Can paiN Defy The Odds And Win This Year’s FiRe League Global Final?

Of all the teams invited to participate in this year’s FiRe League global final, many gamers and analysts believe a growing two-tier set of teams will become apparent once the tournament gets underway. It’s hard to look past the teams at the top three of the current betting odds, and although these odds can change the closer we get to the tournament based on the players that end up participating, there’s such a gap in skill between Virtus.pro, Fnatic, and Imperial that if any of these three fail to get to the final, it’ll be a major surprise.

However, as paiN are at the back of the chasing pack and might be quietly confident of upsetting the odds with no expectations on their shoulders, how likely are they to reach the latter stages of the tournament and potentially win $100,000?

A Profile Of paiN

When paiN emerged from Brazil in 2010, its main expertise revolved around League Of Legends tournaments. Although it might not seem that long ago, any eSports teams that have been around for over a decade are more well-established than many teams who have recently burst onto the scene. While they might not have the name and prize money that some of the more prominent names in eSports, paiN will be eager to rise through the ranks quickly, and setting their sights on getting one over the more established teams in FiRe League is an excellent starting point.

The Current Dynamic Of The Team

Only recently, the team has gone through a serious change, pivoting their sole focus away from League Of Legends and aiming to diversify in other games like Counter-Strike. Their base has also headed North, relocating from Brazil to the United States toward the end of 2020. This recent transition and the fact that they’re still finding their feet in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) are two reasons they find themselves as distant favorites for this year’s FiRe League. NEKIZ, skullz, biguzera, cass1n, and lux are a few of the top players we expect to see in Barcelona this October. If they’re operating on all cylinders, they could easily be a challenge for anyone.

Current Betting Odds

Professional video gaming betting markets are flourishing similarly to the tournaments. Not only can the markets give an idea of how the tournament might play out, but how people can place these bets has changed, and many betting market analysts have stated that the use of cryptocurrency in eSports gambling is the most diverse and strongest use case in any professional gambling market. CSGO betting using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is a burgeoning market, but it’s one of many industries that have allowed more visibility amongst casual bettors and gamers.

After establishing their name so early and having such a revered name in the grander scope of eSports, paiN will be keen to piece together their strongest possible team for this year’s tournament in Barcelona. Although Imperial, Fnatic, and Virtus.pro are the top names you’d expect to win the tournament, and this is reflected in the betting odds, paiN isn’t entirely out of the running either.

Could paiN Win A FiRe League In The Future?

The iconic Camp Nou is the setting for this year’s game, and tickets are selling well. Counter-Strike is one of the biggest games in the world, both in terms of sales and the size of the eSports tournaments. Valve, the creators of Counter-Strike, have announced a significant change to the 2025/26 calendar, the second biggest news item to emerge from the Washington-based designers. The release of Counter-Strike 2 is one of the most significant pieces of video game news, and more tournaments will begin to incorporate the updated version into their competitions over the coming twelve months.

As it stands, many people still prefer CSGO tournaments because of the familiarity of the game and the fact it has developed an incredible audience base over the last decade. You only need to look at how widespread and vast websites still cover CS2 skins and strategies to see that transitioning to CS2 will be a long process with some teething problems.

However, now that it has been over a decade since the initial release of CSGO, Valve is keen to bring a new chapter out, and they will be hoping it maintains the same popularity as CSGO. The news has dominated eSports throughout 2023, and it’s likely the game will continue to carry Valve’s highly respectable and revered name, but there’s a lot of pressure on them to get it right.

Final Thoughts

As well as other colossal eSports names, paiN will have one eye on developing their Counter-Strike 2 skills. Given that future FiRe tournaments will inevitably have this game as the prime title moving forward if they can get to the latter stages of this year’s FiRe League, they’ll stand in good stead to get a place into next year’s competition.

However, we’d say that this year’s competition is a bridge too far for a team in such a transitionary period. Perhaps next year, if they continue pivoting more focus into their Counter-Strike team, we’d say there’s still some way to go before they can rival Fnatic or Virtus.pro.