Vitality and Natus Vincere made it through the group stage with three straight wins to put them directly into the Semi-Finals on Saturday in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. However, when looking at the top performers of the tournament so far, G2 sticks out despite their opening loss against SAW. In the lower bracket, G2 completely annihilated their opponents to secure a Quarter-Final spot in Cologne. Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa is one of the two new members on the roster, and looking at the stats for the tournament so far, it looks like a very good move by the management of G2.

Here are the 10 best performers in the group stage of IEM Cologne 2024:

1. {cflag:BA} Nikola “NiKo” Kovač (G2) – 1.44 rating (9 maps)

2. {cflag:RO} Mihai "iM" Ivan (Natus Vincere) – 1.43 rating (7 maps)

3. {cflag:UA} Valerij "b1t" Vakhovsjkyj (Natus Vincere) – 1.42 rating (7 maps)

4. {cflag:RU} Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov (G2) – 1.39 rating (9 maps)

5. {cflag:GT} Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa (G2) – 1.38 rating (9 maps)

6. {cflag:LT} Justinas "jL" Lekavičius (Natus Vincere) – 1.35 rating (7 maps)

7. {cflag:BA} Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač (G2) – 1.33 rating (9 maps)

8. {cflag:PL} Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak (Liquid) – 1.30 rating (9 maps)

9. {cflag:IL} Shahar "flameZ" Shushan (Vitality) – 1.29 rating (7 maps)

10. {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut (Vitality) – 1.28 rating (7 maps)

You can read more about the tournament, results and schedules on our [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/everything-need-know-about-iem-cologne-2024","isNewTab":true,"text":"tournament page"}].

NiKo

B1tGOD

m0NESY

malbsMd

huNter

Ultimate

flameZ

ZywOo

G2 Esports

Defending champions G2 breezed through their Group A lower final against paiN, showcasing their dominance with resounding victories of 13-6 and 13-1. New roster addition Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa delivered yet another stellar performance, helping G2 assert their superiority over the Brazilian team.

Despite a rocky start with a loss in their opening match, G2 has since steamrolled their competition. They secured convincing wins of 13-3, 13-1 against Team Spirit and 13-1, 10-13, 13-3 against Astralis, before limiting paiN to just seven rounds in total during their latest encounter.

In Group B, FaZe narrowly clinched their playoff spot after a nail-biting showdown with Liquid. The decider map, Mirage, went into overtime, but FaZe emerged victorious with a 16-13 win, eliminating Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and his team from the tournament.

G2 and FaZe now join MOUZ, SAW, Natus Vincere, and Vitality in the IEM Cologne playoffs, set to kick off this Friday at the Lanxess Arena.

For the full schedule and latest results from IEM Cologne 2024, click [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/everything-need-know-about-iem-cologne-2024","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

FaZe

Nemanja "nexa" Isaković's break began on a sour note as he was dropped from G2's starting lineup. 

The 27-year-old Serbian was part of the team that won the IEM Dallas 2024 trophy, but his individual performance at the tournament, with a 0.85 rating, drew heavy criticism from the community. This criticism continued after nexa's average rating of 0.81 at the BLAST Premier Spring Final in London last week.

Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa is rumored to be his replacement. The Guatemalan has been one of the highest-rated players in 2024 against top 30 teams, despite playing for M80.

nexa

The 19-year-old Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa has returned to his former team "TeamOne" after a lengthy period of negotiations with another Brazilian squad 00NATION. malbsMd was benched back in June after 00NATION was signing a trio from GODSENT. 

malbsMd has been averaging a 1.08 rating over the past 3 months. 

TeamOne is currently training to play in the IEM Rio Major South America open qualifier, which will be starting on Monday. 

TeamOne

Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa has been removed from the active roster at 00Nation after a short five-month tenure on the South American squad. In a statement, 00Nation has informed that the 19-year-old rifler is free to search for new opportunities.

- We came to the conclusion that changes are needed for us to reach our goals. This decision was made in mutual agreement with the players. We are still in the process to find a balance in our roster, and we inform that malbs was moved to the bench and is free to look for new opportunities, 00Nations has stated. 

{cflag:BR} Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David

{cflag:BR} Leonardo "⁠leo_drk⁠" Oliveira (bench)

{cflag:GT} Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa (bench)

[slugORMA:{"slug":"report-00nation-sign-six-godsent-members","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"00nation-bench-leo-drk","isNewTab":true}]

00Nation

The Norwegians from 00Nation have completed their starting lineup for the upcoming 2022 season, confirming that Leonardo “leo_drk” Oliveira and Vinicius “vsm” Moreira are staying with the team. The former MIBR duo will join forces with Marcelo “coldzera” David, who headlines the South American roster.  

