London Royal Ravens at CDL Seattle

London Royal Ravens returned to CDL action at Seattle this past weekend with something to prove after failing to progress out of the group stages all but one time. They did so in convincing fashion as they reached the grand finals to face the favourites – Chicago Huntsmen. London lost the series 3-1 after a superb SnD win and losing the Domination by only 1 point. London supporters should still be impressed with the team’s performance and the retrieval of a much-needed 30 points for the standings, bringing London Royal Ravens to 6th place. This weekend saw the new addition of Zer0, Dylan returning back to BO4 form and Wuskin being able to relax and enjoy some wins.

The Newcomer

Courtesy of @RoyalRavens

Trei ‘Zer0’ Morris joined London Royal Ravens from New York Subliners several days before the Seattle Home Series, replacing Jordan ‘Jurd’ Crowley in the SMG role. He looked to inspire the team with a breath of fresh air and he did exactly that, helping bring London to their first grand final. Zer0 finished the event with a total of 309 kills and 295 deaths, resulting in the highest K/D of the team with 1.05. Not only did he produce great statistics but he also impressed with the “dirty work” he was doing for the team. Multiple times throughout the weekend Zer0 flipped spawns in Hardpoint and neutralized opposition spawn flags in Domination. He was a constant nuisance to whoever London were playing whilst also helping in the slaying department, allowing the other individuals in London to play some of the best Call of Duty they have all season. Zer0 and London will only improve moving forward and that’s an exciting thought for London fans!

Dylan Back to his Best

Thomas ‘Dylan’ Henderson was one of the best players on Black Ops 4 but he hasn’t reached those same levels in Modern Warfare. That changed at Seattle though. He finished the weekend with a total of 331 kills and 328 deaths, resulting in a ridiculously high amount of 659 engagements. These engagements came from his fast-paced gameplay and channeling pure aggression into his routes. To put this into perspective, Dylan got seven first bloods and was first blooded seven times in SnD across the weekend. This means he either got or was the first kill in SnD 14 times. Most players will have a single-digit answer for that statistic. With an average of 29.3 kills in Hardpoint and 21 kills in Domination, he was simply a beast in all modes but his standout performance was in map five against OpTic Gaming Los Angeles on Gun Runner SnD where he went 14-4 to help secure the win and get London to the grand final. London fans will be hoping that this performance from Dylan will remain a constant instead of being a one-off.

Wuskin Treated With a Holiday

Courtesy of Gamepedia

Bradley ‘Wuskin’ Marshall has been the MVP for London Royal Ravens since day one. Before the Seattle Home Series he shared the highest K/D with Octane in the entire CDL with 1.28. London heavily relied on Wuskin to perform and if that did not happen they usually got the loss. This is definitely not the ideal situation for a team. However, at Seattle the whole team rose to the occasion and the reliance on Wuskin having to perform vanished. Against New York Subliners, Wuskin went 10/18 in map one, 4/5 in map two and 15/17 in map three but the team walked away with an easy and quick 3-0 win against one of the best teams at the event. This is not to say that Wuskin had an individually bad event. He still finished the event with an overall 1.03 K/D and looked absolutely disgusting with a sniper in his hands, managing 29 sniper kills with it out of the 59 seen across the whole weekend. His performance with a sniper resulted in London dominating in SnD all weekend with five convincing wins and only one loss.

What’s Next for London Royal Ravens?

The Seattle Home Series was London’s third event in a row and with failing to get out of the group in the last two events they looked to improve by bringing in Zer0 for Jurd and they did exactly that. Not only did he have an individually great performance but every single member of the team did and as a result they reached their first grand finals. The last time an EU team did so was in WW2. They now have a break as they are not playing in the Minnesota Home Series and this will provide them with the perfect time to ensure Zer0 settles in. They will be hungry after getting so close to winning their first chip at Seattle so expect to see an even faster and better team in nearly a month’s time at the Paris Home Series!

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