malbsMd

Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa is the player who put Guatemala on the Counter-Strike map. The rifler spent eight years in Latin American and North American second-tier teams, came close to retiring in 2022 and then went from M80 to G2 in the summer of 2024, where he won two big trophies in his first six months.

In 2024, he became the first Guatemalan to make HLTV’s list of the 20 best players of the year. Since March 2026, he has played for Team Liquid, which signed him in a straight swap for Guy “NertZ” Iluz.

Player profile

• Name: Mario Alberto Samayoa Díaz
• Born: October 17, 2002
• Nationality: Guatemalan
• Role: Rifler (entry and space-taker)
• Team: Team Liquid (since March 13, 2026)
• Former teams: Team Jaguar (2018), Forty Six and 2 (2019), FULL SEND (2019), Infinity Esports (2019 to 2020), Team oNe (2020 to 2022, 2022 to 2023), 00 Nation (2022), M80 (2023 to 2024), G2 (2024 to 2026)
• Biggest titles: BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024, BLAST Premier World Final 2024, BLAST Open Fall 2025

A Guatemalan prodigy

malbsMd was seven years old when he first saw Counter-Strike. His father played against bots while working from home, and the two played together until his father went back to the office, HLTV wrote in its 2024 top 20 feature. He came back to the game when he got a computer for school, and his young age and natural talent led to cheating accusations and several bans on local 1.6 servers.

He switched fully to Global Offensive in 2015 and was soon called up to Guatemala’s national team. In July 2016, at the age of 13, he made his HLTV debut in the World Championship North American qualifier against a Canadian team with Twistzz in it. Guatemala lost 16-1, and the only round they won came from an ace by malbsMd.

His nickname is built from his full name: M from Mario, alb from Alberto, sM from Samayoa and d from Díaz.

Eight years in the second tier

The road to the top was long. malbsMd played for Team Jaguar and Forty Six and 2 before he joined FULL SEND with his compatriot Javier “cruzN” Cruz in 2019. The team finished second at ESL LA League Season 3, was signed by Costa Rican organization Infinity and played in ESL Pro League Seasons 9 and 10, where it struggled against North American opposition.

In May 2020, Team oNe brought him in. The Brazilian team was based in North America, and malbsMd did not speak a word of Portuguese when he joined. The team used a mix of Spanish and Portuguese until he picked up the language.

I fit in really well from the first match. I joined the team not knowing a single word of Portuguese, but I began to pay attention and I started to associate different words.

Team oNe did well in North American online play and reached ESL Pro League and the IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne play-ins in 2021, but never made a dent in Europe. In January 2022, malbsMd joined 00 Nation, a new project built around coldzera. It lasted six months. After the team missed the PGL Major Antwerp, he was benched.

He returned to Team oNe in August 2022, but the results did not follow on LAN, and the organization shut down its Counter-Strike team in April 2023. malbsMd later told HLTV how close he came to quitting.

After this, I really thought about retiring as I didn’t think I would have another chance or opportunity to play on a high level, but it ended up really nice now.

The M80 breakout

After almost three months on the bench, M80 signed him in July 2023. The North American team won ESL Challenger League Season 46, and malbsMd led it through a series of online qualifiers. His breakout came at ESL Pro League Season 19 in Malta in April 2024, where M80 beat G2 in a best-of-three and malbsMd finished with a 1.26 rating, the fifth-highest at the event.

The Major still escaped him. At the PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR in March 2024, M80 lost the deciding match to coldzera’s Legacy by a single round. It was his fourth failed attempt to reach a Major through an Americas RMR.

I always had my eyes towards making the Major and staying one round away from it really crushed my heart.

Two trophies in six months with G2

On June 28, 2024, G2 signed malbsMd from M80 to replace Nemanja “nexa” Isaković. He found out on May 29, right after M80’s loss to HEROIC at IEM Dallas, he told caster DarfMike. “I never thought about G2,” he said about the teams he expected offers from.

At G2, he joined NiKo, m0NESY, Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač and new in-game leader Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski. He had to give up the aggressive CT-side roles he played in M80 and become an anchor. “I’m going to be the big site anchor,” he told DarfMike, according to Dust2.us.

The new lineup reached the final of the Esports World Cup 2024 at the first attempt. In September, G2 won the BLAST Premier Fall Final in Copenhagen with a 3-1 win over NAVI in the final, and in November it won the BLAST Premier World Final in Singapore by beating Spirit 3-0. HLTV named malbsMd an EVP at both events.

On X, he dedicated the first title to his old FULL SEND team and to a friend from that time who had died a year earlier. After the second, in Singapore, he kept it short.

