paiN surpass FURIA to complete BLAST Premier Spring Final team list

Vinicios "⁠PKL⁠" Coelho's side came out on top of the first meeting against their former teammate.

paiN have topped the North American BLAST Showdown over their countrymen from FURIA, securing the eighth and final spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Final that will play out in Lisbon, Portugal from June 15-19.

The victory came in shocking fashion as paiN notched their first-ever map win against Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's side after holding an 0-6 record heading into the series, overcoming FURIA's recent dominant run of form with an overtime win on Vertigo before putting on an absolute masterclass on the CT side of Inferno, closing out the series 2-0.

Despite the loss and failure to qualify being a dismal end to the Showdown event, FURIA can console themselves with their upcoming appearance at PGL Major Antwerp, while paiN now have something to look forward to in June after they narrowly failed to qualify for the Major themselves.

Vertigo was where the series kicked off, and despite a quad kill from Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato awarding FURIA an early pistol round win and conversion, paiN were the ones to set the pace on the T side. Patience at A ramp paid off round after round as multi-kills from Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt helped his side dominate much of the first half, with FURIA only adding four rounds to their tally in sporadic fashion by halftime.

A pistol victory in the second half helped FURIA get back in the running as they moved to tie the scoreline in fast fashion, even briefly pulling ahead 11-10 before paiN regained their footing. biguzera was again the difference-maker for his side as paiN won five in a row to attain match point, but tenacity from FURIA kept the battle brewing as the map was sent to overtime. The two teams remained neck and neck and required another set of extra rounds to determine a victor, with paiN edging out victory 22-20 heading into FURIA's pick of Inferno.

There, it was an absolutely dominant showing from paiN on the CT side that shut down any hopes of a third map for FURIA. A spree of 11 rounds from the onset of the map saw PKL's side sitting upon an almost insurmountable lead before FURIA finally notched their first two rounds, and despite a brief comeback effort in the second half from arT's side, the humungous deficit was too much to overcome in the second half as paiN eventually closed things out, 16-8.

The complete team list for BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 looks as follows: