Movistar Riders is back. After the departures of SunPayus, who joined ENCE at the end of Master XVII in Cologne and DeathzZ, who withdrew after the same tournament, were rebuilt with two other young Spaniards.
Their shortcomings were filled by Martínez, who came from Velox and Sausol, who had previously played for Partizan. That’s why not much was expected from the Madridistas at the moment, perhaps thinking of a long-term project. But Riders is back.
ESL ProLeague 17 Top 16
The truth is that their side of the draw, since reaching the first S-tier tournament with these players, ESL Pro League 17, hasn’t been easy. Located in Group B, they had to face a very strong Heroic in the first round. They were down 2-0 and in the middle bracket they beat Complexity with authority. However, the next day Fury sent them off again, this time tight 2-1.
Despite everything, they managed to get out of the group stage. They became the owners of the bottom bracket, clearly beating SAW 2-0 and returning to BIG. The Germans started to take Vertigo 13-16, but the Spaniards counterattacked with very good games in Nuke (16-12) and Ancient (16-9).
Going through the round put them in the playoffs, which, however, they couldn’t stay in for long. Against them, unfortunately, came a G2 who just won the BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 and the Katowice IEM, i.e. the best in the world.
Although the horsemen resisted, starting to win on the terrorist side of Vertigo, they couldn’t do the same in the CT, and the Germans beat them with a 16-10. Hellthe second card, was even less disputed. The terrorist side of G2 put them 10-5 up, and in defense they closed with an end result of 16-6.
This is how the riders of this S-level tournament say goodbye, in which, despite falling in the round of 16, they gave their all. This is the beginning of a long road for the players, who are still very young, and will have the opportunity to demonstrate their level in other tournaments of this caliber.