MIHAJA
The Nomination Process
As a reminder, when the awards were unveiled in December last year, the Maltese Esports Association made a public call for nominees. The general public was then allowed to submit their nominations for each category until the end of 2024. A shortlist of nominees from the public nominations has been drafted for each category. The winners for each category will be unveiled live during the awards ceremony on the 7th of February.
Fighting Game Player of The Year
This award celebrates the top players in fighting games like Tekken and Super Smash Bros. The nominees for the category exhibit superior execution, mind games, and adaptation in high-pressure situations.
Lyon “Lyonidas” Buhagiar
Winner of the 2024 National Circut, Project Eversio’s Lyonidas is the most decorated Tekken player in Malta. Having been at the forefront of the scene for several years, Lyonidas has collected an incredible amount of accolades. With the release of Tekken 8 in 2024, Lyonidas not only organised tournaments for the community but has continued to compete and win various events.
Lyonidas is the Maltese esports player with the most international experience. Since 2019 Lyonidas has attended a staggering 30 international LAN events. His standout event came in 2022 where he beat the then-French Champion and then-German Champion on his way to place top 8 at THE MIXUP, one of the largest European Tekken Events. Lyonidas has also represented Malta on several occasions, qualifying for the IESF World Championship in 2020. He had to place as one of the top 8 players in Europe to qualify. In the 2023 IESF World Championships, he finished 17th out of 91, Malta’s best-ever result.
Lyonidas’ international achievements don’t end there, in 2024 he attended five international LANs. In these events, he always placed in the top 15% of competitors. At the LOK Dojo #16 in Greece Lyonidas also achieved a podium finish. His 2nd place finish was the first time a Maltese fighting game player ever had a podium finish in an international LAN event.
Dylan “DylanLee” Caruana
Placing 4th on the 2024 National Tekken Circuit, Visionary Iron Team’s DylanLee has been one of Malta’s longest-standing fighting game players. DylanLee is regarded as one of the best players on the island at both Tekken and Mortal Combat. This is no surprise as he has been competing at the highest level of local competition for several years. In 2024 he won the first Tekken 8 tournament in Malta amongst others. He also serves as a figurehead for the community, coaching up-and-coming players to continue nurturing the scene.
Eros “AbsoluteZero” Zammit
Euphoria Gaming’s AbsoluteZero placed 6th in the 2024 National Tekken Circuit and is one of Malta’s most formidable Tekken players. His rating on the National Circuit does not do justice to his skill and is largely due to the low number of events he attended. In 2024 AbsoluteZero won three events, culminating with a first-place finish at the Malta Tekken City Casuals S2.
Joseph “AddictTekken” Facciol
AddictTekken is a Tekken player who, in 2024 placed 5th on the National Tekken Circuit. Across the year he represented Malta and Eversio at three different international tournaments. These were UFA France, Clash of the Olympians Athens and Road to Olympus Athens. AddtictTekken ended the year with a 3rd place finish at the Malta Tekken City Casuals S2. While still competing, AddictTekken serves as a community leader, organising a staggering 24 events in 2024 alone. His tireless work has helped turn the Tekken scene into one of the largest scenes locally.
Raul “Weather Report” Theuma
Weather Report is the best Super Smash Brothers Ultimate player in Malta. He has historically won the most Smash Ultimate tournaments on the island. His top achievement in 2024 was his victory at the ComicCon Smash Tournament in November. Weather Report is also competitive in the local Tekken scene where he ended 2024 with a 5th place finish at the Malta Tekken City Casuals S2.
Shooter Player of The Year
This award goes to the best competitor in first-person shooter games such as Counter-Strike, Valorant, Call of Duty, and Overwatch. The nominees for this category all showcase exceptional aim, tactical awareness, and consistency in high-pressure situations.
Mateja “Qpert” Mitovic
Qpert is a professional Valorant and is one of only two players on a professional esports contract in the country. Throughout his career, Qpert has worked with and represented various Tier 1 teams in various degrees. He has played with distinguished international organisations including Penta, Sector One, Cloud 9, Digital Athletics and SK Gaming. Qpert also served as an assistant coach for The Guard and an analyst for Team Liquid’s main team. Throughout his career, Qpert won a number of international tournaments, both online and on LAN. These included the Project V: SPlint 1 Finals in Germany in 2022 and the NSG Valorant Lockadown LAN in California in 2023. In 2024, Qpert and his team placed 7th at the Valorant Challengers 2024 DACH: Evolution Split 2. They also took 1st place at the GG Weekend Rush.
Simon “SXJ” Debono
SXJ plays Overwatch 2 as a DPS in the EMEA Overwatch Championship series at the top tier of Overwatch esports. He currently represents the Finish team SrPeakCheck, having just transferred from ExOblivion. He has notable international LAN victories in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Starting in 2022 SXJ won the Les Nouveaux Heros LAN in France. He would go on to win EPIC.LAN 41 and 42 over in England over the next couple of years. In 2024 SXJ would also place 5th/6th in the EMEA Stage 3, the highest tier league in Overwatch, with 133 teams competing. His latest LAN appearance was in October 2024 where he would place second at EPIC.LAN 43 in England.
Nathan “Zellion” Bonello
Zellion is one of the most active shooter game players on the island. Having competed in CS:GO, Valorant and Call of Duty he currently finds himself as team captain of Project Eversio’s Counter Strike 2 team. With local achievements dating back to 2017, Zellion has won various tournaments across different games including CS:GO, Valorant and Splitgate. His most recent tournament victory came in 2023, at the Malta Counter Strike Playcon Tournament. While competing, Zellion was also almost singlehandedly running the Malta Counter-Strike League. Through this, he was able to keep the local scene alive up until MCL’s last tournament in October 2024.
Joel “ImJoell” Ellul
ImJoell is a Call of Duty player and streamer. While not a competitive Call of Duty player, ImJoell has amassed an incredible following as a stream. He has 849,000 followers on TikTok with 38.1 million likes at the time of writing. He also has 73,800 subscribers on YouTube with 47,660,000 views on his channel.
Emil “Slinger” Ternander
Slinger is a Counter-Strike player and coach who represented Project Eversio between 2019 and 2021. In that time he won all iterations of the Malta National League and the ESL Community Challenge at Playcon 2019. Slinger represented Malta in the CS:GO IESF World Championship multiple times, winning the national qualifiers in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Internationally Slinger has been very active in the Swedish Counter-Strike scene. Between 2021 and 2024 he took part in seven different Swedish tournaments, either as a player or a coach.
Samuel “Canak_1995” Muscat
I wasn’t able to find out anything about Canak_1995. It looks like we’ll have to wait and see if he makes an appearance at the awards night!
Conclusion
The Fighting Game and Shooter categories showcase some of Malta’s most dedicated and skilled competitors. From players like Lyonidas’ international Tekken achievements to SXJ’s dominance in Overwatch, these nominees have proven themselves as the top competitor in Malta. Whether through high-level execution in fighting games or tactical prowess in shooters, each player has left a mark on the esports scene. As the awards night approaches, all eyes will be on who takes home the top honours in these intense and competitive categories!
