paiN fall to MOUZ in IEM Cologne Play-in opener
paiN's time in Cologne has gotten off to a less than ideal start after being taken down by MOUZ 19-16 in their opening game. The Brazilians will now face Sprout in the lower-bracket where elimination is on the line.
The two teams paid a trip to Nuke for their opening BO1 matchup, with the Brazilian side quickly finding an early 4-0 lead on the T-side thanks to a strong individual performance by Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt. This didn't deter the European mix, however, who soon added five rounds of their own to keep the game close. From here on out though, the half was firmly in paiN's hands, seeing the squad add another six concurrent rounds on their way to an impressive 10-5 scoreline by the switch.
Eager to not be sent down to the lower-bracket, MOUZ started their T-side firmly on the right foot, adding a staggering eight of the first nine rounds on offer to regain the lead. This initial second-half stomping didn't demoralize the Brazilians, though, with Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato's boys soon finding four on the trot to reach match point. Alas, this would all prove to be for nothing, with MOUZ managing to find the remaining two rounds to send the two teams to overtime.
Once in overtime, the game again went MOUZ's way, allowing the European lineup to add two rounds from three by the end of their offensive effort. By this point, MOUZ were firmly in the driver's seat, and it didn't take long for the Christopher "dexter" Nong-led side to add the final two rounds they required to snatch away Nuke 19-16 and send paiN down to the lower-bracket.
MOUZpaiN| MOUZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 David 'frozen' Čerňanský |
28 - 19 | +9 | 73.9 | 71.4% | 1.15 |
 Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás |
26 - 20 | +6 | 73.7 | 71.4% | 1.15 |
 Christopher 'dexter' Nong |
30 - 26 | +4 | 90.1 | 65.7% | 1.11 |
 Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras |
19 - 25 | -6 | 70.3 | 80.0% | 1.02 |
 Jon 'JDC' de Castro |
19 - 25 | -6 | 68.7 | 65.7% | 0.89 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
27 - 22 | +5 | 80.9 | 57.1% | 1.14 |
| Gabriel 'nython' Lino |
23 - 26 | -3 | 72.0 | 71.4% | 1.03 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
26 - 25 | +1 | 62.2 | 68.6% | 1.01 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
19 - 27 | -8 | 81.7 | 65.7% | 1.01 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
19 - 24 | -5 | 59.9 | 80.0% | 0.88 |
paiN will now be preparing for their matchup versus Sprout at 10:00AM, where a loss would see the Brazilian team already be sent home.
