FUT signing SunPayus is not the kind of move that immediately promises more firepower. It does not have to be.
The Turkish organization already has enough young players capable of taking over maps, and cmtry himself showed that his ceiling was never the problem. What FUT needed was something different: a player who could make the team more stable without taking away the aggression that made it dangerous in the first place.That is where SunPayus makes sense.
FUT Were Already Good Enough to Beat Anyone
This is not a rebuild. FUT have already shown that the core can compete at the highest level. They won PGL Bucharest earlier in the year, where cmtry earned the MVP award with a 1.28 rating, and later reached the Esports World Cup grand final after beating MOUZ and FURIA. The latter run was particularly important because it showed that FUT were no longer simply a promising young lineup capable of an upset. They could survive deep tournament runs against established teams.
But the EWC final against Spirit also showed what was still missing. After the defeat, coach coolio pointed towards experience as one of the differences between the teams, particularly once the series became difficult.
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They were just more experienced and calmer in the important situations
That sentence explains the SunPayus move better than his statistics do. FUT do not necessarily need another player who will make the game faster. They need someone who can help make it slower when a round starts getting out of control.
Not a Superstar Upgrade — a Structural One
There is an obvious argument against the change. SunPayus is no longer the player who finished sixth in HLTV’s Top 20 in 2023, and his last year with G2 was inconsistent. He averaged a 1.05 rating during his spell with the organization before being benched after the Cologne Major.
cmtry, meanwhile, already proved that he could dominate tournaments. His Bucharest MVP run was better than almost anything SunPayus produced individually in 2026. So this should not be viewed as FUT simply replacing a weaker AWPer with a stronger one. SunPayus is the safer player.
He is less likely to turn FUT into a team built around its sniper, but he also does not require that kind of system. His best teams have generally worked when he could hold his positions, punish mistakes and contribute to the structure around him rather than constantly forcing the game through the AWP.
G2 ultimately decided that profile did not fit what they needed. sAw explained after replacing him with r1nkle that the team wanted a more aggressive AWPer who could actively take space and search for opening picks.
We needed something more aggressive
For G2, that was a problem. For FUT, it might be exactly why SunPayus works. FUT already have players willing to take initiative. dem0n can produce explosive rounds, xfl0ud brings his own aggression, and the team’s identity has never depended on slowly waiting for an AWPer to create the first advantage.
Even sAw described FUT’s game earlier this year through their aggression and unpredictability. Adding another player who constantly wants to force the issue could make that volatility even harder to control. SunPayus gives them the opposite.
The Experience FUT Have Been Missing
SunPayus is 27 and has already experienced almost every level of modern Counter-Strike. He has played Major playoffs, competed for trophies with ENCE, spent time inside the Falcons project and then joined both HEROIC and G2. At his peak, he was ranked as the sixth-best player in the world. More importantly for FUT, he has already played the role of the experienced player inside a young lineup. When he joined HEROIC in 2025, SunPayus spoke openly about enjoying that responsibility.
I feel like the young guys like to listen to me
That HEROIC period is particularly relevant. SunPayus was not only surrounded by younger players — he also played alongside xfl0ud, meaning FUT are not introducing him into a completely unfamiliar environment. The pair spent the first half of 2025 together and even won the CCT Global Finals before SunPayus moved on to G2. There is already some understanding of how each other plays, and for a roster making a significant change late in the season, that matters.
Another Voice in the Server
The other important part of the move has little to do with the AWP. According to HLTV’s initial report, SunPayus can also operate as a secondary caller. That has been part of his game for years. Even during his Movistar Riders days, he was described as alex’s right hand in mid-round situations, and that element remained relevant as he moved through international teams.
FUT now get another player who can read what is happening in the middle of a round rather than simply execute what was called at the start. That does not mean SunPayus will suddenly become the team’s tactical leader. He does not need to. The value is having another experienced voice when the initial plan fails, especially for a roster where several players are still learning how to handle the final stages of elite events. Those are the rounds that increasingly decide whether a young team remains dangerous or becomes a consistent trophy contender.
The Biggest Question Is Still His Individual Level
None of this guarantees that the move works. SunPayus’ final months in G2 showed why there are doubts. His form moved up and down, and sAw publicly spoke about the Spaniard needing to stop overthinking and rediscover his confidence. G2 eventually chose the higher-risk, higher-aggression option in r1nkle.
FUT will therefore need more than leadership from their new AWPer. They do not need 2023 SunPayus every week, but they do need an AWPer capable of reliably winning the favorable duels that the rest of the team creates for him. If his level falls too far below that, experience alone will not compensate for the lost firepower.
There were still enough flashes in 2026 to suggest that level has not disappeared. At BLAST Rivals, for example, he averaged a 1.23 rating through G2’s group stage and spoke about feeling increasingly comfortable mentally. The question is whether FUT can make that version appear consistently.
FUT Do Not Need SunPayus to Be Their Star
That might be the most important part of the entire move. SunPayus arrives at a team where he does not have to be the main character. FUT already have young players who can take over games, a system that has proven capable of reaching finals, and enough aggression to create opportunities against the best teams in the world.
What they have lacked at times is control. Someone who has already played those big matches. Someone who can talk when a round gets messy. Someone who does not need to take another unnecessary fight when FUT already have an advantage.
SunPayus will not turn FUT into a contender by suddenly dropping superstar numbers every series. He can make them better by helping their young players reach those situations more often — and handle them better once they get there. For a team that has already proved its ceiling, that may be a much more important upgrade.
