paiN — a CS2 esports team

paiN Gaming is an esports organisation founded in 2010 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The club was started by former pro player Arthur Zarzur Curiati, better known as PAADA. Over the years, paiN has fielded rosters in different games, but Counter-Strike has always been one of the organisation’s main focuses.

On the pro CS scene, paiN have made deep runs at major events more than once and have locked in their place as one of the more recognisable teams from the Brazilian region.

paiN achievements

Over the years, paiN have picked up titles and landed in the prize places plenty of times. Below are the team’s most notable results.

How much they earned by year

paiN’s earnings over the last several years are shown in the table below.

History of paiN rosters

A lot of players have come through paiN’s CS division over the years. Every one of them left a mark, but if you look at the club’s history as a whole, two periods stand out the most: the very first lineup and the five-man unit that played for the team from 2019 to 2022.

Achievements of the first roster

paiN’s first lineup featured Frederico “atx” Maia, Philippe “felippe1” Martinez, Willian “Lul4” Elias, and Rafael “dmz” Lavigne. This four-man core was where the organisation started putting together its first real results in Counter-Strike.

Their early highlights included a bronze finish at SteelSeries Summer Cup 2012 and second place at Razer Challenge Brasil 2013. For a young club, that was a solid start and its first real boost in visibility.

The 2019-2022 roster

The 2019 to 2022 period was one of the most successful in paiN’s history. At different points, the team featured Arthur “f4stzin” Schmitt, Wesley “hardzao” Lopes, Felipe “skullz” Medeiros, Romeu “zevy” Rocco, Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt, Gabriel “nython” Lino, and Rafael “saffee” Costa. Bruno “ellllll” Ono worked with the team, and in November 2021, Henrique “rikz” Waku joined paiN’s staff and started working alongside ellllll. At PGL Major Stockholm 2021, Felippe “felippe1” Martinez temporarily took over coaching duties at the event because ellllll could not attend.

This was the roster that brought paiN a string of strong results: wins at Gamers Club Liga Profissional: May 2019, Gamers Club Masters III, Brasil Game Cup 2019, ESEA Season 35: Open Division — North America, DreamHack Open January 2021: North America, BLAST Premier: Spring American Showdown 2022, ESL Challenger League Season 41: North America, and ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne 2022. Another standout result was second place at FiReLEAGUE 2022: Global Finals.