paiN Gaming sign saffee ahead of key CS2 events

Brazilian organization paiN Gaming has announced the signing of Rafael “saffee” Costa to its Counter-Strike 2 roster. The 31-year-old AWPer takes the place of Lucas “nqz” Soares, who paused his professional career in early April for personal reasons.

For saffee, this is not just a new chapter, but also a return to a familiar team. The Brazilian had previously played for paiN from 2020 to 2022, and now joins the club again at an important point in the season. In the near future, he will represent the team at IEM Atlanta 2026 and CS Asia Championships 2026. In addition, the player has also been registered as a substitute for IEM Cologne Major 2026.

Before moving to paiN, Costa’s last team was MIBR. He played for that roster from June 2023 to August 2025, after which he was moved to the bench. Since then, the experienced sniper had remained outside an active lineup, and now gets the chance to return to a high level in a well-known organization.

At the moment, paiN sits in 15th place in Valve’s official world ranking, and an important tournament stretch lies ahead for the team. The squad will begin its run at IEM Cologne Major 2026 from Stage 2. It was also recently announced that Guilherme “piriajr” Barbosa signed a full contract with the club.

paiN Gaming’s current lineup is now as follows:

• Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt

• João “snow” Vinicius

• Guilherme “piriajr” Barbosa

• Vinicius “vsm” Moreira

• Rafael “saffee” Costa

• Henrique “rikz” Waku (coach)

Legacy announced a coaching change

The return of an experienced AWPer could become an important boost for the team ahead of its upcoming international events.