rikz to stand in for dgt during PGL Astana opening weekend

The Brazilian coach has been asked to take to the server again.

dgt will miss the event's opening weekend

paiN recent signing Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia will miss the first two days of PGL Astana because of visa issues, the Brazilian organization announced on Friday, with head coach Henrique "⁠rikz⁠" Waku set to play as a stand-in in the interim.

In a post on X, paiN explained that the short amount of time between dgt's signing and the start of PGL Astana made it impossible for the Uruguayan to obtain a visa to enter Kazakhstan before the start of the tournament.

"Despite the immediate efforts of all parties involved, the document was only released with entry permitted from May 12," the Brazilian organization added.

dgt's absence is a blow for paiN, who are looking to find some stability after a rocky few weeks that saw the team field academy player Iago "⁠deemO⁠" Henrique as a stand-in after Kaue "⁠kauez⁠" Kaschuk was moved to the bench.

At IEM Melbourne, the Brazilian team also had to play with rikz instead of Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt, who missed the event due to health issues. The Brazilian coach averaged a tournament-low 0.47 rating as the team lost to FaZe and Complexity.

dgt made his first appearance for paiN at BLAST Rivals, where the team went out in last place following defeats to MOUZ and Wildcard. After his team's elimination from the event, Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares said they hoped to "show a much better CS" in Astana with more practice time with the former 9z star.

Date Matches
PGL Astana 2025
10/05/2025
16:15
Match

paiN will take on HOTU in their first match in Astana, the team's final stop before the Austin Major. The Brazilian outfit will play their first two matches in Kazakhstan with:

Brazil Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares
Brazil Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt
Brazil João "⁠snow⁠" Vinicius
Chile David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado
Brazil Henrique "⁠rikz⁠" Waku (stand-in)

