After 210 days playing under the Into The Breach banner, Thomas “Thomas” Utting has stepped down from the recently-turned international roster, and will instead be used as a substitute, according to a recent post on X, formerly Twitter, by Into The Breach.
A short-lived era, but one that will be remembered. We lost Volt, then Cai, and now Thomas takes a step back.
Thomas moves to a substitute role as he thinks about his future.
Read more: https://t.co/YXO55LUaCT#ITBCS #UpTheKnights pic.twitter.com/5BkAB0C2qj
— ITB SHUFFLE 🇺🇦 (@ITBesports) August 31, 2023
The announcement comes just days after Into The Breach’s third place finish in the PGE Polish Esport League Supercup 2023. A result they may have felt was an underperformance, coming into the event as the highest HLTV-ranked team. Despite some impressive results since the acquisition of Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras and Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar (who was shortly after removed), the international roster struggled for consistency.
Into The Breach bowed out of the IEM Cologne Play-in in 0-2 fashion in July, succumbing to Ninjas In Pyjamas and TheMongolz. They also came up short in reaching the IEM Sydney closed qualifier after losing to BetBoom in the qualifying match, similarly faltering at the ESL Premiership Autumn 2023 qualifiers, falling to Raptors EC on two occasions. Troubling signs were clearly showing.
Thomas stated on X that it was “a difficult decision” and that it was “necessary to do before CS2 is released”, which reassures UK CS fans that he will not be going anywhere.
I have decided to step down from @ITBesports
a difficult decision but something I thought was necessary to do before CS2 is released
I wish the roster the best of luck, looking forward to getting back on the grind and repping that 🇬🇧
And that’s how the cookie crumbles ❤️
— Thomas (@ThomasCS__) August 31, 2023
Fortunately for Thomas, the accolades and achievements he has acquired during his 30-week tenure with Into The Breach are branded in UK CS history. He masterminded ITB’s run to the quarter-finals of the Blast.tv Paris Major 2023, being the first UK IGL to ever do so and with a 0.91 rating as an IGL. Endpoint’s reign at the top of UK CS was snatched from them by Into The Breach, after a firm 3-1 dethroning which saw Thomas with the highest ADR of the series at 88.4.
Teammates who had joined the organisation alongside Thomas, such as Sebastian “volt” Maloș and Cai “CYPHER” Watson were swiftly poached by GamerLegion and TSM respectively, which left him as a lone UK representative within the team. Despite stepping down from the active roster, he will still represent the organisation as a substitute, which will help ITB compete in UK events.
This leaves Into The Breach with the following roster:
Karol “rallen” Rodowicz
Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel
Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras
Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier
Martin ‘trace‘ Heldt (Coach)
Thomas “Thomas” Utting (Bench)
