FaZe stamp out paiN in BLAST Premier Spring Final
paiN, the only squad at the BLAST Premier Spring Final that fields a lineup from the Americas, have been put in elimination territory after PGL Antwerp Major winners FaZe made quick work of them in the opening match of the event. This is an unfortunate, but not unexpected outcome, considering paiN's lack of experience competing against top teams.
paiN originally qualified for the BLAST Premier Spring Final off the back of a miracle run in the North American BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, which saw Vinicios "PKL" Coelho and his men take down Liquid, MIBR, and FURIA en route to the finals in Lisbon, Portugal. Unfortunately for paiN, the squad began their run in Portugal with a meeting with the titans of FaZe.
The series kicked off on paiN's choice of Ancient, where the Brazilians did a solid job keeping things close, in large part thanks to a 1.22 T-side rating from Gabriel "nython" Lino. paiN wrapped up their T-side with a scoreline of 6-9, with only a manageable three-round deficit separating them from FaZe. Things began to fall apart on the CT-side, however, as Helvijs "broky" Saukants flipped a switch on FaZe's offense, posting a monstrous 2.44 T-side rating to shut paiN out for much of the rest of the game, stealing away paiN's pick 16-7.
FaZe kept their momentum up on their pick of Inferno, coming out of the gates swinging by securing six rounds straight in response to paiN picking up the first pistol round. paiN had zero answers for FaZe on the defense, even despite a respectable 1.22 rating from nython. Ultimately, the first half concluded with an 11-4 scoreline in favor of FaZe. paiN snagged the second pistol round in the hopes of mounting a comeback, but FaZe quickly rallied back with four rounds of their own to put themselves on match point. paiN broke the streak, but with FaZe one round away from victory there was little to be done as the international side closed out the map 16-6.
FaZepaiN| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Helvijs 'broky' Saukants |
50 - 23 | +27 | 98.6 | 84.4% | 1.64 |
 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard |
40 - 28 | +12 | 95.1 | 73.3% | 1.46 |
 Robin 'ropz' Kool |
34 - 23 | +11 | 83.1 | 77.8% | 1.28 |
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
29 - 27 | +2 | 80.8 | 73.3% | 1.15 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
23 - 25 | -2 | 57.0 | 82.2% | 1.05 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gabriel 'nython' Lino |
29 - 37 | -8 | 71.4 | 60.0% | 0.90 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
27 - 35 | -8 | 67.7 | 55.6% | 0.80 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
23 - 35 | -12 | 62.2 | 62.2% | 0.74 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
21 - 34 | -13 | 57.3 | 62.2% | 0.74 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
26 - 37 | -11 | 56.7 | 64.4% | 0.71 |
While this defeat was far from ideal, paiN still have a chance to turn things around. The Brazilian side is set to face Vitality tomorrow in an elimination match, and while still a daunting opponent, Vitality is far from being capable of showing the form that FaZe has produced. A victory over Vitality tomorrow would not only stave off elimination, but it would also provide paiN a spot in the playoffs of a big event, something that the side would relish the chance to secure.
paiN's match versus Vitality tomorrow is at 05:00AM.
