nqz: "People aren't looking at us like a big threat at the Major. That's how we like to play"

nqz and paiN have "cleared their heads" at home and come into the Major with — finally — some practice with dgt under their belts.

paiN's 2025 took a turn for the worse in March, where they started a run of nine best-of-three series defeats in a row.

Only a win versus HOTU in Astana broke that streak, before three more defeats made it a spell of one win and 12 losses in the last three months.

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In their defence, they have had stand-ins twice, and have been trying to integrate Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia at the same time. But when you add it together it has been as tough a period paiN have ever had.

"We cleared our minds [in Brazil] because the start of the year was not great for us," Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares admitted to HLTV. "We also spent time with our family and tried to reset because we all know the Major is the most important tournament."

Austin, the team know, is a chance to flip that script. paiN have done well at the last three Majors, placing 9th, 9th, and 12th in the last three, and there is hope they can surprise again.

"People are not thinking about us or looking at us like a big threat in the Major," nqz continued. "I think for all the players that's how we like to play."

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Welcome to the Major. How are you guys feeling coming into this?

I think everyone is feeling great. We had a good time practicing in Brazil and cleared our minds because the start of the year was not great for us. We also spent time with our family and tried to reset because we all know the Major is the most important tournament throughout the whole year.

How hard has it been to integrate dgt mid-season?

Now that we came back to Brazil, we had time that we were lacking throughout the tournaments. We had a tough last two months since he joined because we didn't have too much time to practice with him. At first it was hard, but now we are getting better at it, and also with time he's learning how to speak Portuguese better. Now it's time to see if the things will fit for us.

Is that what you would put the last few months down to, growing pains with dgt, or is there anything more you need to fix?

We had dgt come into the team in a really rough time of the year because we were playing with stand-ins. We were trying to get the best result possible at those tournaments, but we knew we were going to be hard without the full team and without having practice.

You've been quite close to playoffs at Majors before, how confident are you guys, even with the tricky season, that you can push further?

We know our potential, and as you said, we've been so close to the playoffs so many times and everyone in the team knows that we are able to do it. We really want to be able to play a Major playoff, and for us right now it's kind of a good feeling, because we are not actually in the spotlight.

Because since we didn't have any good results this year, people are not thinking about us or looking at us like a big threat in the Major. I think for all the players that's how we like to play, you know? We'll be quiet and hopefully get some good results.

We know FURIA have gone international now. Is there a gap for paiN to become the best South American team?

I think now it's about making all the players feel comfortable in the team, trying to find a way we like to play, and mix that with the way that biguzera likes to call and how he approaches the game.

We got all the pieces that we wanted to be the best South American team; now it's all about putting hard work in and knowing that it's a long-term project. The Major will actually be our first big test since right now, we feel like we had good preparation that we didn't have at any other tournaments. We have to see, but I think everyone is really hyped up to be here.