paiN eliminate 9z from IEM Cologne

The Brazilians move on to play The MongolZ in the lower-bracket semi-final.

paiN have defeated 9z in a three-map series (Anubis 11-13, Dust2 13-8, Nuke 13-9) to eliminate them from IEM Cologne.

paiN's next test will come against The MongolZ in the lower-bracket semi-final, with the Brazilians requiring two straight wins to secure an unlikely playoff spot due to G2 and Astralis standing on the other side of their bracket.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024
12/08/2024	The MongolZ 19:20 paiN	Match

"We are so happy we bounced back from Anubis. We had total control on Nuke, but then they started doing some quick rounds, but the eco round was incredible," Lucas "⁠lux⁠" Meneghini said in a post-match interview.

"We just need to face FURIA now because we played against all the SA teams. It's kind of funny, we went to Cologne, and we just played regional teams," he added.

For 9z, this is a disappointing end to the tournament. The South American team was looking to build on its fantastic performance at IEM Dallas earlier in the year and began their Cologne campaign with two dominant wins against 3DMAX and MIBR in the play-in stage.

Their group-stage performance left much to be desired, however, as they followed up an opening loss to Astralis with a defeat to paiN, who are ranked 12 places below them in the world rankings. Their CT sides on Dust2 and Nuke were the biggest reason for their loss, as they could only post a combined five rounds on the two defensive halves.

"On CT we were really bad, our calls and reads just weren't good. We came back on the T sides, but it wasn't enough to win the game," said in-game-leader Maximiliano "⁠max⁠" Gonzalez.

The first map of the series, Anubis, was decided by clutches. paiN were ahead early on after two 1v1s by João "⁠snow⁠" Vinicius on the CT side, but 9z were able to answer. The clutches started going their way, and their fifth of the map, courtesy of Nicolás "⁠buda⁠" Kramer, was the one to get them to 13.

Clip: paiN win with MP9s to reach match point

paiN began Dust2 well as they dominated the early game, but Antonio "⁠MartinezSa⁠" Martinez warmed up his AWP to give his team five at the switch. Once paiN were on the T-side, however, they switched into a higher gear and blew 9z out of the water with a 13-8 victory.

After two back-and-forth maps, the same was expected for Nuke, but it wasn't what we got. paiN won the pistol and ran away with a 10-2 offensive half, and while 9z made the scoreline respectable in the end, paiN won a round with MP9s to turn the tide and stay alive in Cologne.