nqz: "No matter the result, I'm really proud of the boys"

paiN are just one win away from not only securing the sole Elimination Spot for the Americas, but also by surpassing all expectations and qualifying for the playoffs. It would be a monumental win for the squad and the organization who faced severe criticism over the last several months for their roster formation decision. Notably, the organization retained star IGL Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt while also picking up key pieces in Lucas "nqz" Soares and Vinicius "n1ssim" Pereira.

Now, the organization is just a victory against a shaky Natus Vincere away from making the dreams of so many Americas fans come true. The team has already shocked many with their victory yesterday over HEROIC in a dominating 2-0 fashion. Following the match, nqz spoke with Dust2.us' Ryan Friend to discuss that upset, the struggling T-side on Mirage, and now fighting for a post in the Major.

Below are snippets of the interview while the full conversation can be found on YouTube.

An incredible 2-0 upset over Heroic. Did you expect that?

It's hard to say, because they were heavy favorites, but I think we did a great job preparing and also in the game, we played Nuke almost perfectly I would say. Mirage was flawless on the CT-side, we got a little bit shaky on the T-side but we managed to end it. I'm really happy.

You got to talk to me about that T-side on Mirage. When did you start to get really scared?

When the game was 12-7 I was like "Oh, wait, we really need to win a round." All the rounds started to get very difficult. On the CT-side it was also tough but we were managing to win almost every round, we were managing to convert almost every situation, so I though "Okay, we are going to 13-0 them" but on the T-side things started to get a little bit shaky but we managed to talk, we used the three pauses on the T-side.

This is a position I don't even think you guys expected to be in. Tomorrow you are fighting for a shot in the playoffs, how does it feel?

For me, it's unreal. To be honest, no one really believed in us in this tournament, no one believed we were going to be able to get this far, so I'm really happy and excited for tomorrow. No matter the result, I'm really proud of the boys, of the team and all the effort that we put in this tournament.