• Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Eilat 2021 – 13th Esports World Championship

In view of the previous years’ cancellation, the 2021 Esports World Championship by the International Esports Federation (IESF), was held in Eilat, Israel, in place of the 2020 Championships. The regional competitions were re-played.

For the first time, Team Malta qualified for the live finals of the Esports World Championship in Israel.

Eilat 2021 - Ceremony

Disciplines

Tekken 7, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

National Selection

Tekken 7

Due to the previous years’ cancellation, and his performance in the previous year, the Malta Esports Association decided to re-assign the national team slot for Tekken 7 to Lyon “Lyonidas” Buhagiar.

Eilat 2021 - Lyonidas

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Due to the ongoing ‘Malta National League’ for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, organised by Eden Esports, the Malta Esports Association assigned the National Team slot to the winner of the Malta National League Season 4. The MNL Season 4 had a prizepool of €1,500. The event was held on the 22nd May 2021, in which four teams participated.

The winner of the Malta National League Season 4 was Project Eversio, with the following lineup:

  • Kyle “Xaka” Gatt
  • Milan “CrePoW” Libbrecht
  • Blake “mejta” Falzon
  • Emil “slinger” Ternander
  • Jimmy “Ariant0” Husseini

Since the IESF competition requires all four players to be permanent residents of Malta, CrePoW and Ariant0 were ineligible to participate in the competition.

These were replaced with Matias “Raz” Johansen and Kevin “Kevv” Sandin Felldin, and therefore the Malta National Team looked as follows:

  • Kyle “Xaka” Gatt
  • Blake “mejta” Falzon
  • Emil “slinger” Ternander
  • Matias “Raz” Johansen
  • Kevin “Kevv” Sandin Felldin

Regional Qualifier

Tekken 7

  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 0:2 Team Italy (MitrustStorm)
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 2:0 Team Netherlands (ArtofAce)
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 2:0 Team Spain
Lyonidas placed 1st in his group, and proceeded to the second group stage of six players, out of which only four would qualify to the finals in Eilat!
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 2:0 Team Portugal (rexem749)
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 0:2 Team France (Fuhito)
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 2:1 Team Luxembourg (JFSL)
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 2:0 Team Netherlands (ArtofAce)
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 0:2 Team Belgium (PiKaH)

Lyonidas placed 3rd place in the second group, which meant that he qualified for the IESF World Championship Finals in Israel, and the first time Team Malta sets foot on foreign soil for a world championship event!

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

  • Team Malta (Project Eversio) 0:2 Team Norway (Apeks Rebels)
  • Team Malta (Project Eversio) 1:2 Team Luxembourg
  • Team Malta (Project Eversio) 0:2 Team France (GenOne)

Unfortunately, Team Malta placed 4th and last in the qualifying group stage, and therefore did not qualify for the offline finals in Eilat.

Finals

The Finals event of the 13th World Championship 2021 was held between the 16th and 18th November 2021 in Eilat, Israel. Team Malta was represented by Lyon “Lyonidas” Buhagiar, who was also the flag bearer for the Maltese delegation.

Unfortunately, Lyonidas lost his group stage matches, and did not manage to make it to the playoffs of the tournament.

  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 0:2 Team Thailand
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 0:2 Team Sweden
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 0:2 Team Mexico
  • Team Malta (Lyonidas) 0:2 Team Guatemala