Movistar Riders have only won one BO3 series since SunPayus left - what happened to the team?

In early August, Movistar Riders sniper Alvaro SunPayus Garcia left the team, preferring ENCE as a team to continue his career. It would seem that the Spanish club lost only one player after reaching the peak of shape. Reminding you that this happened right after the 3rd-4th place at IEM Cologne 2022 - the best result for the club in tier-1 tournaments.

However, the departure of the sniper turned into a disaster for the Spanish team. After the roster changes, Movistar Riders won 1 BO3 series out of 15, the team is in a terrible state. So what happened?

SunPayus was the main star of the team

In order to understand the importance of SunPayus for the team, let's look at the team's statistics at IEM Cologne 2022 - the best tournament for the team. At the event, Movistar Riders played 5 matches, 3 of which the team won.

If you will look into statistics then there is a pattern that is immediately noticeable - if SunPayus fails, then the team loses. In three matches won, the Movistar Riders sniper scored 7.2, 6.3, and 7.2. And in lost matches, SunPayus has scores of 5.6 and 5.2. So basically the team faced the problem of VItality - if the sniper is not on fire, the whole team loses. SunPayus was the star of the Movistar Riders and his departure from the team was a disaster.

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Movistar Riders after SunPayus left

SunPayus left Movistar Riders during the Player Break for ENCE and the Spanish team had to look for a new sniper. The choice of the team fell on Antonio Martinez Martinez from VELOX, a Spanish tier-3 team. And he couldn't replace SunPayus.

At ESL Pro League Season 16, Martinez got a rating of about 5 in 3 out of 5 matches, and the team lost all the matches, being eliminated from the tournament. Thereafter, the results did not improve.

Movistar Riders did not make it into the top 4 in any of the events they participated in, and even replacing Raul DeathZz Jordan with Pere sausol Solson did not help. The only BO3 series they won was against SINNERS at the ESL Challenger.

Why did Movistar Riders fade out so quickly?

The Spanish team faced the main problem of all mono-national teams - the lack of talent on the local stage. Movistar Riders are used to playing relying on a star sniper, but the team failed to find another alike player, which destroyed the team.

Astralis is currently struggling with a similar problem. The Danish team has also been unable to find young talent for about two years now. Therefore, for mono-national teams, maintaining the roster is the main task.