Valorant star earns three Esports Awards nominations after stellar rookie season
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesThe Esports Awards has released its nomination slate for the 2023 season and one Valorant player has earned three selections.
The Esports Awards revealed its full slate of finalists for the 2023 edition of the show on September 20. The showcase includes categories like Esports Game of the Year, Esports Breakthrough Player of the Year and many more.
Those with a keen eye have been able to spot one esports player who has managed to notch three separate nominations across the different award categories. Evil Geniuses Valorant player Max ‘Demon1’ Mazanov is the player in question as the North American star will finish out his stellar rookie season with a world championship title, MVP award, and, potentially, multiple Esports Awards.
The only other players to match his nomination count this year are Team Vitality Rocket League player Alexis ‘Zen’ Bernier and Seth ‘Scump’ Abner as a content creator.
Evil Geniuses Valorant player earns three Esports Award nominations
Demon1 has been nominated for Breakthrough Player of the Year, PC Player of the Year and is a part of Evil Geniuses’ nomination for Team of the Year.
Demon1 debuted for EG in Week 2 of VCT Americas on April 10 and since then has placed third in the VCT Americas playoffs, second at VCT Masters Tokyo, won Valorant Champions 2023 and earned a finals MVP award.
Without the 21-year-old player, Evil Geniuses would arguably not be one of the nominees for Team of the Year as the squad looked lethargic without his entry play early in the season. Despite his success with the organization this year, however, Demon1 could be wearing new colors in 2024.
According to recent reports, Evil Geniuses has asked its Valorant players to take a significant pay cut to stay with the team or hit the open market with a buyout on their heads.
There has been no news on whether the player will move on to a new squad right after his fantastic rookie season, but the VCT off-season has only just begun and teams have yet to finalize their rosters.
