*DISCLAIMER: The analysis below is from an outsider's viewpoint. We don't know what has been going on internally in these teams. We encourage anyone who has news which we've either missed, or misinterpreted, to please, contact us*

The first qualifier cup(s) for Blizzard's European Overwatch Contenders tournament, featuring a prize of $50,000. Several Maltese teams, as well as individual players will be taking part. We'll be trying to follow and report their performance:

Event Horizon

The current reigning champions in Malta. EvH seems unstoppable during the last phases of the MRO Overwatch Open last March, whitewashing both Project EVERSIO and Paradigm6 in the Losers Bracket Final and in the Grand Final respectively. Team leader Gunvelt, playing Reinhardt, supported by Aphyx on Ana was a truly fearsome combo seemingly always able to land a team wipe when they unleash their ultimate abilities concurrently. The rest of the team also proved to be extremely solid. EvH have kept their training since, often participating in international cups such as ESL Heroes, and others, although without tremendous success. They recently landed a new sponsor in the Go&Fun Green Energy Drink, as well as having teamed up with the best League of Legends team in Malta - everything looked to be going great, until this week, when they posted on the local Overwatch community Facebook page that they were looking for players. It would seem that Ishmael "Kristu" Ellul, their Lucio player, and one of the highest players in Malta in terms of MMR (with 4.4k MMR, and within the top 500 players on the European server), has left the team. As of yet, it seems to be unclear who EvH will field in his stead, but it will not be easy to replace such a great player in a matter of days.

Roster:
 Miguel "Gunvelt" Vella - Tank
 Georg "Asphyx" Farrugia - Support
 Karl "Soulkilla" Vella - Flex
 Mike "Z4mbu" Saliba - Flex
 Massimo "H1tman" Fabri - DPS

UPDATE:
EvH did not participate in either qualifier.

Paradigm6

A last minute sign-up to the Overwatch Contenders Qualifiers. Paradigm6 were the runner up in the MRO Overwatch Open, and prior to that, the reigning LAN champions, having won the the GO Malta eSports Festival in July 2016. Don't let this fool you however. Paradigm6's performance in the MRO Overwatch Open was nothing less than dominating, having won 8 from 9 matches during the event. Paradigm6 used to frequently play in online cups, but it seems that their activity waned a bit in the last month or so due to exams that some of their members have had to undertake. Paradigm6 also recently signed a sponsor in Tt eSports, but have unfortunately lost their coach, Clive "Pizzil" Kassis. Nevertheless, Paradigm6 is composed of highly experienced players who have been on top of the local competitive scene across different games for numerous years now. They will definitely be able to put up a good show.

Roster:
 Bernard "B3rrij" Pace - Tank
 Domnic "Got1ke" Galea - Flex
 Jeff "Jeff" Spiteri - Support
 Daniel "Sou1ex" Cassar - DPS
 Brady "Xixxi" Galea - Support 
 Duncan "Zwei" Piscopo - DPS
 Owen "Swatt" Pace - Tank/Back-up

UPDATE:
Qualifier 1; 10/06/2017 - Starting at 12:00
 Paradigm6 1:0  neØn (Walkover)
 Paradigm6 2:0  Black Hat E-Sport 
 Paradigm6 2:0  Boosted Gorillas
 Paradigm6 0:2  Beefy Smash Doods

Qualifier 2; 11/06/2017 - Starting at 12:00
 Paradigm6 0:1  Team Ravage (Walkover)

Project EVERSIO

Despite not having a LAN win under their belt, EVERSIO have been a very stable lineup since the game's inception, and have always given an extremely hard time to the eventual champions. EVERSIO has maintained a consistent training schedule, having participated in online cups (most notably in ESL Heroes) and are extremely hungry for victory. EVERSIO's strongest suit is the ability to change up the team hero composition, due to the wide variety of heroes each player is able to play. A very recent roster change saw Scott "Noname" Vella, the main tank, leave from the team, as did his brother, back-up player Gary "R1K" Vella. Scott will definitely be missed from the team, especially with his acclaimed Winston play. However, following the current meta, he has been replaced by a very talented DPS players in Malta, Cyril "Vortex" Coppini, who previously played for The Underdogs and The Elite. This will be the first tournament for the new lineup, so it will be very interesting as to whether they've been able to gel together in such a short period of time.

 Clinton 'Cin' Caruana - Support
 Daniel 'Deathrow' Gatt - Tank
 Alan 'Serenity' Ciantar - Support
 Wayne 'Reed' Reed - DPS 
 Marco 'PK' Bugeja - DPS
 Cyril 'Vortex' Coppini - DPS

UPDATE:
Qualifier 2; 11/06/2017 - Starting at 12:00
 Project EVERSIO 0:2  Seqta (Walkover)

Others

Other individuals will also be playing in the Overwatch Contenders tomorrow. Ex-Project EVERSIO player  Scott "Noname" Vella will be playing with a Finnish team called  Royal Flex, but other than that we don't really know much about the team. Former EvH player  Ishmael "Kristu" Ellul will also probably be participating, but at the time of writing, we don't know with whom. 

UPDATE:
Qualifier 1; 10/06/2017 - Starting at 12:00
 Royal Flex 1:0  Fury Oh Fury (Walkover)
 Royal Flex 2:0  mYinsanity 
 Royal Flex 0:2  unKnights 

Qualifier 2; 11/06/2017 - Starting at 12:00
 Royal Flex 2:0  xTc.Black 
 Royal Flex 2:0  memedream 
 Royal Flex 1:2  Team Random 

Last but not least,  Clive "Pizzil" Kassis is a Maltese player living in the Aland Islands in Finland. Clive is the former Paradigm6 coach, and is also one of the highest rated Maltese players in the game, although he has never actually competed locally. He formerly played for an international team by the name of  OMNIA eSports, his streaming persona is PlayingNakedTV, and is apparently coaching an international team nowadays, but we also don't know whom!