Vinicios "⁠PKL⁠" Coelho's side came out on top of the first meeting against their former teammate.

paiN have topped the North American BLAST Showdown over their countrymen from FURIA, securing the eighth and final spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Final that will play out in Lisbon, Portugal from June 15-19.

The victory came in shocking fashion as paiN notched their first-ever map win against Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's side after holding an 0-6 record heading into the series, overcoming FURIA's recent dominant run of form with an overtime win on Vertigo before putting on an absolute masterclass on the CT side of Inferno, closing out the series 2-0.

Despite the loss and failure to qualify being a dismal end to the Showdown event, FURIA can console themselves with their upcoming appearance at PGL Major Antwerp, while paiN now have something to look forward to in June after they narrowly failed to qualify for the Major themselves.

paiN are the final team confirmed for the BLAST Spring Final

Vertigo was where the series kicked off, and despite a quad kill from Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato awarding FURIA an early pistol round win and conversion, paiN were the ones to set the pace on the T side. Patience at A ramp paid off round after round as multi-kills from Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt helped his side dominate much of the first half, with FURIA only adding four rounds to their tally in sporadic fashion by halftime.

A pistol victory in the second half helped FURIA get back in the running as they moved to tie the scoreline in fast fashion, even briefly pulling ahead 11-10 before paiN regained their footing. biguzera was again the difference-maker for his side as paiN won five in a row to attain match point, but tenacity from FURIA kept the battle brewing as the map was sent to overtime. The two teams remained neck and neck and required another set of extra rounds to determine a victor, with paiN edging out victory 22-20 heading into FURIA's pick of Inferno.

There, it was an absolutely dominant showing from paiN on the CT side that shut down any hopes of a third map for FURIA. A spree of 11 rounds from the onset of the map saw PKL's side sitting upon an almost insurmountable lead before FURIA finally notched their first two rounds, and despite a brief comeback effort in the second half from arT's side, the humungous deficit was too much to overcome in the second half as paiN eventually closed things out, 16-8.

BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2022 North AmericaBest of 3 FURIAMatchpage 0 2 1st May 2022 paiN 20Vertigo 22 8Inferno 16

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	44 - 47	-3	74.4	1.00
André 'drop' Abreudrop	40 - 43	-3	65.5	0.97
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	42 - 48	-6	71.8	0.92
Rafael 'saffee' Costasaffee	34 - 49	-15	63.2	0.80
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	32 - 57	-25	65.6	0.71

paiN	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourtbiguzera	58 - 39	+19	86.0	1.39
Gabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoNEKIZ	47 - 34	+13	78.0	1.25
Wesley 'hardzao' Lopeshardzao	50 - 37	+13	75.4	1.23
Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoPKL	45 - 43	+2	87.5	1.22
Gabriel 'nython' Linonython	43 - 40	+3	72.2	1.07

The complete team list for BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 looks as follows:

FaZe
Natus Vincere
G2
Vitality BIG
OG
ENCE
paiN OG #19 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåNemanja 'nexa' IsakovićNikolaj 'niko' KristensenMateusz 'mantuu' WilczewskiShahar 'flameZ' Shushan FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho Age: 27 Team: paiN Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 1114 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.67 ENCE #5 Paweł 'dycha' DychaOlek 'hades' MiskiewiczMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferLotan 'Spinx' GiladiPavle 'Maden' Bošković Natus Vincere #2 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy Andrei 'arT' Piovezan Age: 26 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 963 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 BIG #14 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeJosef 'faveN' BaumannKarim 'Krimbo' Moussa Vitality #11 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Age: 22 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 885 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.58 G2 #6 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt Age: 25 Team: paiN Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 572 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 FURIA #8 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu paiN #34 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoGabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoWesley 'hardzao' LopesRodrigo 'biguzera' BittencourtGabriel 'nython' Lino