SunPayus to FUT collapsing is a crying shame for everyone

Reports yesterday suggest that FUT are unable to muster up enough cash to buyout SunPayus, and with HEROIC moving onto another target - coincidentally, a fellow Spaniard in MartinezSa - that leaves the AWPer in limbo.

But he’s not the only one who is damaged by the situation.

This is a sad state of affairs in that this benefits nobody. This was a mutually beneficial move that has fallen through over money, and now leaves everybody worse off.

SunPayus has his doubters, but for us he’s quite clearly one of the best AWPers in the world and probably quite a bit better than the average person who hatewatches G2 (admit it) realises.

Not only that, he’d be quite a significant upgrade on cmtry, who we really don’t rate. That one is a bit less controversial. Their style on T side is very similar, with a little bit of tweaking on the CT side needed, but nothing too drastic. This was set to be a pretty sizeable upgrade to FUT’s worst player, and one that probably would have pushed them into contender status.

It’s a crying shame that we’ll never find out. SunPayus now, despite being one of the better AWPers at a time when so few exist, looks set to spend some time on the bench. Quite frankly, that’s insanity. We’re guessing there were non-playing reasons why he was benched by G2 as we touched on in a previous article, because as a player he was nowhere near the biggest issue on that team and r1nkle is not an upgrade. Even then, he surely could improve 95% of teams.

Instead, we’re left with a move that suits nobody. G2 could probably have used the money from the buyout, FUT need an AWPer and SunPayus probably wants to play - with not long left to find a solution.

What next for SunPayus?

It’s probably some time on the bench. Chill out, play some FACEIT, have a sangria on the beach, learn the guitar, play some single player games. Slay The Spire 2 came out a few months ago and he probably hasn’t even had time to play it yet. Harrowing.

All the teams that can afford him are locked in with their AWPers, or aren’t good enough. BCG have s1mple, the top 10 are pretty settled (though we wouldn’t mind a trade-up from woxic to SunPayus, that doesn’t seem likely for whatever reason) and HEROIC are going a different way. He’s probably going to have to chill out and see what opportunities come his way, and jump in when someone starts being terrible.

Someone like GamerLegion would likely love to have him, too, but they probably can’t afford his buyout if FUT can’t. It’s too late in the window for anything drastic to change, you’d imagine, so unless Aurora change their minds it’s looking unlikely.

What next for FUT?

This leaves FUT in a weird spot.

They can try and figure out a loan deal with G2, which surely would be a horrible idea for G2 to just give away a player to their rivals for a bit for a smaller fee, raise some money by selling cmtry (to WHOM?) or look for a different AWPer.

They’ll likely, if they do, have to gamble on an upcoming talent or someone pretty undervalued. Our model loves a move for Jorko, for example, but he’s pretty untested at the top level.

At 17, he’s got loads of room to grow and can be moulded and build with the other young players on the team, but because he’s so young he’d likely command a decent buyout, which has obviously been the issue. SunPayus would be a ‘win now’ option, whereas Jorko will probably need a bit of time, so it depends how FUT see their team. If they think they have a shot at winning tournaments at this moment in time with a better AWPer - and we would probably agree - then this makes no sense.

But if said better AWPer is unavailable, what choice do you have?

Jorko is a gamble and might end up being worse than cmtry, but he’s an exciting talent and great AWPers are hard to come by. If you can get in early, it’s your best chance.

Speaking of gambling, broky is available. Our model rates broky and cmtry very similarly, but obviously broky at his peak is a different animal.

We’re not saying they should. We’re definitely not saying they should. But they could take a massive swing and try and recapture his peak.

They definitely shouldn’t.

If Aurora did move for SunPayus they could maybe get woxic, but that feels uninspiring, or even, depressingly, yxngstxr has a higher rating (albeit again at a slightly lower level). We don’t recommend either of these, but more of an argument towards why changing cmtry might not make sense if they can’t afford SunPayus.

If you can’t get him, there’s not many upgrades available significant enough to make it worth it. It’s a big gamble or a marginal upgrade.

Essentially, it’s too late for FUT to find someone else who will seriously improve them, so they either take a massive gamble or stick with the devil they know. For SunPayus, this becomes a waiting game, and hoping JBOEN is rubbish on FaZe, or something.

G2 will probably get their fee in six months time, if they wait - because the list of AWPers better than SunPayus is shorter than, erm, SunPayus.

He’s really not very big in real life.