00Nation has also announced the addition of the 24-year-old coach João "⁠righi⁠" Righi from Team Finest. The talented head coach will take over the whelm of the roster, which also features promising players like Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa and Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal.

- I think this is my biggest professional career challenge yet, but also the happiest moment in my career. I really believe in the project. And I’m super proud to be working with these hard-working talented people, Righi said in a video statement.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"00-nation-sign-argentinian-prodigy","isNewTab":true}]

{cflag:BR} Leonardo "⁠leo_drk⁠" Oliveira

{cflag:BR} João "⁠righi⁠" Righi (coach)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"teams/O_plano_eptm0y","originalWidth":1200,"originalHeight":675,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: O Plano"}]

leo_drk and vsm joined 00Nation back in September 2021 alongside the rest of O PLANO roster

coldzera

leo_druNky

The 2022 starting lineup for 00Nation is beginning to take shape after the Organization announced the signing of Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa last night.

The Guatemalan join Marcelo "coldzera" David on the roster, which has seen several changes since 00Nation signed the old roster of O Plano in September 2021. The team also confirmed the departure of Alencar "trk" Rossato.

While coldzera and malbsMd are the only confirmed players in the new lineup, it is expected that the team will acquire another talented South American. The 17-year-old Argentinian Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal is rumored to be the next player to join the Organization. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"pley-day-incredible-1vs5-clutch-from-argentinian-wonderboy","isNewTab":true}]

One of the most hyped and promising CS:GO youngsters from the South American region, the 17-year-old AWPer “try” has left 9z, the Argentinian organization confirmed. The teenager has been the standout performer at 9z since breaking through the ranks from their academy team in early 2020.  

- Today we say goodbye to our star child, try. We saw you being born in the academy and today we have to see you dominate the world from another place. Good luck in your future, 9z will always be your home.

The confirmed departure of try comes after a recent report from [link:{"url":"https://ge.globo.com/esports/csgo/noticia/csg-00nation-negocia-com-malbsmd-e-try.ghtml","isNewTab":true,"text":"Globo Esporte"}], stating that the youngster is set to join forces with the legendary Marcelo “coldzera” David at 00Nation. The Norwegian organization already hold a fully-Brazilian roster, however, they reportedly seek to rebuild the team with the two above-mentioned players but also the hot rifling prospect, Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa from TeamOne. 

1.29 Rating / 83.2 ADR / 1.43 K/D Ratio / 75.4% KAST

try first caught the common CS:GO audiences eye back in April last year, when he and the rest of 9z competed at the prominent BLAST Premier Spring Showdown against the Counter-Strike elite. In the initial match 9z was set to square up against the dominant Frenchmen from Vitality.

Despite going 1-on-1 against the Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, try ended up dismantling the entire Vitality side through an outstanding show over three maps, leaving nothing on the server by averaging a stellar 1.57 Rating.

9z – Vitality (2-1) | try – 1.57 Rating / 72-43 K-D / 102.4 ADR

try vs ZywOo (head-to-head): 20-11 in kills 

Down below, you’ll find a demo about try by the popular YouTuber and caster Mohan "launders" Govindasamy, who also can offer some interesting insights on the promising AWPer.

{cflag:AR} Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal (Not confirmed)

{cflag:GT} Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa (Not confirmed)

[slugORMA:{"slug":"00nation-acquire-coldzera","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"lucas1-hen1-announces-free-agency","isNewTab":true}]

In the early match at ESL Pro League Season 14 today, NIP met the Brazilians from TeamOne in an exciting Group D matchup. It was the Swedes who ended on top, as they showed great character coming back from a crushing defeat against Liquid in the last round.

The Hampus “hampus” Poser-led side began the match by stealing TeamOne’s map pick on Nuke, owing to a stellar CT-side in the first half, where especially Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzales Zamora presented a great level of CS. The 19-year-old rifler ended the map with a 1.41 Rating.

On the second map on Overpass, it was TeamOne who came out flying in the beginning. Led by the promising Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa they managed to set up an impressive 10-5 score before the switch, through 21 kills and a 1-95 Rating by the Guatemalan international.

