paiN sign saffee
paiN have announced the addition of Rafael "saffee" Costa, who made waves in Brazil's lower echelons with Paquetá.
Last week's report, which stated that saffee was slated to make the move from Paquetá to paiN, has now been confirmed. The 25-year-old will take over Paulo "land1n" Felipe's place on the roster, as the latter was unable to secure a visa for the United States and has therefore been moved to a backup role.
saffee, on the other hand, already lived in the United States last year when he was a member of New England Whalers, although it was upon his return to Brazil that he blew up, amassing a 1.27 rating and becoming a pivotal player in Paquetá.
Following a successful 2019, with six domestic titles and a Big Event appearance at StarSeries i-League Season 7, paiN were ready to make the move to Canada earlier this year, but were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and have since been competing locally. They missed out on a spot in ESL One: Road to Rio after a loss to Imperial in the play-in, but were then able to secure a spot in Gamers Club Masters V thanks to their performance in the CLUTCH Redragon Challenge in June.
With the addition of saffee, paiN are:
Vinicios "PKL" Coelho
Wesley "hardzao" Lopes
Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt
Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato
Rafael "saffee" Costa
Bruno "ellllll" Ono (coach)
Paulo "land1n" Felipe (backup)