British sniper smooya temporarily joins NIP and will replace r1nkle at the Fragadelphia Knoxville station

European CS2 professional team NIP announced on Tuesday that British sniper Owen Butterfield (ID: smooya) has officially joined the team. He will temporarily replace Artyom Moroz (ID: r1nkle), who was unable to obtain a visa in time, at the upcoming Fragadelphia Series in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.

The 26-year-old smooya has played for numerous Counter-Strike teams, including CAZ, Epsilon, BIG, Renegades, Chaos, c0ntact, Movistar Riders, fnatic, Into the Breach, The Witchers, moneyF, WildLotus, and fish123. He recently helped Iberian Soull win the Intel epic45 championship. NIP hopes he can continue his strong form in this tournament and do his best to fill the void left by r1nkle.

Fragadelphia Knoxville, taking place September 5th-7th, will be crucial for NIP's pursuit of a spot at the StarLadder Budapest Major. Currently ranked 24th in the global VRS rankings, NIP falls just outside the 16 direct invite slots for Europe. However, they still have opportunities to earn more points through the Fragadelphia Series, StarLadder StarSeries Fall, and Frag Blocktober.

With the addition of smooya, NIP will play the following lineup at Fragadelphia Knoxville:

Commander/Rifleman: Marco Peifer (ID: ⁠Snappi)

Rifleman: Rasmus Beck (ID: ⁠sjuush⁠)

Rifleman: Michel Pinto (ID: ⁠ewjerkz)

Rifleman: Kacper Gabala (ID: xKacpersky)

Sniper: Owen Butterfield (ID: smooya)

Coach: Richard Landstrom (ID: ⁠Xizt⁠)