After the departure of HeavyGod to Cloud9, OG needed a new fifth player to complete the lineup for BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024. The European team found a temporary but great solution in the form of British CS legend, Thomas “Thomas” Utting.

BLAST spoke to Thomas ahead of Fall Groups about his role as a temporary player, his year after Paris and what it will take to hear “God Save the King” again in Copenhagen.

Definitely, yeah. I think it will be an experience. The professionalism of this team is on another level in terms of the support they offer. The time frame is not too big, but I think it will be enough to show a competitive match, especially because we have a difficult game [against Spirit]. It's not ideal circumstances for either side, but I'm happy to give it a go.

He replied regarding the possibility of repeating success like with ITB last year at RMR

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I had the opportunity to stay with ITB and help rebuild the roster, but I wanted to go in a different direction and explore myself. I wanted something new, fresh, new faces around me. 5W embodied all those elements and I felt very comfortable implementing my system. The period after Paris was full of internal problems, overthinking, the atmosphere just wasn't right. I wanted a complete reset, and the time I took to explore myself and find my confidence was very important. 5W has really revitalized everything and so far it's going well with the guys and I hope it continues.

He replied regarding the 5W and where he was mentally in terms of the team a few weeks later

I didn't expect it, but I knew it was going to be tough, especially to maintain the level we had, but we weren't even given the opportunity. Teams like GamerLegion were able to keep their roster, their system. Apeks also stayed with most of their roster. We finished Paris, played one event and then lost our team culture in terms of having a British core, we had to change our whole system, our approach to the game, our style. Of all the teams that did well in Paris, we suffered the hardest and fastest. We couldn't fight to retain players.

he said regarding his performance from the ITB last year

When asked about his future, he replied as follows:

I don't know [smile]. I don't think anyone knows for sure, but I hope I can help these guys and maybe qualify. Obviously, we have a tough group, but I believe in the time we've had, we can get through it. The guys are really embracing the style and everything I bring to the table, and I think I'm filling in the gaps they had before. Hopefully I can show my ability not only to these guys, but to other people watching. It's been a weird period.

finished tangentially

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I think... if we qualify, it's fair [laughs].

he finished regarding his goals for the tournament

OG will play at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024 in Group A, along with Team Spirit, HEROIC, and Complexity. They will play Team Spirit in the first round, as part of the upper semifinals. The tournament will run from August 29 to August 4, with a prize pool of $190,000 and 6 spots on BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024.

The tournament will be the last before the invitation list for the closed qualifiers for the RMR and the RMR itself is released. The team is currently ranked 37th in the regional rankings, which currently guarantees them a spot at the closed qualifiers.

SOURCE - BLAST