paiN stun FaZe to reach Bounty Finals

The new-look Brazilian side capitalized on a matchup they were confident in to reach the LAN finals.

After being on the cusp of making playoffs at notable events such as IEM Cologne in 2024, paiN opted to make just one change heading into the new year, bringing former 9z and RED Canids player David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado into their ranks.

The addition of the Chilean rifler has already netted dividends, as the Brazilian squad have secured their place at the BLAST Bounty Finals in Copenhagen, Denmark in their first outing of the year, besting GamerLegion and shocking FaZe to reach the LAN portion of the event.

"In 2024, [people] were telling us that we had some curse with tier-one teams, that we couldn't beat them," shared paiN captain Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt after the team's win over FaZe. "Right now, the first match of 2025, we beat them. We've proved another thing, and we're so happy."

paiN expressed their confidence heading into the FaZe matchup, with Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares stating that the two sides had very similar map pools. "We played them twice last year, and they were good matches, we learned a lot," the AWPer added. "After seeing the other opponents, FaZe were the most comfortable for us."

New addition dav1deuS was the player to watch as paiN marched past FaZe, as the Chilean rifler posted an impressive 1.54 rating on his team's pick of Dust2 to help kick the series off with a 13-10 win for his team.

FaZe's pick of Inferno was hotly contested between the two sides, but important frags from dav1deuS and key victories in the later rounds of the map ultimately tipped Inferno to paiN 13-11.