Brazilian esports organisation paiN Gaming has confirmed the signings of Vinicius ‘vsm‘ Moreira and Guilherme ‘piriajr‘ Barbosa to its Counter-Strike 2 roster.
Vsm joins from the Brazilian side of Keyd Stars, while Piria joins on loan from Bounty Hunters Esports.
The organisation cited a lack of consistency throughout the 2025 season as a contributing factor behind the roster move, which began with the benching of David ‘dav1deuS’ Tapia and Franco ‘dgt’ Garcia following a 14th-place finish at the StarLadder Budapest Major.
After finishing the BLAST.tv Austin Major in the top four, paiN Gaming positioned itself to achieve further success in the second half of 2025. However, the team failed to capitalise on the strong showing, scoring early exits from IEM Cologne 2025 and the CS Asia Championships.
“In 2026, we continue with our goal of building paiN as a benchmark for Brazilian Counter-Strike,” said the organisation on social media.
“Vsm arrives with experience, competitive maturity and a new potential that has always been present. Piriajr represents the new generation after a standout 2025 in the national scene. Now, he has the opportunity to prove himself internationally.”
PaiN Gaming is one of several organisations to adjust its CS2 roster during the off-season period. On January 2nd, 2026, fellow Brazilian organisation MIBR parted ways with Aleksei ‘Qikert’ Golubev, bringing a three-month loan with the team to an end.
What Next For PaiN Gaming?
The new-look paiN Gaming roster will debut at BLAST Bounty Season 1, kicking off on January 13th with the online closed qualifier. Eight teams out of the 32 competing will secure a place at the LAN finals in Malta, earning an opportunity to earn important VRS points and the lion’s share of the prize money.
Vsm and piriajr both ended 2025 with solid performances in regional tournaments. As they prepare to compete on the Tier 1 stage, paiN Gaming could rediscover the form that caused it to spring a surprise back in Austin, re-establishing its place as one of South America’s strongest sides.