Brazil Iago 'deemO' Henrique
Iago 'deemO' Henrique
Age:
17
Team:
Rating 1.0:
0.92
Maps played:
73
KPR:
0.63
DPR:
0.68
Brazil Henrique 'rikz' Waku
Henrique 'rikz' Waku
Age:
34
Team:
Brazil João 'snow' Vinicius
João 'snow' Vinicius
Age:
18
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.00
Maps played:
616
KPR:
0.66
DPR:
0.65
Brazil Lucas 'nqz' Soares
Lucas 'nqz' Soares
Age:
20
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.10
Maps played:
797
KPR:
0.71
DPR:
0.57
Uruguay Franco 'dgt' Garcia
Franco 'dgt' Garcia
Age:
23
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.12
Maps played:
844
KPR:
0.74
DPR:
0.61
Chile David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado
David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado
Age:
24
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.08
Maps played:
914
KPR:
0.75
DPR:
0.68
Brazil Kaue 'kauez' Kaschuk
Kaue 'kauez' Kaschuk
Age:
22
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.02
Maps played:
763
KPR:
0.69
DPR:
0.67
Brazil Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt
Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt
Age:
28
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.05
Maps played:
1323
KPR:
0.71
DPR:
0.64
#1
 | 
Finland Zzzjee
more visa issues nice
2025-05-09 17:41
63
Astana is cursed
2025-05-09 17:41
41
2 replies
#5
 | 
Paraguay LifeHater
The new USA
2025-05-09 17:42
45
they gotta protect the potassium
2025-05-09 18:24
3
#3
 | 
Paraguay LifeHater
Damn, F paiN
2025-05-09 17:42
12
#4
Faceit plus user  | 
manne | 
Finland iamjoe
kazakhstan new usa?
2025-05-09 17:42
14
LOL paiN are so unlucky man
2025-05-09 17:42
27
#7
 | 
United States Schwabies_
Why would the US do this?
2025-05-09 17:42
7
#8
 | 
Romania rczm
Disasterfest
2025-05-09 17:42
3
#9
 | 
Sweden ChiperoG
Damn that sucks for dgt and for paiN as a whole, sucks for their fans aswell obv.
2025-05-09 17:43
9
#10
 | 
Ukraine TrueMurloc
USA > Kazakhstan LOL
2025-05-09 17:44
8
#11
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Cayman Islands LasMedicinas
This is a terrible year for pain so far
2025-05-09 17:44
25
no more tournaments in backwater countries pls
2025-05-09 17:45
6
God damn it not again
2025-05-09 17:46
2
#14
sAw | 
Germany Pacota
Pain getting f*cked again, at least dgr joins mid tournament
2025-05-09 17:54
1
i dont know if this is unlucky or a lack of professionalism as they could have announced the deal before and maybe get the visa on time. shouldnt orgs be thinking about all this details? would it be worst to keep kauez until the end of astana if they werent sure the replacement would be able to play perhaps their biggest event this year?
2025-05-09 17:55
0
2 replies
Did you see Hunter is also having issues, right? (And who knows if any other team may reveal issues too in the following hours).
2025-05-09 19:39
4
1 reply
yeah but the article says the problem was the short time after they sign dgt and the beginning of the tournament. anyway it suks..
2025-05-10 09:14
0
#16
 | 
Russia kinsley
Meanwhile Russians don't even need their international passport to enter Kazakhstan
2025-05-09 17:56
0
4 replies
#34
Faceit level 9  | 
Jesus | 
Kazakhstan yTuHbIe_ucTopuu
there's a difference between ussr country and uruguyausfyau though
2025-05-09 18:38
2
2 replies
#43
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
kinkybdsm | 
Other MissingN0
Whats so special about kakakazskan anyway to make visas so hard lmao?
2025-05-10 18:50
0
1 reply
#44
Faceit level 9  | 
Jesus | 
Kazakhstan yTuHbIe_ucTopuu
2025-05-10 19:47
0
#35
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
LeX | 
Russia mddn
So? What point?
2025-05-09 19:21
0
for anyone who might be blaming Kazakhstani government for that, please take meds. This is 100% an oversight from both organizations (G2 and paiN). They knew about this event for at least 2 months, and considering the chances of visa approval to Kazakhstan are very high (even if you're from Palestine or whatever), idk wth they were doing during that time.
2025-05-09 17:58
6
3 replies
Pain took more than a month to sign dgt (or at least announce that he was signed), so I'm not sure they could've done things faster. G2 is inexcusable though.
2025-05-09 18:16
5
2 replies
ok, I get paiN's situation, I'm more disappointed with the people who seriously think it's somehow the host country's fault. that's just bs.
2025-05-09 18:31
3
1 reply
that's just people being dumb. especially because dgt did get the visa, just not in time for the first 2 days
2025-05-09 18:33
4
Yeah lovely, WE ARE MISSING new places and then this happens. Thank god Argentina and the other one got cancelled cuz we'd still get more visa issues. Fuck this shit just host everything in Copenhagen.
2025-05-09 18:02
2
1 reply
9pandas triggered
2025-05-09 18:17
1
Incoming last place again for the idk 4th event in a row
2025-05-09 18:02
3
#23
 | 
Kazakhstan Lebron9992
As a resident of Kazakhstan I feel bad for dgt and Pain. Wish HOTU played a fulll strength Pain, not with a stand-in.
2025-05-09 18:07
0
#24
 | 
Brazil 1_Flippy
fucking great
2025-05-09 18:15
0
gl for rikz, again...
2025-05-09 18:18
0
What is happening recently lol in the span of like 1-2 week we have got way more visa issues than in the entirity of 2024
2025-05-09 18:24
2
#30
ropz | 
Slovakia nvrn06
why so hard to go to Kazakhstan? wtf ?
2025-05-09 18:29
2
brazil cs is cursed, please dig up the dead frog
2025-05-09 18:32
0
#38
 | 
Brazil 4vengerr
bruuuhh visa issue ?? wtf ?
2025-05-09 20:13
0
#39
 | 
Brazil MrLucas
God dammit, nothing seems to be working out for Pain recently, at the very least he is not missing the whole tournament and their first match is one they should be able to win even with the coach playing
2025-05-09 20:15
5
1 reply
#40
 | 
Burundi rikebrike
if davideus wakes up and performs like he was performing at start of year.and snow doesnt have one of those 5kill games they should still win 2-0
2025-05-09 20:28
5
Sad for dgt
2025-05-09 23:33
1
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