paiN win Brazilian final 2-1 to raise ESL Challenger Melbourne trophy

paiN defeated Imperial for a second time at ESL Challenger Melbourne in the best-of-three grand final to claim the title in Australia. The squad led by PKL lifted the hardware with a clean record in the tournament, winning two best-of-ones in the opening day of play and their two playoff series.

Imperial made their way to the final after bouncing back from a defeat at the hands of paiN in the Group B winners’ match on Friday. Gabriel “⁠FalleN⁠” Toledo was in fantastic form as his team took out Grayhound in the group stage decider and Entropiq in the playoff semi-finals.

Imperial‘s 31-year-old leader, FalleN, ended up atop the stats leaderboard with a 1.25 rating in his 9 maps played on Australian soil. He was followed closely by the team’s new acquisition, Marcelo “⁠chelo⁠” Cespedes, who ended with a 1.22 ahead of paiN‘s newcomers Felipe “⁠skullz⁠” Medeiros (1.21) and Romeu “⁠zevy⁠” Rocco (1.18).

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paiN starting five set with zevy and skullz

The grand final kicked off on Imperial‘s pick, Overpass, where both teams won nine rounds on the defending side and six on the attack in the thirty rounds of regulation. skullz was paiN‘s top-rated player with a 1.33 rating as they lifted their rivals’ first map pick 19-17.

FalleN‘s AWP came alive in Nuke, where he downed 16 players players with the big green out of a total of 24 kills in 23 rounds. The veteran ended the map with a stunning 1.71 rating in Imperial‘s lopsided 16-7 victory on their compatriots’ pick.

FalleN was the highest rated player of the tournament

It all came down to Dust2, the map paiN beat Imperial on in the group stage by an ample 16-5 scoreline to qualify for the playoffs. It wasn’t as easy for Wesley “⁠hardzao⁠” Lopes and company this time around, needing 28 rounds to close it out, but they took it all the same.

paiN‘s powerful 9-0 start on the attack was countered with a late string of six rounds by Imperial to keep things close at the switch. Three rounds into the second half the map was even, but as the dust settled paiN found their groove on the defense to seal the map, match and DreamHack Open Melbourne title.

The final ESL Challenger Melbourne standings are:

1. paiN – $50,000 + EPL Season 17 Conference
2. Imperial – $20,000
3-4. Wings Up – $10,000
3-4. Entropiq – $10,000
5-6. Grayhound – $3,000
5-6. OG – $3,000
7-8. VERTEX – $2,000
7-8. EG.PA – $2,000