paiN nqz doesn’t care if people don’t consider him the best Brazilian AWPer: “I’m happy with the work I’m doing.”

Brazilian AWPer Lucas "nqz" Soares helped his team paiN Gaming to qualify for the BetBoom Dacha CS2 2024 playoffs on Sunday, Aug. 25 after defeating 9z by 2-0.

Literally helped. It's true that the tournament is just getting started, but nqz currently is the highest-rated player in the event with a 1.23 rating after five maps, according to HLTV. This is somewhat curious, as a lot of Brazilian fans and commentators don't mention him as the best AWPer in Brazil nowadays.

The country has more popular names such as the two-time Major champion Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, the former Immortals and Imperial AWPer Henrique "HEN1" Teles, and MIBR's Rafael "saffee" Costa. Though fans don't consider nqz the best AWPer, he's happy with what he's doing this year.

"Being honest, I think I'm showing my real game and I'm back to being the real nqz," the AWPer told esports.gg following paiN's victory against 9z. "Last year it was hard in terms of performance and handling the expectations. About not putting my name up there among the best AWPers or the best AWPer in Brazil, I don't care too much because it doesn't change anything, and I'm happy with the work I'm doing, the freedom my teammates give me, and I think the recognition comes as time passes."

We'll see if nqz can keep this form throughout the whole tournament as the double-elimination playoffs will feature higher-ranked teams such as Team Spirit and MOUZ. But, as long as he keeps hitting his shots, paiN have a chance of getting a good result for Brazil.

That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more BetBoom Dacha content directly from Belgrade, Serbia.