snow: "To be honest, for my first Major, I felt very comfortable"

Despite failing to make the playoffs, snow was pleased with his and paiN's performance at the Major.

paiN's young squad have been on the up throughout 2024, establishing themselves firmly as a top 15 side ahead of their Perfect World Major Shanghai campaign. João "⁠snow⁠" Vinicius and his teammates made good on their status, making their way through both the RMR and the Opening Stage with a 3-1 record.

The Brazilians fell short in the Elimination Stage, their win against BIG the only bright spot as losses to 3DMAX, MOUZ and finally FURIA eliminated them from the competition. Despite being "very sad," snow saw the bright side of paiN's run at his first-ever Major.

"I think the team's performance was very good. Perhaps we faltered in some moments, but that's part of it. We're a very young team so we have a lot of room for improvement."

The 17-year-old spoke with HLTV about not only paiN's performance as a squad but also his own, as well as his year overall and what it was like playing in front of the crowd in Shanghai.

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You're out of the Major after a hard loss. Can you tell me what's going through your mind right now?

Very sad. We could have done a lot more. For a first experience it may not be so bad, but I'm really sad right now, there's not much to say. Despite the result, I am happy we made it to the Legends Stage and almost got to the qualifying match.

How do you feel your run went overall? Obviously, not the way you would have wanted it to end, but in terms of coming to your first Major and how you played.

I think the team's performance was very good. Perhaps we faltered in some moments, but that's part of it. We're a very young team so we have a lot of room for improvement. As for my individual performance, to be honest, for my first Major, I felt very comfortable. But there's always room for improvement, we're always going to work hard for that. I could have done better, for sure, but I enjoyed my first experience at a Major.

For much of the Major, we saw you playing up to the crowd a lot, you're always someone who is yelling after a lot of rounds. It feels like you won the crowd over here. Tell me about that experience, having that much fun with the crowd when you're so young and coming to a Major like this.

The Chinese fans have been very supportive since the beginning, and I can only thank them. I felt it was a connection that I could make, getting the fans involved and stuff like that. It's something I always enjoyed when I was watching games, and I think it's my thing, so I just have to thank them.

How do you feel your year has gone overall? You came into the top tier with paiN, you broke out in the second half of the year. How do you feel the year has gone for you?

It's been a year of learning. I've learned a lot of new things, had a lot of new experiences. And it's been a year of evolution, individually speaking, and of adaptation. I'm very happy with the level I'm at now, the level I'm playing at, and I'm very happy with the team.

Just talking about this game a little. Does it hurt a little bit, being eliminated by another Brazilian team?

If we were eliminated by any other team, it would hurt the same. It weighs a bit more because it's a Brazilian derby, but that's part of it. They played better in some situations. It was a tight game.

Some of the rounds were very hectic. There were clutches, rounds you won that you shouldn't have and rounds they won that they shouldn't have. Do you feel any regret about the way it ended?

You can't have any regrets when you're playing. The only thing I feel is that we could have done more. We could have closed out some situations better, and maybe the result would have been different, for sure.

Lastly, I'm a little surprised because it's a hard loss, but you're smiling a lot in this interview. And it's nice to see because I've seen, when players come to big tournaments like this, they lose and they're sad. But that's the case with you. Can you tell me a bit about how you're feeling? You're not as sad as I expected you to be.

To be honest, I'm quite sad, I'm quite upset about our defeat. But I'm trying to show the team that I'm happy, that I'm not so upset right now.