nqz: "We had a chat about playing too obvious, predictable, and default"

paiN have qualified for their first post-summer break playoffs despite finishing the spring season with a Major semi-final.

Hopes were high for paiN when they reached the top four of the Austin Major, but the team failed to return to form following the summer break and suffered several group-stage eliminations.

That changed at FISSURE Playground 2, however, as the Brazilians beat HEROIC, Astralis, and Virtus.pro to make the playoffs as the final 3-2 team in the Swiss system.

Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares spoke to HLTV after the win against the Russian side and talked about their tournament so far, his good form after the summer despite the lack of results, and paiN's issues with their map pool.

Listen to the interview here.

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You made the playoffs after beating VP. It was quite a long series as it usually is against VP, but that CT side on Inferno especially was really dominant. Walk me through that final map, did you believe in the comeback?

Yeah, of course we believed. As you said, we made a flawless CT side on Inferno, and we've been improving on CT side Inferno, and also I think everyone has a lot of confidence in our Inferno CT. We just knew that we had to win the pistol, and when we got the pistol, rikz paused and said, 'Guys, this is the most important round for us in this half, so let's focus.' And we made it, too, we managed to win the anti-eco. From then on, we just won every round except for the 12-8, so it was a really good CT side for us.

One of the maps today was Dust2, where you struggled quite a bit recently with six losses in a row before this. How important was it to start off on the map with the victory?

It was really important for us. For me, I felt like they picked Dust2 more to try to exploit weakness from us, so we prepared well and played well on the CT side. We had a chat before the match about the fact that we were playing too obvious, too predictable, and too default. We started this match with a different mindset that we had to be active, reactive, and proactive.

You guys haven't played Train or Overpass right yet, and it feels like you're still finding your map pool at the moment. Do you have those two maps, or at least one of them, prepared for the playoffs?

All I can say for you is that we have prepared at least one of them. But as you said, we are kind of struggling with the map pool, especially with our main pick, because since Vertigo was removed, we kind of felt like we lost a part of our bodies. We have one of those, maybe two, I can't give the full answer to that.

It's also your first playoffs of this season after the summer break. How nice is it to finally make that step and make an arena?

Oh, it's great for us, especially when we saw how high we can go after the Major. It's great to be back to a playoff, especially how the season started for us. We didn't manage to get any good results and people were kind of saying bad things about us and expected us to be there, so it's really good to achieve these playoffs.

You said it was a slow start to the season. Why do you think that is? Was it like a top-four Major hangover maybe?

Maybe. I think there is a mix of things. We were kind of missing that same will for winning and the will of showing that we can go further in the tournaments. We showed that at the Major, but I think after the player break, we kind of got a slow start. Also maybe we had the feeling that, if we just play normally, play our default, we're going to win because we're playing well, but that's not how it works. We still have to want to win and prepare ourselves like it's the last game of our lives.

Despite the team struggling for results as we covered, you are having a very good period, at least stat-wise. Why do you think that is? Why are you still able to perform even when the team is not at the level?

I think in the first season of the year, I was not committing myself fully to CS. I was not working as hard as I could, and was not the most dedicated I can be. So after the Major, I found a way to try to pursue my best and make it work on the server. Of course, it's not a cake recipe, but I feel like right now I'm getting a good knowledge of what to do on the server, when to do it, and how to do it. That's got to be one of the reasons why I'm playing well, despite the lack of results for us.

You're in the playoffs now. There's some pretty good teams still left: Falcons, MongolZ, G2, just to name a few. What do you guys need to make an even deeper run here?

I think we have to play with clear minds. We can't be afraid of any of those teams that you mentioned, because as we all know, all the teams that made it to the playoffs are really good. Since we can't choose our opponent, we can't be afraid and leave the tournament with the feeling that we didn't even try to win, or we were playing afraid and respecting them too much. I think if we've got this mindset, we can go further.