paiN have emerged as the victors of DreamHack Open January North America, making short work of Rebirth with a 3-0 victory in the grand final. The Brazilian side entered the series with a 1-0 map advantage due to their flawless run through the upper bracket, during which they beat Triumph and Rebirth, and were able to repeat their effort over the latter squad in an even more one-sided showing to take the title thanks to stellar performances from Rafael "saffee" Costa and Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt. Rahul "curry" Nemani put Rebirth on the front foot to kick off paiN's map pick of Nuke, securing four USP-S frags in the opening pistol to help his side en route to a 4-0 start. However, once paiN had rifles in hand, the momentum quickly shifted. Eight rounds in a row from the Brazilian squad put them well ahead of Rebirth, who only managed one additional round in the half courtesy of a triple kill from Collin "wrath" McSweegan, offering paiN a 10-5 edge heading into their CT side. Rebirth gave themselves a fighting chance with a pistol round victory following the side swap, but were unable to offer much in way of a comeback effort. It took an ace from wrath to grant Rebirth their seventh round, but biguzera and saffee ran rampant for the rest of the half, boasting 2.13 and 1.80 ratings, respectively, to keep paiN in firm control for a 16-7 victory. biguzera ended the series with a 1.63 rating Dust2 was a more competitive battleground as paiN took an initial set of rounds before Rebirth responded, multi-kills from Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly proving pivotal in a six-round spree. Once saffee had an AWP in hand, though, the tides turned, and it was paiN who ran away with six rounds of their own, edging out a small lead at the break. A similar scenario unfolded in the second half with paiN looking out of sorts as Rebirth once again pulled ahead with another set of six rounds. Vinicios "PKL" Coelho's troops managed to stabilise, putting a halt to Rebirth's spree and narrowly pulling ahead, 15-14, before the American roster fought back to force overtime. There, Rebirth managed to make it to match point first, but paiN forced a second overtime, in which they proved to be the clear-cut champions, winning four in a row to take the series with a 22-18 map win. DreamHack Open January 2021 North AmericaBest of 5  paiN Matchpage 3 0 31st January 2021  Rebirth 1Default 0 16Nuke 7 22Dust2 18 Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourtbiguzera | 65 - 37 | +28 | 112.3 | 1.63 | Rafael 'saffee' Costasaffee | 57 - 38 | +19 | 99.0 | 1.42 | Gabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoNEKIZ | 43 - 42 | +1 | 69.1 | 1.08 | Wesley 'hardzao' Lopeshardzao | 37 - 32 | +5 | 60.9 | 1.02 | Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoPKL | 33 - 42 | -9 | 59.8 | 0.86 |
Zack 'XotiC' ElshaniXotiC | 46 - 46 | 0 | 75.0 | 1.08 | Collin 'wrath' McSweeganwrath | 48 - 50 | -2 | 89.7 | 1.07 | Carson 'nosraC' O'ReillynosraC | 47 - 44 | +3 | 77.5 | 1.04 | Sebastian 'retchy' Tropianoretchy | 25 - 50 | -25 | 44.9 | 0.65 | Rahul 'curry' Nemanicurry | 25 - 46 | -21 | 48.6 | 0.63 |
DreamHack Open January North America final standings: 1. paiN - $16,000 2. Rebirth - $8,000 3. Extra Salt - $4,000 4. Triumph - $2,000
  Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho Age: 26 Team: paiN Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 811 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68  Extra Salt #35  Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Ian 'motm' Hardy Josh 'oSee' Ohm Justin 'FaNg' Coakley   Rafael 'saffee' Costa Age: 26 Team: paiN Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 83 KPR: 0.83 DPR: 0.61  Triumph #68  Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman Austin 'Cooper' Abadir Brendan 'Bwills' Williams Danny 'Cxzi' Strzelczyk Wesley 'viz' Harris  Rebirth #55  Collin 'wrath' McSweegan Zack 'XotiC' Elshani Sebastian 'retchy' Tropiano Rahul 'curry' Nemani Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly  Rahul 'curry' Nemani Age: 18 Team: Rebirth Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 258 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70   paiN #41   Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt Rafael 'saffee' Costa Collin 'wrath' McSweegan Age: 19 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 498 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.69   Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt Age: 23 Team: paiN Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 269 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64  Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly Age: 20 Team: Rebirth Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 231 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.71 |