There was lots of discussion surrounding Endpoint ahead of ESL Premiership Spring 2023. Many people and pundits believed that Endpoint wouldn’t be participating and according to sources close to the team they had a meeting where they decided they wouldn’t be making any changes and that they would participate in the UK’s ESL event.
In order to play the team has always needed to use stand-ins, such as Andrew “Wolfie” Allan and Thomas “Thomas” Utting last season, this time around they have turned to arguably the most well-known British CS:GO player of all time: Owen “smooya” Butterfield. During a stream on Twitch smooya revealed that he would be standing in for Endpoint over the course of the event. To make room for the stand-in Miłosz “mhL” Knasiak will be listed as a substitute for ESL Premiership Spring 2023.
The last time two time we saw smooya playing in a ESL Premiership event was at Spring 2022 with Into the Breach and Spring 2019 with Pensioners. The latter of which he played alongside current Endpoint player Kia “Surreal” Man. smooya was the highest rated player in both finals with 1.21 and 1.68 HLTV ratings respectively. He will look to add to his own two Premiership titles and add an 11th for Endpoint.
For Endpoint playing ESL Premiership offers the opportunity to gain an ESL Pro League Qualifier spot on top of retaining their top dog status in the UK scene. Over the last three seasons there has been a narrative that Endpoint would be dethroned, however for this ESL Premiership that could be a reality. Into the Breach recently became the first team with a UK core to make a Major and they took it a step further by making the Legends stage. Unlike Endpoint they won’t need to use any stand-ins and will be looked upon as hot favourites going into the tournament.
Whilst Into the Breach have been head and shoulders above the rest of the scene recently, there are still plenty of teams who will challenge for the title. It could prove to be the most competitive ESL Premiership to date.
For ESL Premiership Spring 2023 Endpoint will be:
Max “MiGHTYMAX” Heath
Kia “Surreal” Man
Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko
Frederik “Fessor” Sørensen
Owen “smooya” Butterfield
Miłosz “mhL” Knasiak (Substitute)
Allan “Rejin” Petersen (Coach)
