pain started the year with challenges: numerous roster changes and language barriers became hurdles. Team player Lucas "nqz" Soares shared his thoughts on the adaptation process and expectations in an interview before the PGL Astana 2025 tournament. However, despite their high goals, pain exited the tournament, finishing the group stage with a 1-3 record.

A Challenging Start to the Year
In an interview before the tournament, nqz candidly discussed the difficulties the team faced. According to him, the beginning of 2025 was quite challenging for pain due to numerous changes:

It's been a rough start of the year for us. A lot of roster changes and the circumstances right now are not the best ones, but still better than Melbourne, for example, because now we have biguzera as an IGL.
Lucas "nqz" Soares

Strengthening the Roster and Language Barriers
A significant decision for the team was inviting dgt to take on the lurker role. nqz explained that this helped stabilize their strategy, as player roles were frequently changing before:

We invited dgt specifically to fill that gap because he's a lurker. Since he started playing CS for us, he made a lot of sense. And yeah, we had to see how it goes, but it's more about using the time well.
Lucas "nqz" Soares

However, the team still faces a language problem. dgt and another player, dav1deuS , prefer to speak Spanish, which creates communication challenges with the Portuguese-speaking members.

Whenever dgt and dav1deuS stay alive together in the rounds, they start speaking Spanish and biguzera is always like, 'I don't understand the single sheet they are talking. So guys, can you please talk Portuguese so we can help you?
Lucas "nqz" Soares

Time is Key to Success
Despite all the difficulties, the team is confident that cohesive teamwork and effective use of practice time can lead to success.

We can't give ourselves the luxury practicing bad or practicing without willing to practice. Yeah. And as you said, we made a few roster changes because we believe right now that we have all the players in their respective positions that do their job well.
Lucas "nqz" Soares

pain 's ambitions are high: the players no longer see "just gaining experience" as important and are confident they are ready for significant achievements:

I think we are past already from the speech that we need experience. I think right now all the players in the team have a good amount of experience, so it's time to show up for me and for the boys. Also.
Lucas "nqz" Soares

pain faced several challenges at the start of the year, including player changes and role adjustments. Ahead of the PGL Astana 2025 tournament, they declared high ambitions. However, they failed to advance from the group, finishing the tournament with a 1-3 record.