Media: paiN set to bench kauez, trial a 17-year-old

paiN are going to remove Kaue "kauez" Kaschuk from the active lineup after a string of mixed results in 2025, according to a report by Roque Marques of Dust2.br. The organization will trial the 17-year-old Iago "deemO" Henrique, who is currently plying his trade for their academy team, as a replacement for kauez.

According to Dust2.br, deemO will start practicing with paiN's first team soon and will debut next month at PGL Bucharest. It's unclear how long his trial period will last, but he'll play more tournaments after Bucharest.

paiN have been inconsistent in the start of the year. They reached the LAN portion of BLAST Bounty Season 1 and the PGL Cluj-Napoca quarterfinals, but also didn't make it out of the IEM Katowice Stage 1 and recently failed to reach the ESL Pro League Season 21 playoffs.

kauez has averaged a 0.87 rating in 2025 and is the lowest-rated player on paiN. He's part of paiN's ranks since August 2023 and most notably helped the team to qualify for two Majors.

By promoting deemO, paiN carry on their philosophy of giving opportunities to up-and-coming players. With deemO, paiN will have an average player age of 21.2 as they have other youngsters in the form of João "snow" Vinicius and Lucas "nqz" Soares.

This is paiN after deemO's addition:

Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt
Lucas "nqz" Soares
João "snow" Vinicius
David "dav1deuS" Tapia
Iago "deemO" Henrique (trial)
Henrique "rikz" Wakku (Coach)