hardzao moved to paiN's bench

The Brazilian lineup is down to three players amidst reports of new additions.

Wesley "⁠hardzao⁠" Lopes is no longer on paiN's active roster and has been placed on the bench, the 22-year-old has announced. His move to the reserve bank follows after the benching of Gabriel "⁠NEKIZ⁠" Schenato just one week prior and comes a week after Dust2.br reported that paiN are looking to refill their ranks with academy prospect Cássio "⁠cass1n⁠" Santos and Fluxo's benched rifler, Lucas "⁠lux⁠" Meneghini.

hardzao has been a part of paiN for nearly four years, helping them win ESL Challenger Melbourne, CBCS Invitational 2022, CCT North America Series 2, and ESL Challenger League Season 41 North America. The team also won or made deep runs in a number of smaller tournaments in both North and South America, including securing a plethora of ESEA Cash Cup titles and qualifying for a number of international events.

The Brazilian roster struggled to be true contenders on the world stage during hardzao's early years with them, but recently began to find success after Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt picked up leadership duties. The team made a run to the Challengers Stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major but couldn't make it to the next stage, exiting the event with a 2-3 record, and have since had a steep downturn in performance.

Who will arrive to replace hardzao remains unclear: paiN are reportedly set to lose Romeu "⁠zevy⁠" Rocco to Fluxo and have already benched NEKIZ, with cass1n set to arrive as a replacement for the former and lux reportedly arriving in place of the latter. hardzao's benching leaves the team with one additional spot to fill ahead of the start of the season.

paiN's roster currently looks as follows:

Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt
Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros
Romeu "⁠zevy⁠" Rocco

Henrique "⁠rikz⁠" Waku (coach)

Gabriel "⁠NEKIZ⁠" Schenato (benched)
Vinicios "⁠PKL⁠" Coelho (benched)
Wesley "⁠hardzao⁠" Lopes (benched)