Welcome to EGamersWorld.
We continue to prepare for the Long Range of IEM Katowice 2025 matches. The legendary tournament with finals at Spodek Arena returns to our screens on 29 January with Play-In stage matches.
One of the opening matches will be a match between Virtus.pro - paiN. The match will take place on the 29th of January at 10:30 CET.
Let's find out who will be stronger in this Bo3 and make it to the next round of the Play-In.
Let's go.
Virtus.pro uniforms
Let's open the Vp vs paiN match with an analysis of Vp's form. In this match they are playing as favourites with a minimal margin of victory: the odds are around 1.8.
At the beginning of last year Vp played in three TIR-A tournaments. These were BB Playlist. Urbanistic, BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A, and also BB Playlist. Freeddom. At the two "home" championships from BB Vp were in the top 8, but at the European RMR everything was even less happy - top 14.
Then Vp made a breakthrough by winning at ESL Challenger Katowice 2023. The victory there allowed them to qualify for ESL Pro League Season 18.
Among the victories, CCT Online Finals #2 is also worth mentioning. They beat Team Spirit in the grand finals and earned $100,000, which is pretty good.
- Vp lineup: FL1T, fame, electroNic, FL4MUS, ICY.
Before ESL Pro League Season 18 Vp visited Gamers8, where they didn't get further than the top 8, and Dunav Party LAN, where in the grand finals they got revenge for their defeat on CCT by Spirit.
In the first match at EPL Season 18, Vp's opponent was Team Liquid. The match, as expected, ended in a full-fledged, combative Bo3 with Vp winning 2-1.
Next up, VP played G2 Esports and legitimately Ledgeili, though they fought back and took the map. The defeat sent Vp to the lower grid, where they first beat Eternal Fire and then outplayed Liquid again, thus reaching the EPL play-offs.
Vp did not manage to play in the main stage. Vp lost their first match against 9z Team, which was a rather unexpected result. At the end of the EPL S18 Vp finished in the top 16.
Things are going well at the Roobet Cup. Vp won the first match against their compatriots from Spirit with a score of 2-1. Next up was a battle with Movistar Riders to qualify for the Roobet Cup 2023 play-offs, which ended 2-0 in favour of Vp, a solid 2-0.
The Roobet Cup 2023 itself was the pulse of Vp's triumph. They beat Monte 2-1 in the grand final, earning their first major win in a long time. Later was Thunderpick World Championship 2023, where Vp also reached the final, but failed to beat FaZe and as a result - 0-2.
Before playing at BB Dacha Vp played at ESL Challenger Winter. There they reached the top 4, losing in the semi-finals to the future champions from Monte. BB Dacha itself was a very successful event for Vp: there they reached the finals and lost to Spirit 2-3 in a close series.
Just before the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, where Vp were partnered with BLAST, they played the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2023, where they won the championship, beating Apeks 2-0 in the grand finals.
On their way to the Group D finals, Virtus.pro defeated BIG and Cloud9. The former with a 2-0 score, the latter with a 2-1 score. In the grand final of their group at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, Vp beat BIG again and again with a score of 2-0, thus earning themselves a place at the spring finals. Next up was IEM Katowice 2024, where Vp failed, finishing in the top 20.
Vp made it to PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen, finishing in the top 2 at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A. In addition, they made it to IEM Dallas 2024.
Directly at the World Championship Long Competed from the Elimination stage. First lost to Imperia, but then beat paiN and Heroic, which brought them to 2-1. Next, they lost to Eternal Fire and G2 Esports, which led to Vp's elimination from the Major tournament.
IEM China 2024 Vp are doing quite well. In the top set of Group B, they took turns beating American teams Wildcard (13-1) and then FlyQuest (2-1). In the play-offs seeding match, Vp lost to the best team in the tournament, Astralis, 2-0.
In the main stage of IEM China 2024, Vp played against G2 Esports and lost, thus finishing in the top 6 of the tournament.
After the top 6 at IEM China 2024 Vp attended three more tournaments, two of which were very prestigious. Thus they played ESL Pro League Season 19 at TOP-8 and IEM Dallas 2024 at TOP-12, and in between they made it to the Top-6 at BB Dacha.
In Group B at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2024 Vp played to a top-3 finish, which got them into the playoffs. Next, they made it to the top 4, but there Ledgeili NaVi.
