NEKIZ: "We thought they would not want to play Nuke again"

Brazilian side paiN has quickly become a name that has sprung to the forefront in the Counter-Strike world since ESL Pro League Season 17 earlier this year. Always known as a solid lineup domestically, Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato and co. have suddenly shifted into the conversation of teams to watch internationally since Vinícios "PKL" Coelho was replaced by the 27-year-old back in February. Following their statement win over Complexity on Nuke which secured their 2-1 status, Ryan Friend of Dust2.us had the chance to catch up with the catalyst for paiN's rise to prominence.

NEKIZ, very impressive win on Nuke. You guys played against Complexity on Nuke during the RMR, did you expect this map into play?

Yes. To be honest, we thought it could be Anubis, as well. We were a little surprised to be playing Nuke, because we thought that after the game we had on the RMR, we thought they would not want to play Nuke again and they did and thankfully we won again.

Going into this match-up, you know Complexity very well and they know you very well. Was there any extra preparation for this kind of BO1?

No, we just watched two games they played after the RMR, it was against ECSTATIC and MIBR, if I'm not wrong. We just used the previous plan that we had against them on Nuke. We didn't make any more than that.

There were a lot of great individual plays coming out of paiN in the first few rounds, especially. You lost the pistol but you were able to scrounge out a few rounds. Was confidence just going through the roof at that point?

Yeah, maybe. I think skullz won a 1v3 which was a key round to manage us into a 16-4. If it wasn't that round, for us, maybe it would have been another game. It was important, this 1v3, and there were eco rounds that we won.

You are headed into the BO3s. Do you feel that you will do better in the BO3s even though you are already 2-1?

Yeah, I hope so. We need to play better in 1v3, 1v2, and 2v2 situations. We lost a couple of rounds like that against FaZe, if I'm not wrong. We need to fix those mistakes and we can go to the next stage.

You guys haven't actually played a lot of international competition so far at this major. The two wins that you had have been against Fluxo and Complexity, both from the region. Are you concerned at all about the change in the level of competition, especially after that FaZe game?

Not really. Complexity won a game against a very good team over here, so if we managed to win 16-4 against them, we can do it against the European teams.

A possible match-up for you guys, considering how things are going, you could be playing TheMongolz in the 2-1s. Is that the team you want to play or do you hope for a better challenge?

I'm not sure. I think everyone deserves to be here at the Major, so I'm not going to underestimate any opponent, I think it's going to be a great match if it's going to be TheMongolz or any other team.

North America has had a rough start to this. Complexity are now 1-2, Liquid 0-2. Did you imagine at all that this is where your fellow region member would be?

I didn't imagine, and I'm hoping that they can do better right now, because of the spots for the region. They need to the Legends stage, we need to go to the Legends stage, so I'm cheering for them.

Liquid vs. Fluxo is going to be the 0-2 elimination game. Do you have any thoughts about that?

I would say that Liquid is going to win. I cannot say any more than this, I think they win.

You have a massive break for the rest of the day, you can have a good night early sleep. Is there anything specific you guys are going to do to prepare for tomorrow?

We are going to watch the demos of our opponent, obviously, but right now I think we are going to chill for a few hours. We are going to the tower or something like that because we didn't have time to do that, so we are going to take a little while to visit places and then after we are going to study the next team.

paiN are awaiting their next opponents and will have to wait for all the matches to finish today to find out.