lux: "I wouldn't dream that I would qualify for the Major in a 13-0"

paiN swept through 9z convincingly to make the organization's third Major.

Lucas "⁠lux⁠" Meneghini has qualified for his second Major after paiN swept 9z aside in Shanghai for their third win of the RMR.

paiN had some shaky moments in a loss to Wildcard on day one but looked assured as ever versus Imperial (even on permaban Ancient) and by 13-0ing 9z on the Argentinians' map pick.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Americas RMR
12/11/2024	paiN Finished 13:5 Nouns	Match
12/11/2024	Wildcard Finished 13:10 paiN	Match
13/11/2024	paiN Finished 13:5 Imperial	Match
14/11/2024	9z Finished 0:2 paiN	Match

After securing stickers, lux was full of praise for 17-year-old João "⁠snow⁠" Vinicius, calling him the "Brazilian donk."

"Halfway through this year, he got a lot of hate because of a play against AMKAL," lux tells HLTV about a failed knife attempt early in snow's paiN career. "I saw him really sad." After beating 9z, though, snow's tears were ones of joy.

If you cannot see the Soundcloud embed above, listen to the interview here.

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You've qualified for your second Major. Off the bat, how does that feel?

It feels really good, back-to-back Majors. Earlier this year, it was my dream and I made it to the Major in Copenhagen. Now, I want go to to the playoffs, the big arena, and yeah, step by step.

How big a moment is it for snow, who only joined the team after Copenhagen, making this his first?

It's really big. Halfway through this year, he got a lot of hate because of a play against AMKAL. He went to knife the guy, and the whole community started hating on him. I saw him really sad, and he works really hard. Seeing this, him qualified, he's crying, it means the hard work paid off.

Did you always have faith in him? He's so young, of course, came from a smaller team, but the talent was always there.

Man, actually, I knew snow when he was 13 years old, and he appeared in the Brazilian community playing with some streamers. Then, he started grinding. I played against him but he was not, like, a big deal. Then suddenly in 2023 and this year, man, he became a beast. He became the Brazilian donk. I saw that, and I was like, 'Come on, let's give him a try'. This worked out.

About the game itself, obviously the 13-0 was crazy. How was it to win in that fashion?

Actually, I still can't believe this happened. I wouldn't even dream that I would qualify for the Major in a 13-0. So, we prepared a lot for this game, we created new stuff like the boost on the truck, getting the kill. We are really happy that our bootcamp worked out, too.

What is the pressure like? Bigu talked about it on day one, how did you guys respond to that? You've made Majors before, does that really help?

The pressure is good. If people expect something from you it's because you are good. It's because you can do some good stuff. We need to use pressure in our favor.

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I noticed a few months ago, kind of a nerdy question, but you moved some positions around [on Mirage and Inferno] with snow, is that trying to make him more comfortable? He was very aggressive before on Case, then full anchor-lurker at first here, what is the process behind the positions?

In our team, we don't use the same positions on every map. We think that if we do that, we burn the confidence of the player. I play B on Mirage, but rotate on other maps. For snow it's the same, on CT he plays some aggressive positions and some anchor positions. But on T he's learning how to lurk and doing really well. On other teams he was aggressive as well, so we kind of did this mix and I think it's working for everybody.

We got to see you guys play Ancient for the first time in a while, too, is that something for the Major or was it just for Imperial because you both usually ban it?

It was just for the Imperial game. We never practiced this map. It's just a thought. Imperial practiced it and tried to surprise us, but we played with joy and confidence. We just put snow, and said, 'snowzin, what do we need to do so that you can kill everyone on the Catwalk?' He said, 'Smoke double door, throw some Mollies mid, and I will kill everyone.' I said, 'Okay, I'll play Ramp,' [laughs] and he did do that: 5ks, multi-kills, it was a great game, man.

Going into the Major, we always expected you to qualify but what is the goal now you have?

My goal, as I said, is to make the playoffs. In Copenhagen, we needed one more match, Cologne as well. This is my dream right now. Of course, the main goal is to win the Major but it's difficult, you know? We'll go step by step, game by game, this is how it works.