After a very hype five-game series, paiN Gaming overpowered and outlasted SG esports 3:2 to claim the only spot allocated to South America for TI8.
The South American TI8 qualifiers were quite the tumultuous event. Riddled with their share of problems and drama ranging from DDoS attacks, unexpected playoff forfeits and a high profile macro scandal that ended with the disqualification of Thunder Predator, SA also gave spectators an extraordinarily competitive grand finals.
Going head to head with everything on the line paiN Gaming were not about to let their Brazilian brothers represent the nation and the region at the most prestigious Dota 2 event of the year.
It was a full back and forth series with paiN taking the first match with relative ease only to be knocked down in the next match. Rinse. Repeat. It was a nail-biting 5th game with full swings of highs and lows, all-out aggression and mounting pressure that personified not only the series but the SA region's Pro Circuit 2017-2018 season overall.
Towards the end of April SG esports were relegated to the SA TI8 open qualifiers when they lost their captain Lucas ''bardo" Barbosa who had chosen to take a break in his gaming career due to personal problems. Although coach Emilano “c4t” Ito had made several appearances at the LAN events with the team, it was Francis "FrancisLee" Lee and Stanley "Stan King" Yang from North America that would end up joining up with the team with the hopes of gaining the sole spot to represent South America at TI8.
During the course of the last three months Omar "w33haa" Aliwi stood in for the Brazilian team paiN Gaming on two separate occasions — Galaxy Battles II where they took 5-6th place and Bucharest Major where they took 12-14th place. But it wasn't until mid-April that the Brazilian team officially recruited w33 to be a member of the team. Since then the team showed rapid and dramatic improvements as they came in 2nd for the China Super Major qualifiers, qualified for ESL One Birmingham where they eventually took an impressive 3rd place after taking 7th at EPICENTER XL Major and then qualified for the SA regional in their first attempt. For many, it seems that w33 was not only a good fit for the squad but brought them the much-needed guidance and insight to help compete against the rest of the top tier teams around the world.
paiN Gaming roster:
William 'hFnk3' Medeiros
Omar 'w33haa' Aliwi
Otávio 'tavo' Gabriel
Danylo 'KINGRD' Nascimento
Geytor 'Duster' Pereira
