League of Legends Worlds 2024: paiN Gaming, CBLOL's Last Bullet (4/20)

The League of Legends 2024 World Championship kicks off in Berlin on the 25th of September. A total of 20 teams will compete to succeed T1 at the top of the Riot Games MOBA world hierarchy. On this occasion, Sheep Esports brings you a daily feature on one of the teams taking part. This September 8th, the fourth episode of our series focuses on PaiN Gaming (PNG), CBLOL champion.

PaiN Gaming is finally back to Worlds 2024 after clinching the Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL) Split 2 title. This victory marks the end of their curse and breaks their streak of five consecutive losses in Brazilian finals. They will finally have earned a second appearance at Worlds, with their last run being in 2015. There was no Play-In back then, they actually qualified after dominating a Wildcard tournament in South America. Now, nine years later, they are eager to rewrite history and become the first Brazilian team to advance past the Play-In stage since its inception in 2017.

Their path to Worlds this year was nothing short of dramatic. After a painful loss to LOUD in the Split 1 final, which cost them a spot at MSI 2024, paiN Gaming made did find a way to redemption in Split 2. In the playoffs, they sought revenge and delivered, dismantling the reigning champions, LOUD, with a resounding 3-0 sweep that sent them to the loser bracket where they'll be eliminated by Red Canids in round 3. This will end their regional reign after 4 splits won in a row. Yet, paiN’s fiercest battles came against Vivo Keyd Stars, who topped the regular season standings. Both teams clashed in the winner's final and grand final, but paiN Gaming emerged victorious in both matchups with identical 3-1 results, solidifying their claim as the best team in Brazil.

Now crowned CBLOL champions, paiN Gaming heads to Worlds as clear underdogs. The region has never made it past Play-In stage and has always fell short against major regions regional seeds and VCS.

They will need a great performance from ADC Alexandre "TitaN" Lima dos Santos on his Ezreal and Ashe, able to play wonderfully weakside, while midlaner Matheus "dyNquedo" Rossini Miranda will have to shine as brilliantly as he did with ADC-midlane meta. Indeed the Brazilian player has been voted MVP of the finals as he carried heavily with his Corki and Smolder. This dependency on specific champions might be an easy weakness to exploit during their Worlds' run. With their first Play-In match set against PSG Talon in Berlin, it is for sure a great challenge to overcome from the start.

You'll find below the 5-man roster of paiN Gaming: