paiN Gaming brings back NEKIZ to take PKL’s place

Moves continue in the various esports organizations around the world. Not only in the VALORANT, Dota 2, and League of Legends scene, but the transfer market in CS:GO is also not standing still despite many ongoing tournaments.

One of the most popular South American organizations, paiN Gaming, has recently announced changes to their CS:GO starting lineup.

PKL leaves the lineup, and NEKIZ takes his place

paiN Gaming, one of the best CS:GO teams in Brazil, has recently announced a lineup change for the rest of this season. It is none other than the departure of Vinícios “PKL” Coelho, who has decided to take a long break due to personal reasons. His place is taken by the experienced Gabriel “NEKIZ” Schenato, who was inactive for over six months.

As we could see in the video posted in the Tweet, PKL has mentioned that he is stepping away from the scene due to personal, family, and psychological problems. In addition, the 28-year-old Brazilian player also mentioned that he would be treated by a psychologist and undergo therapies to solve problems with his spine during the extended break.

About PKL

PKL had been the captain of paiN Gaming for four years. During this time, this experienced Brazilian player led the team to win the following trophies:

• CLUTCH LA League Season 1
• DreamHack Open January 2021: North America
• BLAST Premier: Spring American Showdown 2022
• ESL Challenger League Season 41: North America
• ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne 2022
• CBCS Invitational 2022

On the other hand, PKL participated, along with paiN Gaming, in the PGL Major Stockholm and the IEM Cologne XVII.

About NEKIZ

On the other hand, NEKIZ has been a part of paiN Gaming since November 2019. However, this player has been inactive since July 2022, as after being loaned to O PLANO, the player was effectively unemployed.

NEKIZ is also a veteran in the Brazilian professional CS:GO scene. He has a career that started in 2015 and has also been part of the lineup of well-known organizations such as Luminosity Gaming

This decision to change the squad and PKL deciding to retire for a while comes after paiN Gaming did not show a good performance at IEM Katowice 2023. After two losses in the tournament’s first phase, the team was eliminated and finished in last place.

The new paiN Gaming lineup will play the CCT North America Series 3 qualifiers. In addition, the Brazilian team continues to participate in the ESL Challenger League NA S44 and is preparing to start the closed qualifiers for IEM Brasil 2023 and the ESL Pro League S17 Group Stage.

The paiN Gaming lineup is as follows:

• Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt
• Wesley “hardzao” Lopes
• Gabriel “NEKIZ” Schenato
• Felipe “skullz” Medeiros
• Romeu “zevy” Rocco
• Henrique “rikz” Waku (Head Coach)

Header: paiN Gaming