paiN narrowly avoided an early exit from ESL Pro League Season 21, overcoming Lynn Vision in a tense three-map battle. The Brazilian squad had to dig deep after a crushing 1-13 loss on Dust2, eventually clawing their way back to victory with a double-overtime win on Anubis. Their lack of discipline and multiple lost clutches to Junjie “EmiliaQAQ” Tang nearly cost them the series.
Despite finding themselves trailing 5-9 in the final map, paiN managed to turn things around on the attacking side. However, they were unable to close the match in regulation, as EmiliaQAQ pulled off two incredible clutches to keep Lynn Vision in contention. One of them was a result of paiN’s poor coordination, as they peeked one by one instead of playing together. Another saw EmiliaQAQ land a perfect prefire shot on Lucas “nqz” Soares to keep his team alive.
The most shocking moment came in overtime when EmiliaQAQ won a 1v4 by sticking the defuse right in front of three paiN players, allowing Lynn Vision to force another round of extra play before ultimately falling short and exiting the tournament with a 1-3 record.
paiN’s Struggles in Sweden Continue
paiN’s showing at EPL has been far from convincing, coming just two weeks after the high of reaching the playoffs at PGL Cluj-Napoca. Their tournament began with a solid victory over Housebets, but momentum quickly faded following a heavy loss to M80 and an unexpected defeat against FlyQuest, putting them on the brink of elimination.
Entering their do-or-die match, paiN were utterly dominated on Dust2, where Sike “z4kr” Zhang delivered a standout 18-2 K-D performance with a 2.36 rating. EmiliaQAQ also made a massive impact with key entry frags that completely dismantled paiN’s defense, resulting in an almost perfect CT half. The only round paiN managed to claim came in the 12th round, before Lynn Vision sealed the map.
Things began to shift on Anubis, where João “snow” Vinicius ignited paiN’s comeback with a 1.84-rated performance and a crucial 1v3 clutch with a hero AK and four Glock kills. The 17-year-old showed confidence throughout the match, even engaging in banter with the opposing team as the decider map unfolded.
Although paiN ultimately scraped through thanks to late-game heroics from Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt and nqz, it’s unlikely that the team’s performance will be met with much praise behind closed doors.
Still, snow remained upbeat in his post-match interview, reflecting on the difficult but hard-fought victory.
“We’re feeling pretty good,” he shared on broadcast. “It was a tough match against Lynn Vision, they played really well. I think throughout the Bo3, we showed a lot of resilience, played a solid game, and had plenty of good rounds. It was a really intense and challenging match.”
