Brazilian esports organisation paiN Gaming has benched David ‘dav1deuS‘ Tapia and Franco ‘dgt‘ Garcia from its Counter-Strike 2 roster.
The move follows the organisation’s Stage 3 exit at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, failing to qualify for the playoffs as a result.
The South American side scored a breakthrough top-four finish at the BLAST.tv Austin Major, laying the foundations for a strong second half of the year. However, despite its deep run, paiN Gaming struggled to replicate the success in other Tier 1 tournaments.
Failure to qualify for the BLAST Open London playoffs, along with early exits from IEM Cologne 2025 and IEM Chengdu 2025, saw the team drop down the Valve Regional Standings (VRS). December’s standings saw the team drop to 15th in the global standings, having reached a peak of 11th in February.
During the second half of 2025, paiN Gaming scored a solitary semi-final appearance at BLAST Rivals Fall 2025, hoping a solid display would lead to another deep run at the Major.
Starting the Major in Stage 3, the team won its opening contest against 3DMAX, before recording two defeats at the hands of G2 Esports and NAVI. A 2-0 loss to B8 in round four brought an end to paiN Gaming’s Major campaign, scoring a 1-3 record and $20,000 (~£15,022) in prize money.
What Next For PaiN Gaming?
With two open places on its starting lineup, paiN Gaming looks to revamp its roster with a pair of recruits looking to help the team reach the heights it achieved in Austin.
Once the Major is concluded, several teams are expected to make changes before attention turns to the start of the 2026 season. The 2026 Tier 1 event calendar kicks off with BLAST Bounty Winter taking place between January 13th to 28th.
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