paiN oust Nemiga from Austin Major

The Brazilians recovered from a bad start to the series and live to fight another day.

Nemiga have been eliminated from the BLAST.tv Austin Major with a 0-3 record following a 1-2 loss to paiN on the second day of Stage 3.

Meanwhile, the Brazilians move on to the 1-2 pool, where they will continue to fight for their survival in Austin in a match against either compatriots Legacy (if Liquid win the other 0-2 match) or 3DMAX (if MOUZ win) on Saturday.

paiN were faced with a difficult veto and ended up trying to throw a spanner in the works by removing Train, where they've faced difficulties of late, instead of their usual ban, Ancient.

As you can imagine, Nemiga went for the punish pick, and the map itself looked about as you'd expect. paiN won both pistols and still only came away with eight rounds on the opener, with a nigh-impossible Aliaksandr "⁠1eeR⁠" Nahorny 1v4 clutch kickstarting it all — and the banter we've come to get used to from the Belarusian captain.

You know paiN have had a tough time when they opted for an Anubis pick, where they were sitting on a 1-6 record in 2025, but they ended up equalizing the series off the back of huge impact from Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares.

The AWPer's back-to-back triples in rounds 10 and 11 allowed the Brazilians to secure a respectable six rounds on the defense. David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado took over on the T side to drive the map home, but nqz still stole the show with his only four kills of the half coming in a crucial round 17 highlight:

It came down to a knuckle fight on Dust2, where a key 1v3 clutch from Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia tipped the first half in paiN's favor, while in the second half the Brazilians came out on top of an extended forcebuy back-and-forth with the newest addition continuing to lead the way.

Nemiga out with heads held high

For Nemiga, it is a disappointing end to an otherwise respectable Major campaign.

As a team full of Major rookies, the Russian-majority side entered the tournament as one of the lowest-ranked teams but made it through the first two Swiss stages after beating several bigger names, such as FlyQuest, MIBR and HEROIC.

1eeR in particular garnered some new fans with his memorable (and never-ending) banter, while on the server side the youngest Major player, Ivan "⁠zweih⁠" Gogin, showcased calmness beyond his years as one of the best performers of the first two stages.

Ultimately, though, Stage 3 was too big a bite for the inexperienced squad, who also faced tough opposition in Natus Vincere and Vitality in the first two rounds before they were eliminated by the Brazilians.

More highlights from paiN vs. Nemiga

• paiN barely prevent 1v3 smoke defuse

• 1eeR wipes actual sweat off his brow after close anti-eco

• Back-to-back nqz triples save paiN's Anubis CT side

• 1eeR: "I'm 0.9 on HLTV, you need to step up"

• dgt punishes double AWP in 1v3 clutch

• Lucky timing convinces paiN to go for the retake