“It Was Easier Than We Thought”: NEKIZ On paiN’s Paris Major Opener Victory

paiN thrashed Fluxo 16-2 in the Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage Brazilian derby 

paiN have been on fire since the turn of the year, and they are showing no signs of slowing down. They brought their red-hot form in Paris as they dispatched fellow Brazilian side Fluxo 16-2 in their Paris Major Challengers Stage opener. 

Just like they did in their previous meeting with Fluxo, Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt’s team made light work of Fluxo. They thoroughly outplayed Fluxo on Mirage and lost only two rounds en route to a comfortable victory. Gabriel “NEKIZ” Schenato spoke to HLTV after the match, sharing his thoughts on their confident start to the Major and the team’s preparation for the event.

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“NEKIZ’s team had beaten Fluxo 16-1 in the RMRs, the interviewer lightheartedly asked him how they conceded one more round this time. 

[laughing] I don’t know man, we are playing super good lately, we are super confident, we are going to the matches and we are playing super good. We didn’t expect to have this gap against them again, but it happened, we’re playing good. This is good for the confidence for the next game, so we are super happy to be honest, yeah.”

DEU NOIS DMS PORR@!

bora buscar o Legends 🤙

✅ 16 – 02
🗺 Mirage (MD1)
🆚@fluxogg

é BRASIL 🇧🇷
é EUROPAIN 🔥

13H TEM MAIS #GOpaiN pic.twitter.com/pYHbeW00gT

— paiN Gaming (@paiNGamingBR) May 8, 2023

NEKIZ, however, was expecting more resistance from their Brazilian opponents this time around. 

“We were expecting that we were going to have a tough match against them because it’s a Brazilian derby. Every time I’ve played a Brazilian derby it was a tough match, like we prepared a lot for this game right now, but I don’t know, I think we are hitting the same shots we hit back in the RMR so that’s why it was the same maybe, I don’t know.”

The 27-year-old is happy to start the Paris Major with a bang, but he can’t help feeling sorry for his compatriots in the Fluxo camp. 

“It is painful because to give more spots to the next Major, you need the NA teams and SA teams to perform well during the Challengers Stage. So I feel bad because of it, I know they have dreams too so it feels bad of course, but during the game we don’t think about that to be honest, we think about destroying the opponent, so yeah.”