paiN Promotes Lucas Tatu Santana from Academy Lineup

paiN has officially announced the benching of Guilherme "⁠piriajr⁠" Barbosa, promoting Lucas "⁠Tatu⁠" Santana from the academy roster to the main lineup for the remainder of the season. This move confirms an earlier report by Dust2.com.br and marks the second promotion of an academy player after a poor start to the season.

The announcement follows the recent benching of Vinicius "⁠vsm⁠" Moreira, who was replaced by Rickson "⁠Rkzinho⁠" Ribeiro Dias less than two weeks prior. The organization opted for roster changes after a slow start that included last-place exits at BLAST Open Porto and Stake Ranked Episde 3, alongside an early elimination from the Esports World Cup.

Following the disappointing run at BLAST Open Porto, Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt addressed the internal team dynamics. "I feel as a team we don't trust each other anymore," he said regarding the squad. To address these issues, the Brazilian side turned to internal reinforcements from their academy program.

While Rkzinho previously debuted at 49th place in September's HLTV Prospects ranking, 22-year-old Tatu joins the main lineup as a stalwart of paiN Academy who has spent over two years with the project. The active roster now features biguzera, Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa, João "⁠snow⁠" Vinicius, Rkzinho, Tatu, and coach Henrique "⁠rikz⁠" Waku.