Passion UA concede close series to paiN; fall to 1-2 pool at ESL Pro League Season 23

Passion UA were matched up with paiN in their 1-1 match at ESL Pro League Season 23. Passion UA were looking to bounce back after a grueling 2-1 loss to FUT in the previous round. Unfortunately for the new international roster, their showdown with the Brazilian squad ended up being another disappointing loss as the team once again fell 2-1, with this loss seeing Passion UA fall to the 1-2 pool in the Swiss Stage.

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paiN's map pick was Inferno, where they took the reins of the map early on, winning five of the first six rounds. Passion answered back to bring the score to 7-5 at halftime. paiN's CT proved to be too strong for PUA, as the Brazilians surrendered just two rounds in the second half to take the first map 13-7.

Passion UA were keen on evening the series on Overpass and gave themselves a massive boost by securing a 7-5 lead after the traditionally difficult T side. Passion's solid CT side was more than enough as they held server on their map pick, 13-8, to force a third and decisive map.

Mirage was where the series result would be found. Things got off to a rough start for Passion UA as paIN offered up a dominant CT-side to start the map, winning it 10-2 despite a competitive 2-2 start to the half. After switching sides, things got worse for PUA as paiN immediately found match point on their T-side, however PUA actually fought back for some time, climbing up to nine rounds before paiN inevitably found a round to win the map 13-9.

ESL Pro League Season 23 Stage 1

Bo3

paiN

2 - 1

Passion UA

All maps

paiN	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Guilherme 'piriajr' Barbosa	45 - 34	+11	78.3	79.4%	1.28
João 'snow' Vinicius	38 - 40	-2	74.7	74.6%	1.16
Lucas 'nqz' Soares	45 - 31	+14	67.8	79.4%	1.08
Vinicius 'vsm' Moreira	43 - 44	-1	76.7	66.7%	0.97
Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt	31 - 43	-12	58.6	60.3%	0.80

Passion UA	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Azbayar 'Senzu' Munkhbold	41 - 43	-2	82.1	76.2%	1.02
Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol	44 - 40	+4	69.3	73.0%	0.97
Santino 'try' Rigal	37 - 36	+1	66.2	71.4%	0.91
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou	38 - 43	-5	65.5	66.7%	0.88
Nick 'nicx' Lee	29 - 40	-11	53.4	69.8%	0.83