened" 🤣🤣🤣

[@letterx8068]

Lmao the way he said was golden

[@schneeraizor7020]

his gaming attitude really shows in his streams. he is damn cocky, but he is hilarious on his stream

[@pimpchimpin3472]

You can tell that he's confident when he wears aviation headphones.

[@johtosy]

So guessing uve never seen a tournament before. U have to wear them to block out sound so that they cannot hear things other than the game and comms from the program they use. Next time check ur facts

[@pimpchimpin3472]

@@johtosy It's still odd that they chose a pair of David Clarks, instead of using anything else.

[@johtosy]

@@pimpchimpin3472 if i was a huge tournament organiser i personally would go with David Clarks as far as ive heard from tournament organisers they have the best noise cancellation of accessible headphones. Btw its not up to the players they literally HAVE to its the tournament organisers that provide it.

[@pretzelbodyvarial9629]

“SMOOYA, SMOOYA” -s1mple

[@n1coboss]

I'm here cuz fnatic benched him. Hope he finds another tier 1 team that would fit for him.

[@rainy6563]

That's it... Why fight over S1mple and Zywoo!!!! It should be S1mple vs Smooya 😂😂😂😂

[@anD_halfwayCrook]

Being able to even make tabseN mad is impressive 😂

[@iamclydieCS]

Why bro? Csn u explain pls

[@anD_halfwayCrook]

@@iamclydieCS tabseN is one of the nicest csgo pros and him being mad is pretty much unheard of

[@iamclydieCS]

@@anD_halfwayCrook oh ok tnx

[@bolt-strikes]

17:46 The UK is just a bit shit in FPS games. They’re one of the better countries for games like rocket league.

[@v_cpt-phasma_v689]

UK esports is underdeveloped due to a lack of support, theres no local tournaments or anything, UK players however on avg tend to be pretty decent, they just dont get the support to leap from a ranked player to a pro player.

[@anhtung5423]

Can somebody just tell him not to go heaven and we good.

[@_slier]

if Tabsen mad at you, that totally means that you are outright disaster

[@Shazzgaming]

"Bhop all around the room because of happiness" Let's be honest we all doing that when we're happy

[@OnlySubconsciente]

maybe in cs2

[@V-O-V]

Just want to point out that last segment of the video, the UK actually has a decent amount of players its just they are in games like COD and FIFA. Consoles are so much more prevelant than PC's it wild. So all our esports pro are generally on console games.

[@gurty3517]

But console esports boring tho

[@jaqui7046]

So they aren’t in esports?

[@Girvo747]

@@jaqui7046 Imagine gatekeeping esports.

[@Jackerlus1]

British Valorant is popping off now though, Fnatic and Liquid have British cores and XSET from NA have a British IGL.

[@Formulera]

@@gurty3517 no they’re not, Halo esports during Halo 3 was better than csgo ever was or will be

[@asw6169]

Didn't know Mini Ladd became a CSGO player after the scandal.

[@myselfolli723]

Well this didn't age well

[@philosopher-x]

Seems like the guy is on an incredible redemption arc. The mature Smooya is a likeable guy.

[@NiceSteeZe]

Smooya sucks, hilarious and of no surprise he got dropped again

[@odinandrekjellbakk7549]

global elite in two weeks, my ass

[@LshowKnows]

And he claims it was Solo, sure rofl. Even Pros who are better than him take some time to reach global in solo q

[@Henu__]

Confidence > Competence

[@blondie4182]

and he's right back at it lmfao

[@ajarmuzzle]

smooya is 22? bro look like 28 on a good day.

[@wes4034]

Story of ChrisJ when!?

[@jakubgurgul3858]

2:03 : Tom after being smacked by Jerry's hammer

[@SteelBoDyGaming]

11:18 sick!!

[@blauerbauer6299]

He is one of the worst AWPs I've seen. Watching him playing at BIG was so hard cause he missed so many easy shots.

[@sage1579]

It’s always the guys named Owen who act like this

[@NovocaineTV]

Didnt know any of this, the entire time i was watching him in 2019 on B1G I thought wow this kid has gotta make a move to a better org.

[@Im_K4tana]

there's always a bigger fish Smooya humble before you crumble

[@teo4232]

basically bakugo from mha lol, glad to see both of them have their redemption arcs

[@yav1d]

Get benched again xaxaxaxaxaa

[@HarshSingh-vk9le]

man I would love to see what he brings to the scene when fnatic goes live on the server!

[@jaybeecaranza9471]

He is dubbed as s1mple 2.0 in terms of ego problems in his early times xD

[@antix995]

6:06 - No courtesy, am I to assume this is your content?

[@masterroshi3300]

Self proclaimed prodigy perhaps

[@kanevanutrecht]

lmao

[@MYG]

overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer

[@gonzalocanas8335]

i dont know if we can call this fnatic "Top tier team",maybe in 2014,2015 or 2016...but now i dont think so :) (im a huge fan from fnatic rooster but today they are in the second level or maybe third).

[@wayleygg]

soooo we're just gonna brush over "... got a new computer, got global elite in two weeks"????? what kind of toaster was he on before that?

[@Emperor_Diplex]

Please do story of KiXSTAR, thank you ❤️❤️.00223

[@ADK_MSE]

He was cocky, because for a long time he was no1 RWS in ESEA, unfortunately bringing that to the Pro Scene does nothing for you

[@VollKaracho209]

It was way more fun to watch BIG when smooya was on the team.

[@SpiralOut8888]

syrsoN way better than smooya tho

[@LilMartyFarty]

Mates ego is still bigger than planet earth

[@TheoHiggins]

It's funny how you can hear his time on BIG and in FPL leeching into his speech patterns.

[@doctordoom8759]

Day 18 of asking the score esports to make a video about BTMC and his osu career

[@earthling_parth]

Hope he follows in the footsteps of S1mple and becomes more of a team player and is really good

[@ClassyArcade]

*ruined his career

[@deafy9666]

It's funny because so many of these pros who were on t2/t3 csgo rosters are now on t1 valorant teams

[@JigsawLV]

"Mom, mom, I think I joined BIG" "Come on now, dear, you are not that large, you are big boned"

[@carnivalism1042]

smooya the type of guy to get hyped on having plans to drink, but gets drunk on his 1st or 2nd bottle of beer

[@utkarshdhingra6755]

successfully destroyed it now

[@themomorain]

Yeah csgo makes toxic cause all of the cheaters etc. I somehow can relate that he became this way

[@ricardomw8503]

How come a guy who has never won shit be so overly confident? I mean, if only he had won some epl titles or major, he would have credentials to be cocky. But a no one being cocky is just stupid. Las time I checked hltv, smooya had achieved nothing.

[@cfam2438]

Hm I mean I follow Fnatic since there fucking first major and now the are for 2 year now in a bad spot but I don’t think this British project will work and in am simply disappointed that the can’t fight some legitim swedisch players.

[@flipper6582]

ive always said this bout smooya hes awp hating awper which is the most british thing ive ever heard lmao

[@0Adnin]

Andddd Fnatic kicked him faster than Astralis kicked Bubzkji.

[@Tagavedu]

All things aside smooya is pretty good at storytelling

[@forgotmyname64]

SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYA

[@einmensch2992]

Why u make a video of one of the boring and worst player of all times ? I really hope , not so much peops fell asleep watching this.

[@justv7536]

"Kids still say dank, right?"

[@HzHainz]

this aged well

[@WOLF-hi7ow]

He's on Into The Breach now

[@propapanda4557]

Not anymore lmao

[@semihkayim]

Do you have to make so many gestures and facial expressions while talking?