The 21-year-old Spanish AWPer Antonio “MartinezSa” Martinez has joined Movistar Riders, the best CS:GO team in the country, to fill the spot left vacant by the departure of Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia earlier this week.
SunPayus was arguably the best player in Movistar Riders’ roster, having helped the all-Spanish team to win ESL Challenger Valencia in July and reach the semifinals of IEM Cologne, one of the most prestigious CS:GO events of the year, in the same month. He is reportedly joining ENCE to replace Aleksander “hades” Miskiewicz, who was benched on Aug. 5.
That said, MartinezSa will have some big shoes to fill in. The 21-year-old previously played for VELOX and doesn’t have experience against top teams, which Movistar Riders will definitely face more often after finishing the first half of the season on a high note.
MartinezSa has just 22 maps recorded on HLTV’s database this year and only one of them was against a top 50 CS:GO team in the world. The youngster has averaged a 1.13 rating and 1.15 impact. The question is if he’ll be able to do it against tougher opposition and help Movistar Riders continue their good form.
MartinezSa is set to undergo a tough debut because Movistar Riders’ first scheduled tournament after the summer player break will be ESL Pro League season 16, a league that features the best teams in the world. The Spanish side were drawn in Group D alongside Cloud9, Team Liquid, FURIA, Evil Geniuses, and Eternal Fire.
