I play the Englund as one of my main responses against 1.d4...in every kind of chess...blitz, OTB and correspondence...
For sure, if i would only play the same variation in every game, it would be easy to figure out the critical responses.
Therefore i play different variations.
2...d6 (the Blackburne-Hartlaub), 2...f6 or 2...Nc6 and then 3...f6 (The Soller or Felbecker), sometimes even the main line with 2...Nc6 and 3.Qe7, although its way too passive in my opinion.
I also play the Albin and the Baltic Defence, so that i have a wide range of responses against 1.d4 and iam not too predictable for my opponent.
Of course its a risk to play unsound openings, sometimes it pays off, because your unwary opponent walks the wrong path (and this also happens to good players), sometimes ill get crushed.
Each players has an individual style and there is no dogma that allows to play only high fashioned openings.
I dont have to earn my money with chess and i dont want to achieve a GM title, so what...
I'm not sure about you, but if I'm playing a gambit, I would be more comfortable if I got a good position even with best play, rather than hoping for them to make inaccurate moves so that I don't get a bad position, and it's reasons like these as to why I never trust the Englund.
My posts have mainly been playing devil's advocate and standing up for those who find the Englund complex attractive, as I can see both sides of the argument- it all depends on one's tolerance for risk re. getting a bad position against accurate play and what one wants to get out of chess, as for instance many of these dubious lines are interesting to analyse and to try out in thematic and casual games.
Personally, I consider the Englund too risky to try in serious games- I used to play it because I genuinely thought it wasn't significantly less sound than the Budapest or Albin, only to be convinced otherwise about six years ago. For me, a moderate disadvantage with some counterplay is a risk worth taking, but not a big disadvantage. Thus, these days I mainly use the Albin Counter-Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5) combined with the Chigorin-esque 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (certainly worth considering as an alternative to the Budapest IMHO).