Vitality eliminate paiN from BLAST Premier Spring Final
paiN have been sent packing from the BLAST Premier Spring Final after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Vitality. The Brazilian squad will now be looking to build on their experience at a tier-one event as they prepare for the IEM Cologne Play-In which is set to begin on July 5th.
Despite kicking off the series on paiN's pick of Nuke, it was actually Vitality who started off on the right foot, cruising to an early 7-0 lead thanks to a strong individual performance from Emil "Magisk" Reif. Although paiN were able to find three rounds of their own in a short-lived resurgence of form, Vitality soon regained the upper hand to boast a comfortable 12-3 lead by the switch. Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's men soon wasted no time once it was their turn to attack, adding four rounds in quick succession to steal Nuke 16-3.
The two teams then paid a trip to Dust2 for the second map of the series where paiN instantly looked like a different squad, overturning an early Vitality lead to post a 6-3 advantage of their own. A brief exchange of rounds by the two sides allowed Vitality to slowly eat away at the deficit, eventually seeing paiN's lead be whittled down to just one round by the end of the half. paiN's solid showing throughout the opening half continued once on their T-side, seeing the Brazilian quintet storm ahead to a 15-10 scoreline. With their backs against the wall, the Franco-Danish side was able to add two rounds to the board. This only delayed the inevitable, however, with paiN soon finding the lone round they needed to take Dust2 16-12 and tie the series.
Overpass played host to the third and final map of the series, with paiN initially getting off to a solid start with a three-round spree kicking off their T-side. Unfortunately, however, Vitality soon regained their form from Nuke, brushing aside their foes at almost every opportunity to go into their T-side with an 11-4 scoreline to their name. Vitality's onslaught carried on once the second half got underway, with apEX's boys soon adding the five rounds they needed to take Overpass 16-4 and win the series 2-1.
paiNVitality| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
57 - 51 | +6 | 90.7 | 71.6% | 1.23 |
| Gabriel 'nython' Lino |
35 - 47 | -12 | 52.7 | 64.2% | 0.76 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
32 - 52 | -20 | 64.4 | 59.7% | 0.75 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
28 - 48 | -20 | 48.4 | 53.7% | 0.68 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
26 - 53 | -27 | 52.9 | 50.7% | 0.62 |
| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
57 - 33 | +24 | 91.1 | 82.1% | 1.47 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
53 - 37 | +16 | 94.9 | 76.1% | 1.31 |
| Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier |
48 - 35 | +13 | 74.2 | 71.6% | 1.20 |
 Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
43 - 33 | +10 | 73.4 | 74.6% | 1.12 |
| Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen |
49 - 40 | +9 | 76.7 | 74.6% | 1.12 |
While paiN's time in Lisbon was short, losses to FaZe and Vitality shouldn't be too disheartening given the caliber of these two teams. The Brazilians will now turn their attention to the IEM Cologne Play-In which will kick off on July 5th, where eight spots in the main event are up for grabs.
