paiN stay alive after The MongolZ meltdown

The Brazilians repeat their victory over bLitz's side from the Major after a scrappy three-map series.

paiN have lived on to fight another day in Cologne after beating The MongolZ in a whirlwind three-map series that began with a chess match between Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren and Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt, but quickly devolved into individual highlights and brutal mistakes from both sides.

The MongolZ made critical errors when it mattered most, losing two crucial 1v3s to biguzera and repeatedly fumbling rounds to low buys and pistols to be cast out of Cologne in the group stage only a day after being mere rounds away from the playoffs.

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SAW beat The MongolZ to secure shock Cologne playoff berth

paiN weren't without mistakes of their own, starting from before the series even began with their insistence on playing Anubis despite picking and losing it four straight times in Cologne to Liquid, MIBR, Natus Vincere, 9z, and now a fifth to The MongolZ.

"I don't know dude," biguzera said when asked in a post-match interview why he continues to pick the map despite the losses. "In Brazil we were [winning it] like, 90% [of the time], we were amazing there and here we make some mistakes that we don't usually make. I don't know, maybe next time I won't, maybe I will, I don't know (laughs)."

The MongolZ will lament a tragic end to their run in Cologne after they smashed Spirit in their opening game of Stage 2, only to squander a chance to advance to the playoffs against SAW and now get cat out by paiN in the lower bracket. biguzera's side are now just one series away from making it to LANXESS Arena, but have a fearsome G2 standing in their way.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024
13/08/2024	G2 15:45 paiN	Match

Save for a highlight round from the Brazilian captain and from Kaue "⁠kauez⁠" Kaschuk in the first half, paiN came out on their pick completely flat and tallied just three rounds in the first half as Ayush "⁠mzinho⁠" Batbold and The MongolZ ripped through the defenses.

paiN won the pistol and conversion, but the map looked over after The MongolZ hit map point, 12-5, only for biguzera to call a fantastic T side and bring things all the way back to 12-11. The MongolZ looked like they had stopped the comeback at the final hurdle in round 24, but grievous errors and an expertly-played 1v3 by biguzera allowed paiN to force overtime before The MongolZ finally hunkered down and closed out the map.

Clip: biguzera's 1v3 to force overtime

The T side Anubis chess match devolved into a chaotic carnival of individual prowess on Mirage, with clutch rounds going either way, ecos traded off, and some spectacular multi-kills out of Azbayar "⁠Senzu⁠" Munkhbold, Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares, and João "⁠snow⁠" Vinicius keeping the game at even keel at the break.

The MongolZ struggled to halt paiN's entries in the second half, however, although rounds weren't clean and the Counter-Strike played led to Mohan "⁠launders⁠" Govindasamy and Conner "⁠Scrawny⁠" Girvan breaking down in laughter.

There were two moments where The MongolZ were in pole position to wrap the series up in two maps, though: Once when they lost to an eco rush on A, and another at 10-11 when bLitz shoved all-in with a brazen MP9 force-buy call for his whole team.

That decision looked like it had paid dividends after an Apartments push got The MongolZ a 3v1 advantage, but baffling decisions gave away the ghost and enabled another clutch from biguzera that let paiN snatch the win.

Clip: biguzera's second 1v3 capitalizes on MongolZ's mistakes

It is a miracle that The MongolZ came back from that tilter of a loss to briefly post a lead on the Nuke decider, winning a force-buy war to sit up 6-2 on the T side, but it didn't last. nqz and Lucas "⁠lux⁠" Meneghini came alive and powered paiN to a ten-round spree to hit map point, and insult was added to injury when two saving MongolZ players went down with the bomb just before the defeat was sealed.