EWC Vp started with a match against Complexity Gaming, where they won 2-0. Making it to the play-offs the team faced Vitality and came out stronger, winning 2-1. Next up was a match against G2, a loss and top 4 in the end.
Vp played at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024, where they failed miserably: top 16. Later, they "consolidated their success" at IEM Cologne 2024, making it to the Top 16. They also played at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024, where they took TOP-4. Played at ESL Pro League S20, where they failed everywhere and everywhere, finishing the tournament in the top 16. They also played at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they finished in the top 6.
At the Thunderpick World Championship 2024, OG Long Sogpeg were defeated by OG and then knocked out of the tournament by Falcons. However, OG went on to get revenge and knocked Vp out of the tournament. At the end of Thunderpick World Championship 2024, Vp finished in the top 12.
Vp got to PW Shanghai Major 2024 through PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B, winning it 3-1. However, the tournament itself failed miserably, finishing in the top-24.
They started the 2025 season with an appearance at BLAST Bounty Season 1, where they lost in the first round.
Mapple Vp.
The best map for Vp remains Ancient, where Vp won 3 maps out of 3 played. The most played map is Overpass, where Vp played 11 maps and won 9 of them.
In the pool there is a good Anubis (3-1 on maps), Mirage (6 wins in 9 matches) and Inferno (7 wins in 11 games).
The worst choice for vp is Vertigo. There 44% wins with 9 matches.
Form of paiN Gaming
We continue to watch the match paiN - Vp with the analysis of paiN gaming form. In this match, they are playing as the number two with win odds around 1.9.
The paiN Gaming club has played many tournaments in 2024, among which there have been results. However, no special results were achieved.
By far the most significant was PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, where paiN managed to show character and a good game. They were just enough for the top 9-11, but even that is a good result.
Where paiN shine is on the home stage. The club has essentially dominated the Latin American scene, consistently winning B-tier tournaments. Such was the case at RES Latin American Series #4, Global Esports Tour Rio de Janeiro 2024, where they earned $100,000 for the win.
- The lineup of paiN Gaming: biguzera, kauez, nqz, snow, dav1deuS.
Among the landmark results is a pass to IEM Cologne 2024. Passed through home qualifications.
IEM Cologne 2024 paiN Gaming started with a loss in the match against Liquid (0-2). Further, already in the lower grid, the team won against compatriots from Imperial (2-1). At the end of IEM Cologne 2024 the team took the top 8.
Later, paiN Gaming played at BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024, where they finished at the already "classic" for themselves TOP-8.
Before playing at PW Shanghai Major 2024, paiN Gaming visited Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they finished in TOP-16, and ESL Challenger Katowice 2024, where they finished in TOP-4. The team made it directly to PW Shanghai Major 2024 thanks to a 3-1 score at American RMR.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024: Opening Stage paiN started their journey with a win over Imperial. Then they lost to GamerLegion, but then beat C9 and FlyQuest. Elimination Stage opened with a loss to MOUZ, followed by Ledgeili and 3DMax. In the match for life at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, paiN defeated BIG.
At the main stage of PW Shanghai Major 2024, paiN won 1-3, thus finishing in the top 14.
paiN opened the 2025 season with an appearance at BLAST Bounty Season 1. They managed to overcome qualification by beating GamerLegion and FaZe. In the play-offs of the tournament they met NaVi, where they were close to victory, but Ledgeili with the score 1-2, thus taking the top 6.
Map paiN Gaming
Top 1 map paiN gaming for the last 3 months - Mirage. L4O has a mind-blowing winrate of 92% with 13 games played.
They also played on Inferno, where they won 5 matches out of 7 games. In plus winrate and Nuke, where with 5 matches and 3 wins.
The most not favoured card for paiN gaming will be Vertigo. There they have 6 cards and only 1 win.
History of head-to-head meetings paiN - Vp
In the season 2024 they played each other twice. They exchanged pleasantries - a win each.
Predicted result of the match Vp - paiN Gaming at IEM Katowice 2025
In this match I am betting on the Brazilian line-up. According to BLAST Bounty Season 1, we can see that paiN are skilled in Counter-Strike and all you need for results is a lot of practice.
Bottom line: paiN win.
