MSI 2023 Team Preview: Movistar R7
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Bence Loksa
The darkest horse of this year’s Mid-Season Invitational, the successor of Rainbow 7 tries to achieve what their predecessor has.
On next Tuesday, the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational will kick off with the match between PSG Talon and DetonatioN FocusMe, followed by the showdown between the 2nd seed of the LEC, G2 Esports and CBLOL Champions LOUD. On the following day, LLA winners Movistar R7 will face off against LPL 2nd seed Bilibili Gaming to prove that they are not the region that the least is expected of in the first international League of Legends event of the year.
The Journey of Movistar R7
Movistar R7 rebranded at last October as the organisation Movistar entered a partnership with the household name of the LLA, Rainbow7. You can recall the name Movistar from the Spanish ERL LVP SuperLiga and games outside of League of Legends, as Movistar Riders compete in titles such as VALORANT and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
With the new partnership came some new players, such as Co “Bong” Bo-woong for the toplane, Jeong “Mireu” Jo-bin for the midlane and Pedro “Lyonz” Luis Peralta for the botlane, to assist Lorenzo “Ceo” Tévez and Sebastián “Oddie” Alonso Nino Zavaleta, who have been with the team for some time now. With some Korean imports and the best players they could muster from the region, Movistar R7 took on to try and be as dominant as the Rainbow7 of old.
They had a fairly strong start in the Opening Season of the official Latin-American League of Legends tournament, winning their first 2 Bo3’s of the Regular Split, however, there were some squads that gave Oddie and co. some trouble, such as Estral Esports and Isurus Gaming. Overall though, the team finished with a 4-3 scoreline, and won 10 out of the 17 matches they played in total, which meant that they qualified for the Playoffs as the third seed.
They played their first match against Isurus Gaming, who represented the LLA in last year's Worlds. While the series went to the 5th game, Movistar R7 was able to clutch a victory over the Argentinian team, proceeding to the semi-finals. However, their job was not that easy, as Six Karma knocked them down to the Lower Bracket, where they had to clash with Estral Esports in order to get back up. Luckily for them, they were able to beat the Mexican squad 3-1, so they had another shot against Six Karma. While they needed all 5 games, Movistar R7 delivered, securing the LLA’s MSI spot, and proving to everyone that they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Players to Look Out for in Movistar R7
The roster of the rebranded Rainbow 7 is:
- Cho “Bong” Bo-wong
- Sebastián “Oddie” Alonso Nino Zavaleta
- Jeong “Mireu” Jo-bin
- Lorenzo “Ceo” Tévez
- Pedro “Lyonz” Luis Peralta
There are two main carries for Movistar R7: Mireu, the Korean machine, who had insane performances on picks such as Sylas, Gragas and Veigar; and Ceo, against whom you must ban Draven if you want to have a shot at winning. The recently joined Mireu had the second most unique Champion picks in the team (Lyonz only beat him by one in the whole Spring), and he also has a 100% winrate in Sylas, even though The Mageseeker is his most played pick. While he haven’t had much success of picks he picked multiple times, he can play many styles and many heroes, including Yone and K’Sante.
While Ceo’s most pick Champ is Zeri, he couldn’t surpass a 50% winrate with the Spark of Zaun – he much prefers aggressive picks such as Xayah, Lucian, and Draven, but had some nice matches with Aphelios and Jhin as well. The most banned Champion against Movistar R7 is Draven, so you can imagine what the Argentinian player is capable of with the Executioner of Noxus.
The second most banned Champion against the LLA winners is K’Sante for two reasons: he’s a flex pick thanks to Mireu, and the toplaner, Bong has a 100% winrate with him out of 6 games. While the Korean import played a lot of matches with meta picks, he didn’t have as much of an impact with other picks – but he is certainly capable of surprising opponents with his Tryndamere, Lee Sin and Aatrox.
Oddie and Lyonz are the players who try and facilitate the team’s carries. Oddie’s Lee Sin and Viego are certainly some picks to look out for, but he usually picks Vi and Sejuani to carry his teammates through the early game. The same is true for Lyonz, who play a scary Pyke, but thrives with picks such as the Nautilus and Rakan as well.
Overall, the roster of Movistar R7 seems one that is very capable of surprising the audiences with both their picks and their performance, as they are the squad (and the region) that fans and analysts expect the least of. But when nobody thinks you’re a threat, you can rise that much higher!
Where to watch Movistar R7
Fans can find Movistar R7 on the official MSI broadcasts over at lolesports.com, the LolEsports YouTube channel and the Riot Games Twitch channel. For more previews and predictions, don’t forget to follow ESTNN!