paiN suspended from BLAST Open London 2025

Brazilian team paiN will not participate in the upcoming BLAST Open London 2025 Counter-Strike 2 tournament, which kicks off later this month. The vacant spot at the event went to Imperial. The official announcement from the organizers claims:

paiN Gaming has been removed from participation in the BLAST Premier Open Season 2. This decision follows Valve's official tournament rule 3.2.5(c), which states that teams who have previously declined an invitation to the same tournament are not eligible to compete.

paiN initially declined their direct invitation to the South American Closed Qualifier for BLAST Open S2. As a result, they are ineligible to participate in The Open.

BLAST Open London 2025 will take place from August 27 to September 7, 2025, with the participation of 16 squads. The first part of the competition will play out in a GSL format online. The six best rosters will advance to the playoffs, which will be held in London. The event will feature a prize pool of $400,000. The full team list looks as follows:

Vitality
MOUZ
Team Spirit
FaZe
FURIA
NAVI
GamerLegion
G2
Legacy
Virtus.pro
HEROIC
FlyQuest
M80
ECSTATIC
Liquid
Imperial