However, TeamOne couldn’t maintain control and slowly NIP began to sneak their way back into the match. Despite a 14-10 lead by TeamOne, it was NIP who could take the 2-0 win after an OT win on the second map.

NIP – TeamOne (2-0) | ESL Pro League Season 14

16-11 (Nuke) | {cflag:SE} Plopski – 1.41 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 85.6 ADR

19-15 (Overpass) | {cflag:BR} xns – 1.33 Rating / 30-22 K-D / 90.5 ADR

MVP: {cflag:DK} Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz |1.30 Rating / 54-42 K-D / 99.1 ADR

device

hampus

Ninjas in Pyjamas

The favourites in Group D are off to a strong start at ESL Pro League Season 14 after an important opening-round win against TeamOne this Wednesday. The #2 team in the world secured the W through two victories on Mirage and Ancient.

The first map on Mirage ended out being way more competitive than many maybe would have thought. The Brazilians from TeamOne were inches from taking the 1-0 map lead, owing to an impressive performance by the underdogs, where they at one point were up 14-12 towards the end.

Despite an outstanding showing by Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa, Gambit managed to bounce back and steal TeamOne’s map pick. Gambit solidified the victory on Ancient, where TeamOne couldn’t remain as competitive as on Mirage, which meant that Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov and company steamrolled over them to set the final score at 16-6

Gambit – TeamOne (2-0) | ESL Pro League Season 14

16-14 (Mirage) | {cflag:GT} malbsMd – 1.34 Rating / 27-19 K-D / 96.0 ADR

16-6 (Ancient) | {cflag:RU} Ax1Le – 1.80 Rating / 21-10 K-D / 111.0 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov | 1.36 Rating / 40-30 K-D / 91.1 ADR

Ax1Le

Hobbit

Gambit Esports

The first three groups at ESL Pro League Season 14 are done and dusted and it’s now time for Group D to commence. The last group presents a mixed lineup of teams, that both contain superstar teams, talented and promising rosters, but also dangerous underdog teams. Here is everything you need to know about the teams.

Gambit comes into the tournament as one of the biggest favourites for the overall victory alongside their Russian countrymen from NAVI. The [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/nafany","isNewTab":true,"text":"Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov"}]-led side has been a forceful factor on the top of CS:GO for the entire 2021 season, with them having won no more than five big titles so far.

Their last result before the tournament break was a 5-6th place at IEM Cologne, which were the roster first big LAN event together. Despite, the rather disappointing showing at IEM Cologne, we have them as heavy favourites to take the #1 place in the group.

NIP’s exciting project build around the superstar [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/device","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz"}] has now been around for over four months, with the now Danish-Swedish mixed roster having presented a few impressive results this year. dev1ce and company were close to winning Flashpoint 3 in May, only losing to mousesports in the Grand Final.

The Swedes are running an innovative and quite rare form of roster rotation, where we have seen the two Young Ninjas players [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/ztr","isNewTab":true,"text":"Erik ‘ZTR’ Gustafsson"}] and [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/lnz","isNewTab":true,"text":"Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng"}] switch between the fifth spot on the roster. Now, it looks like that it’s the latter who’s got the upper hand, as he will play at this EPL Season 14.

If this were two years ago, we’ve had Liquid at the very top of our predictions as the winner of the entire tournament. However, the iconic North American organization looks to be far past their prime where they ruled the entire CS:GO scene.

Their star player [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/elige","isNewTab":true,"text":"Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski"}] has continued to present an impressive consistency in his play, which also has led and carried Liquid in several periods this year. The American has alongside [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/naf","isNewTab":true,"text":"Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic"}] been the two best performing individuals in 2021. Liquid goes into EPL with an unsatisfactory 9-12th place from IEM Cologne, where they suffered two devastating 16-2 and 16-6 map losses to the Swedes from NIP.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/EliGE_oqhpl1","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: StarLadder"}]

Entropiq has been a very refreshing element in the CS:GO scene in 2021. The promising Russian roster, which plays under the Czech banner, has managed to establish themselves, as what looks like a consistent Top 20 team in the world. A fresh 1st place at Malta Vibes Knockout Series 1 and a silver medal at Spring Sweet Spring 3 show that Entropiq is a very potent team.

However, as their tournament calendar also shows. It’s not many top-tier events they are competing in, which means their experience and knowledge with the top teams aren’t that big. And that may also look like their biggest weakness here at ESL Pro League.

