Movistar Riders Part Ways With SunPayus

Movistar Riders have announced the departure of Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, who will no longer be a part of the Spanish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive lineup going forwards. The departure follows the reports of the Spanish AWPer joining ENCE.

SunPayus has officially left Movistar Riders on Thursday, August 11, the Spanish CS:GO team announced. With that, SunPayus has ended his one-year-stint with Movistar Riders, who he joined in August 2021 from Iberian Family.

The 23-year-old AWPer started his CS:GO career in March 2018 with Myrtia Wolves Blue before joining Tenerife Titans, where he played for over one year, and eventually landed at KPI Gaming. SunPayus has achieved reasonable success in domestic competitions with KPI Gaming but has not won a single tournament.

In search of more, SunPayus left KPI and spent the next year jumping around teams, including Wygers, Miami Pitingos, Caronte Gaming, and Iberian Family, before signing for Movistar Riders in August 2021.

SunpPayus joined Movistar Riders as a replacement for Owen “smooya” Butterfield when the team pivoted away from fielding an international roster in favor of an all-Spanish lineup.

As a member of Movistar Riders, SunPyaus has achieved immense success and has proven himself as a pivotal player on the team. He has averaged an impressive 1.16, eating over 208 maps over the year, which was far above his teammates, who have not come close to matching SunPyaus’ rating. The closest was Alejandro “alex” Masant, who averaged a 1.08 performance rating.

Since joining Movistar Riders in 2021, SunPayus did not need long to leave a mark. He has played a pivotal role in Movistar Riders’ success over the last 12 months and has helped the team reach no.6 spot in the global CS:GO rankings – the highest ever for the Spanish esports organization.

Over the 12 months, Movistar Riders have won just a handful of tournament titles in ESL Masters España Season 10, ESL Pro League Conference Season 15, and RTP Arena Cup 2022 but have done exceptionally well in international competitions.

At the start of 2022, Movistar Riders qualified for IEM Katowice, where they placed 17th-20th. The team missed the PGL Major Antwerp with three missed qualifying runs but quickly got back on the horse with a title run at RTP Arena Cup 2022 in March.

Since then, Movistar Riders have attended a handful of big events and did not disappoint. In April, the Spanish squad reached the quarter-finals of ESL Pro League Season 15 and produced another top-eight finish at BLAST Premier: Spring European Showdown 2022 in May.

From there, Movistar Riders shifted into a higher gear and made the semi-finals of Pinnacle Cup IV and Global Esports Tour Dubai 2022. The Spanish team built on that success and placed third at ESL Challenger League Season 41: Europe, won ESL Challenger at DreamHack Valencia 2022, and have most recently reached the semi-finals of Intel Extreme Masters XVII – Cologne.

In Cologne, Movistar Riders defeated G2 Esports, Team Vitality, and Team Liquid, while their only two defeats came against the eventual champions, FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere.

It’s currently unclear where SunPayus will continue his CS:GO career, but according to the recent rumors, he is the current frontrunner to replace Olek “hades” Miskiewicz on ENCE. Although the move has yet to be confirmed, it is believed that SunPayus is all but guaranteed to replace the Polish AWPer.

If the deal comes through, it will mark the first time in his career that SunPayus will compete outside of Spain and the first time he will be a part of an international lineup. On the other side, Movistar Riders have already found a replacement for SunPayus in Antonio “MartinezSa” Martinez Sánchez, who is said to join the team in the coming days.