nqz: "Last year we were always almost in the playoffs; it feels really good to finally make it"

"After Katowice and after [losing badly in a qualifier in Brazil], we were lacking confidence," paiN's sniper told HLTV. "Winning against these teams right now gave it back."

Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt's paiN locked in their first-ever Big Event arena berth after beating Virtus.pro 2-0 in the fourth round of PGL Cluj-Napoca's Swiss group stage.

The result is redemption for the Brazilian team, who started the season with new addition David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado by beating FaZe and GamerLegion in BLAST Bounty Season 1 and pushing Natus Vincere the distance at the LAN Final, only to then get bounced early at IEM Katowice Play-in with losses to Astralis and GamerLegion and in an online qualifier for BLAST Open Lisbon.

"After the GamerLegion match, we lost our confidence totally," Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares tells HLTV after paiN qualified for the BT Arena. "We were starting to commit mistakes that we were not committing in BLAST and at the start of Katowice."

Read more

biguzera ends six-year hunt for Big Event arena playoffs with paiN at PGL Cluj-Napoca

In Romania the team has looked renewed, however, several position changes that were made for dav1deuS swapped again to let biguzera have visibility and a voice to dictate what is happening around the map.

nqz has been a key part of that effort and is paiN's highest-rated player after the group stage with a 1.19 rating over 11 maps (0.16 above his closest teammate), something which he'll look to carry forward as paiN takes to the stage on Friday.

---

You've made the playoffs after beating VP 2-0. How do you feel right now after the achievement?

I'm feeling great. I think we were on a five or six-match loss streak on Inferno, so it felt really good to win Inferno especially, but yeah, feeling great.

You had a really tough road here. You played Astralis, Falcons, MongolZ, and now VP, and you managed to come through. How do you feel about beating some of these very good teams?

I feel really good, especially because before we came here to Romania, we played an online tournament in Brazil and lost pretty badly. After Katowice and after this qualifier, we were lacking confidence, and winning against these teams right now gave us back the confidence we were missing, so it feels really good. And as you said, four pretty strong teams, so for us it means a lot.

You mentioned the qualifier in Brazil. Katowice also didn't go exactly to plan. What do you think changed after BLAST that made you guys have a dip in form?

We started off pretty good in Katowice by beating VP in a 2-0, a pretty dominant 2-0. I think that after the GamerLegion match, we lost our confidence totally. We were starting to commit mistakes that we were not committing in BLAST and at the start of Katowice, so I think that was the main point.

We started not trusting ourselves and our teammates too much, and started committing so many mistakes around the map.

Talking about the positions in the team. biguzera told HLTV at BLAST that he's playing B Mirage and that he hates it. Then you guys changed it after just a few maps. Why did you go back on the decision?

He went back to Connector because he is a very vocal guy, especially because he's the IGL. He's a guy who talks a lot, likes to call rotations, makes mid-round calls, so we felt that the time he was playing on B, he could not do that.

We were kind of missing that on Mirage especially, so we needed that change. We felt that we needed biguzera back in Connector, so we made this crazy move that basically everyone changed their position, except me. I think that's the main point because biguzera talks a lot, and he needs to be seeing what's happening on the map.

Even though pretty much everyone changed their positions, you guys are obviously playing well. Do you think everyone is comfortable in their new roles?

I don't think we're necessarily comfortable, but right now we have five players who are really open-minded and are willing to do everything that we need to win.

kauez was playing A for almost a year and suddenly changed to B, and at first, he was not comfortable, and you could see that in his gameplay. But right now he's feeling way more comfortable.

Everyone is feeling really confident right now in their positions, and that's how it is. Our Mirage was not good, so we needed that change and now it's working.

Your newest addition, dav1deuS, is playing really well. How has he integrated into the team and how has he managed to hit the ground running?

Since his debut, he's been playing really well. He's a very sharp guy aim-wise. I played with him in 2022 in 9z, so I knew he was a good person and a good player, so for me, when the guys said that they wanted to put him in the team, it was a really natural thing. I said, 'Okay, for me it's perfect, because I love playing with him and I know he's a dedicated and good person outside and inside the game.'

Other than that, he brought us a lot of firepower, so for me, since his debut, he's been playing amazingly.

You've made the top eight and will finally get to play in the arena. What are your expectations for the rest of this tournament?

My expectations are the best possible. Last year we were always almost there, almost getting into the playoffs, so it feels really good to finally make it. But of course we want more, and I think that if we manage to play our best CS, we are totally capable of doing more, so we'll see. I have really good hopes that we can go further in this tournament.