A Major at last

Three weeks after the World Final, malbsMd finally qualified for a Major. G2 went through the European RMR to the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, his fifth attempt at reaching one. “Putting my flag in a Major is just something that I always dreamt about, and I finally made it,” he told HLTV.

In Shanghai, G2 reached the semi-finals before losing to FaZe. malbsMd later admitted that he had put too much pressure on himself at the event.

I was really pressuring myself to play my best ever, but this is the worst thing someone can do.

A few weeks later, HLTV ranked him 12th in its top 20 for 2024, the first Guatemalan to make the list. He had a 1.15 rating for the year despite only joining a top team halfway through it.

The hard years after NiKo

The G2 team that won in 2024 did not last. NiKo left for Falcons in January 2025, and m0NESY followed in April. malbsMd was given many of NiKo’s positions and asked to take on a bigger voice in the team. G2 reached the final of PGL Bucharest 2025, where it lost 3-0 to Falcons.

In September 2025, a rebuilt G2 with HeavyGod, SunPayus and Matúš “matys” Šimko won BLAST Open Fall 2025 in London by beating Vitality 3-2 in the final. It was malbsMd’s third big title with the organization. He celebrated it by pointing out that Guatemala had just lost to El Salvador in football, but was champion in Counter-Strike.

The good results did not continue. G2 finished 9th to 11th at both the BLAST.tv Austin Major and the StarLadder Budapest Major in 2025, and malbsMd’s form dropped. In 2026, he averaged a 1.02 rating with G2 and 0.94 against top 10 teams, according to Dust2.us.

A new start in North America

On March 13, 2026, G2 and Team Liquid swapped malbsMd and NertZ. With the Guatemalan back on the roster, Liquid regained North American status in Valve’s regional rankings ahead of the IEM Cologne Major. malbsMd said goodbye to G2 on X the same day and joined EliGE, NAF, siuhy and Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak.

The move was not his choice. “It was imposed,” he told HLTV before his Liquid debut at BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026. He blamed himself for G2’s problems, saying he had not performed in the roles he was given, and said he had been trying to force himself to be a communicative player. What he wanted from the move was simple.

I want to be the malbs that I once was, and I’m hoping to find myself again.

Liquid’s first months with malbsMd brought few results at the top level. The team went out early at the IEM Cologne Major in June 2026, and in July it replaced ultimate and siuhy with Jorko and new in-game leader Johnny “JT” Theodosiou. In September, Liquid won the North American qualifier for PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 and the iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m’s Mythical LAN.

Biggest results

• BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024: 1st (EVP)
• BLAST Premier World Final 2024: 1st (EVP)
• BLAST Open Fall 2025: 1st
• Esports World Cup 2024: 2nd
• PGL Bucharest 2025: 2nd
• Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: 3rd to 4th
• ESL Pro League Season 20: 3rd to 4th
• ESL Challenger League Season 46 and 47, North America: 1st (with M80)

Major record

Before Shanghai, he failed to qualify through the Americas RMRs for the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 (00 Nation), the IEM Rio Major 2022 and the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 (both Team oNe) and the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 (M80).

Individual awards

• HLTV top 20: 12th (2024), the first Guatemalan on the list
• HLTV EVP: BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 and BLAST Premier World Final 2024

Settings and gear

These are malbsMd’s settings as listed by ProSettings.net, last updated in October 2026. Pro players change their setup from time to time, so check the source for the latest version.

His crosshair is a small, static white cross with a black outline and no dot. To copy it, paste these commands into the console:

cl_crosshairstyle 4; cl_crosshairsize 3; cl_crosshairthickness 2; cl_crosshairgap 0; cl_crosshair_drawoutline 1; cl_crosshairdot 0; cl_crosshaircolor 5; cl_crosshaircolor_r 255; cl_crosshaircolor_g 255; cl_crosshaircolor_b 255; cl_crosshairalpha 255; cl_crosshair_t 0; cl_crosshair_recoil 0

Trivia

• His nickname combines letters from all four parts of his name: Mario Alberto Samayoa Díaz.
• He made his HLTV debut at 13 for Guatemala’s national team, and his ace was the only round the team won against Canada.
• He learned Portuguese in a couple of months after joining the Brazilian Team oNe in 2020.
• In 2024, he named his replacement at M80, Mason “Lake” Sanderson, as his bold prediction in HLTV’s top 20.
• His nickname has made him “the doctor” to fans and teams. G2 said goodbye with the line “Our doctor is changing hospitals”, and Liquid thanked G2 for the trade with “the doctor is in!”

FAQ