The Brazilian Panthers from FURIA has begun to look rather tame and harmless lately. The otherwise strong and dominant team led by the always aggressive [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/art","isNewTab":true,"text":"Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan"}] is no longer feared by the CS:GO elite after a disappointing year so far. Despite their recent win at Elisa Invitational Summer, they have not accomplished anything particular, especially if you compare with their phenomenal 2020-season or the year before that.

FURIA’s chances at this ESL Pro League was reduced heavily when the South American organization announced that [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/honda","isNewTab":true,"text":"Lucas ‘honda’ Cano"}] wouldn’t travel to Europe with the rest of the team, owing to his mother getting tested positive for Covid-19. This means that FURIA will play with their head coach Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira as a stand-in.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"guerri-stand-furia-epl","isNewTab":true}]

At the bottom of Group D, we predict that TeamOne will be found when the group stage is over. The Brazilian team actually possess a very exciting and talented roster with interesting players like [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/malbsmd","isNewTab":true,"text":"Mario ‘malbsMd’ Samayoa"}] and [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/pesadelo","isNewTab":true,"text":"Matheus ‘pesadelo’ Panisset"}] as their most powerful weapons.

The strong duo of malbsMd and pesadelo together with the veteran in-game leader Pedro "Maluk3" Campos will have a lot of possibilities to make some upsets at Group D, however, they will most likely still end out of playoff contention. Something, their last showing at ESL Pro League Season 13 also indicates, where they lost all five group games.

nafany

pesadelo

honda

Team Liquid

Entropiq

FURIA

There was one thing that one of the events disappointments BIG succeeded with. The top 2 of most headshots at the event are both players from the German organization's roster.

Headshots make a major impact on the player's health compared to damage on the body. A headshot is often in these tournaments enough to kill another player, so the importance of these shots can’t be understated.

Just yesterday we saw malbsMd from TeamOne dismantle three players from Gambit within 20 seconds with Deagle headshots, a beautiful play from the Guatemalan.

1.      Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz - 159

2.      Nils “k1to” Gruhne - 149

3.      Robin “ropz” Kool – 147

4.      Russel David “Twistzz” Van Dulken - 145

5.      René “TeSeS” Madsen – 144

Watch the Deagle masterclass from malbsMd here:

[twitchClip:WanderingModernEggPJSugar-7eV6VHZe_QtV2U6R?fbclid=IwAR09g45MUtrxIInwj-3U8IlwKXSWZ50JtecmOk9FMc3FFqKRkqQYK-dTYzA]

Twistzz

TeSeS

k1to

tabseN

TeamOne edge past Mythic in DreamHack Masters Winter NA through a good showing against Mythic, beating the American team 2-1. The Brazilians closed out the match on Mirage, where Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa stepped up for TeamOne and led his team to a 16-12 score by a 1.43 rating, 22-18 K/D, 91.5 ADR.

TeamOne advance to the Semi-Finals, which will be played on Saturday against the 2nd place in Group A.

Mythic

Headshots are the quickest way to take down your opponent and requires only one shot from an AK-47 and is, therefore an essential discipline in the game of CS:GO. To be able to hit headshot continually in every duel is what separates the very best players from ordinary players.

Liquid’s strong rifler Twistzz has always been a one tap expert since his entry on the scene and the last couple of months has been no different. The Canadian player tops the charts in front of strong players as rain, YEKINDAR and b0RUP.

Best headshot percentage last 3 months (Headshot percentage – Headshot per round)

1.      Russel ”Twistzz” Van Dulken (Liquid) 68.4% - 0.47

2.      Sanjar ”SANJI” Kuliev (Virtus.pro) 64.3% - 0.39

3.      Mario ”malbsMd” Samayoa (TeamOne) 63.5% - 0.48

4.      Håvard ”rain” Nygaard (FaZe) 63.2% - 0.40

5.      Mareks ”YEKINDAR” Galinskis (Virtus.pro) 63.2% - 0.49

6.      Johannes ”b0RUP” Borup (Heroic) 62.0% - 0.38

7.      Jakob ”jabbi” Nygaard (Copenhagen Flames) 62.0% - 0.38

8.      Sander ”Grusarn” Iversen (Apeks) 61.7% - 0.39

9.      Ivan ”Patrick” Ivanov (FATE) 61.3% - 0.39

10.   Christian ”ADDICT” Pendleton (VERTEX) 61.2% - 0.40

Watch the Canadian 'Aim god' in action down below.

	30 days	90 days
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malbsMd

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