malbsMd: "I've always wanted to play on an NA team"

Following oNe's day one loss to O PLANO, the team's Guatemalan star, Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa, talked with Dust2.us' Dafydd Gwynn about the match, malbsMd's return to oNe, and the Brazilian squad's long-term ambitions. The day after this interview was recorded, on October 5th, oNe kept their Major dreams alive with a win over malbsMd's former teammates on Infinity.

That was quite a tough loss for you guys, you started getting back into it at the end but fell short. How is the mental game in this team to pull yourselves back into the game when you were down?

We have pretty good mental, we were actually pretty confident with the comeback but there was an eco round that I was spotting on half-wall and I threw it, NEKIZ got to me and I didn't see him and I threw. So that was probably the worst thing that happened in the match and that's why we lost. Yeah it happens.

How are you feeling coming back to oNe?

To be honest it feels really good, oNe is a home for me and of course playing with my friends in an awesome feeling. I love playing with pesadelo and Maluk3, and now getting to know trk and iDk better has been an experience and I've loved it. I really comfortable, it's good, it's good.

Do you see yourself there for the long term now?

Yeah, I do.

How different is oNe from 00 Nation?

I think we have more of a friendship here in oNe than we had in 00 Nation because probably we didn't get to spend that time in 00 Nation to build a friendship. That is the main difference.

Are you hoping to go up against 00 Nation?

Yeah, I would like to (laughs).

Is that a grudge match for you, do you really want to get that win?

I'm not focused on that, I just want to try and qualify for the Major and beat everyone.

What is the aim of this team?

We are aiming for a long-term team, hopefully, we can get things working better now and get the team for the long term.

You have close friendships with NA players, you are a well-known name in the NA scene, will we ever see malbs playing for an NA team?

Yeah, of course, I've always wanted to play on an NA team, for real. In that short period, I was a free agent, I was hoping for a team from NA to pick me up and it didn't happen, I didn't get any offers from NA. It's probably because people think that I don't speak English correctly or that I'm not fluent, but I actually do. So it would have been good for me to play in an NA team but now I'm back in oNe.

Short-term-wise, what is next after this event for oNe?

We have ESL Rotterdam and BLAST, so we have to work on the things we messed up here. We have got to work a lot now. We were working a lot before, we have to work even more now. So yeah we have got to get things going and hopefully lift the trophy in Rotterdam.

What would you say is the biggest thing you want to improve on for when you get to Rotterdam?

We have to improve, I think that I have to improve myself as well. This is for sure, I think, the worst tournament I've ever played. I haven't had much performance from me, so I have got to work on myself as well.

oNe will be fighting for survival tomorrow against Imperial, a squad many of the young Brazilians on oNe have looked up to. The bout will take place at 02:00PM and should malbs and co. survive the best of three series, they will continue the fight to play their first Major.