Owen “smooya” Butterfield has been removed from Movistar Riders’ active roster, confirming the recent rumours of the Brit leaving the team. The decision to bench smooya follows the two roster moves the Spanish org made 12 days ago, where they released Kristjan "⁠shokz⁠" Jakobson and benched Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes.

Filling in the empty spaces on the roster will be the Spanish trio Álvaro “SunPayus” García, Raúl “DeathZz” Jordan and David “Dav1g” Granado, who all three previously played for Iberian Family. Down below you'll find a passage from Movistar Riders' statement.

- With these five players we seek to recover the illusion of having a completely national project and take it to the top, with the mission of being the reference for all of you, the followers of CS:GO.

As a result of this rethinking, Owen “smooya” Butterfield is removed from the starting roster, becoming a substitute until the end of his contract. The English player, whom we thank for these 6 months of dedication and work with us, is now open to hearing offers from other teams.

{cflag:ES} Alejandro "⁠mopoz⁠" Fernández-Quejo Cano

{cflag:ES} Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet

{cflag:ES} Álvaro “SunPayus” García

{cflag:GB} Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield (benched)

{cflag:BR} Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes (benched)

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Movistar Riders

The Spanish organization of Movistar Riders has just announced a new roster change. The roster change involves the release of Kristjan "shokz" Jakobson, who joined the team in the 2020 off-season, as well as the decision to bench their Brazilian IGL Lucas "steel" Lopes. The changes come after a lack of results in the early stages of the 2021 season. 

Movistar Riders will now seek to further strengthen their roster in order to participate within the tier one level of Counter-Strike. The team currently ranks as the 47th. team in the world, peeking at 22nd. in the start of 2021. After the roster changes the Movistar Riders roster looks as follows: 

Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández-Quejo Cano {cflag:ES}

The former Team Liquid in-game leader Lucas Bendito “steel” Lopes delivers when it´s needed.

The Brazilian may have seen his best CS: GO days with Team Liquid, but he can still deliver results. But the Movistar player showed that he still got it with a beautiful clutch against a strong TeamOne team.

After prt killed alex, steel was left all by himself against the trio Maluk3, prt, and pesadelo from TeamOne, but he managed to get the win anyway.

[twitchClip:FantasticDullMouseKappaRoss-yM4jwVfPas1knJL2]

TeamOne

Throwers whose quest for personal gain has put even the healthiest of scenes in peril.

Unfortunately, once you’ve compromised the competitive integrity of your game and esports, that’s pretty much it. You’ve been branded with a shame that people will never let you live down. And whether these disgraced stars go the route of apology or anything close to it, all of them have at some point, given up on seeking redemption.

Well, all of them, except for Josh “steel” Nissan.

Movistar Riders have commenced the year in flying fashion, winning nearly every they participate in  which has meant that the powerful Spaniards has reached a peak ranking at #22.

Movistar Riders and their new signing Owen “smooya” Butterfield haven’t slowed down here at European Development Championship 2, where they have cruised through the competition. And today, it was Nemiga’s turn to get dismantled in a 2-0 victory.

With the win, smooya and company are heading to the Grand Final at EDC  where they will meet the winner of the second semifinal between Sinners and Sprout. 

Movistar Riders – Nemiga (2-0) | European Development Chamionship 2

16-14 (Mirage) | alex – 1.29 Rating / 28-20 K-D / 88.0 ADR

16-11 (Overpass) | shokz – 1.49 Rating / 27-17 K-D / 96.8 ADR

Alejandro “alex” Masanet | 1.30 Rating / 47-36 K-D / 86.6 ADR

Nemiga Gaming

The Spaniards from Movistar Riders has had a phenomenal start of 2021 so far, with the team having won 11 out of their first 12 matches. And today they continued their great form in their victory against K23 at the second edition of European Development Championship.

Lucas “steel” Lopes and company secured the series through two stellar performances on Inferno and Overpass, which included an outstanding comeback on the first map, where Movistar Riders came back after being down throughout the entire map. 

Movistar Riders – K23 (2-0) | European Development Championship 2

16-14 (Inferno) | steel – 1.35 Rating / 28-17 K-D / 81.7 ADR

16-7 (Overpass) | shokz – 1.45 Rating / 21-12 K-D / 94.5 ADR

This 1v2 cluth by mopoz was essential for Movistar Rider's comeback on Inferno:

[twitchClip:RelentlessOilyWatermelonHoneyBadger-wWSJth2MnJirxmqm]

The victory means that Movistar Riders will meet Izako Boars in the Group Decider at 15:00 (CET), while K23, on the other hand are being eliminated from the event.

BLAST Premier Spring Groups will take a small break this Thursday but the prestigious event is back tomorrow, presenting the star-studded Group stage battle at Group C. 

The second season of European Development Championship are in full swing and the lower-ranked event will today feature two matches from Group C.

15:00 - Izako Boars vs K23/Movistar Riders winner 

Izako Boars

Movistar Riders have qualified for the important IEM Katowice Play-in after the Spanish team defeated Endpoint 2-0, in the Grand Final of European Championship. The Spanish team has completed the team list for the vital qualifier for the upcoming $1 Million event.

Movistar Riders round of a 16-team list which features strong names as Liquid, BIG, mousesports. Lucas “steel” Lopes and company has to bring their very A-game to edge past these strong CS:GO teams, with only 8-out-16 teams qualifying for the main event at the 18th of February.

Complexity – fnatic – OG – Liquid – ex-Chaos – TYLOO – Gambit – Cloud9 – MIBR – Renegades – BIG – mousesports – Virtus.pro – Spirit – Illuminar – Movistar Riders

[link:{"url":"https://www.intelextrememasters.com/season-15/katowice/2020/12/an-update-on-esl-pro-tour-and-iem-katowice-2021/"}]

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steel

Player stats

Articles mentioning steel

Official: Movistar Riders axe smooya

Movistar Riders release shokz and bench steel

Video: Brazilian in-game leader wins incredible 1v3 clutch

Video: How a matchfixer repaired his shattered legacy

Strong Spaniards seal Grand Final spot in front of Nemiga

Movistar Riders ease past K23 after a strong comeback on Inferno

Today in CS:GO - Thursday 11/2 2021

Spanish team secure IEM Katowice Play-in

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