Despite being one of the most powerful AWPers the year before, 2024 never really got close for Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia.

On a dysfunctional Falcons squad, the Spanish sniper struggled to find the same impact as he so outstandingly did with ENCE – Yet SunPayus was still Falcons’ highest-rated player throughout the year.

In September, however, the Saudi organization decided to cut SunPayus and replace him with Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev.

A blessing in disguise

Four months later – after an off-season and a move to HEROIC – SunPayus looks at the benching as a positive thing.

In fact, he needed it, he explains in an interview.

– I expected the benching, to be honest, SunPayus says to Pley.gg.  

– It was role-for-role with s1mple. But I was not sad. Because before that, I was telling the team that we needed at least one or two changes because it was not clicking. It was not working. Whatever we tried it was not working. Even if we worked more or less, it didn’t work. So, a solution had to come, and it was me. It happens. Actually, it was really good for me. I needed to be a bit off from the game and the competitive scene for a few months.

SunPayus joined HEROIC in January, teaming up with a young squad and his former coach from ENCE Eetu “sAw” Saha – Photo credit: BLAST and Stephanie Lindgren.

“Lacked the joy of playing”

After being placed on the sideline by Falcons, SunPayus went into a long stretch with zero officials and a period, where he was forced to rediscover some fundamentals: Himself and the joy of playing Counter-Strike.

– I was lacking the joy of playing… It was a really hard year for me, well, for everyone who was involved in that project.

– I was really burned [out] and I found myself again. And I found the joy of the game again. Now, I feel really fresh to be back. I also got a lot of time with family and friends. So, obviously, it was really good for me, to be honest.

The new-look HEROIC squad got its debut earlier this month when SunPayus and company competed at BLAST Bounty Season 1. At the event, HEROIC showed signs of promise taking down Liquid and 3DMAX, before getting eliminated by Spirit in the quarterfinals.

You can watch the entire interview with SunPayus down below.