paiN eliminate Astralis with 2-0 sweep at IEM Cologne

paiN eliminated Astralis from the IEM Cologne Major Stage 2 in Cologne, Germany, with a 2-0 victory on Nuke (13-11) and Overpass (13-4). The win advances paiN to the next round and eliminates Astralis from the Major.

On Nuke, Astralis opened with a strong defensive half and reached a 10-6 lead after winning a second-round force buy. Astralis could not extend that margin. paiN recovered on their CT side and closed the map 13-11. Rafael “saffee” Costa delivered late-round plays that helped secure the final rounds.

Overpass was one-sided. paiN held a 12-0 lead at halftime on the defensive side. Astralis avoided a 0-13 score but never mounted a sustained comeback, and paiN won the map 13-4.

João “snow” Vinicius led paiN across Stage 2 with a 42-21 kill-death line and a tournament-high 1.75 rating. He posted a 103.4 average damage per round (ADR) and a 75.6% KAST. Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt and Guilherme “piriajr” Barbosa recorded ratings of 1.19 and 1.17 respectively. Vinicius “vsm” Moreira had a 0.98 rating and Rafael “saffee” Costa had a 0.91 rating for the stage.

Victor “Staehr” Staehr was the only Astralis player with a positive stage rating, averaging 1.17 with an ADR of 81.4. Gytis “ryu” Glušauskas averaged 0.95, while Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard averaged 0.87 each. Love “phzy” Smidebrant averaged 0.74 and did not record a single map above a 1.00 rating in Cologne after posting a 1.11 season average before the Major.

Astralis’ Stage 2 results are expected to cause a drop in their VRS ranking in the July update. The loss leaves Astralis without points from Stage 2 while paiN advances to the next round of the Major.