The London Royal Ravens has finalized its starting lineup for the upcoming Call of Duty League season. The team will feature Afro, who’s returning to the London franchise to compete alongside Nastie, Zer0, and Gismo.
During the 2021 season, the Ravens struggled with consistency and fought through the middle of the pack. London made a flurry of changes to its roster, introducing Parasite, PaulEhx, Zaptius, and Afro to the Call of Duty League throughout the year.
In August, London announced that it was parting ways with its entire roster outside of Afro. Dot Esports’ CRONE then reported in September that Zer0, Nastie, and Gismo were on the Royal Ravens’ wishlist heading into the offseason.
Despite London’s tournament results in 2021, Afro had an impressive debut in the CDL with an overall K/D of 1.10. He was named to the Scuf Gaming Team of the Week during the Minnesota Home Series in July.
Zer0 makes his return to the Ravens after his release in April. He initially started the 2020 Call of Duty League season with the New York Subliners and found himself benched for Mack in February. Despite the uncertainty of whether Zer0 would find himself back in a starting position, it was announced in May 2020 that he was joining the Royal Ravens in place of Jurd. The roster consisting of Zer0, Dylan, Wuskin, Skrapz, and Seany saw consistent middle-of-the-pack placements and came in fourth at the 2020 Call of Duty League Championship.
Zer0 faced visa issues throughout the Cold War season, however, and was unable to fly back to the U.S. before the season commenced. He played in the Call of Duty League Kickoff Classic for London alongside his teammates residing in the U.S. but was benched shortly after due to visa issues. This resulted in Zer0 competing in the 2021 Call of Duty Challengers season instead.
Nastie was named one of the substitutes for London during the Modern Warfare season but he never actually played in the CDL. He competed alongside Weeman, Nolson, Linney, and MadCat for the Call of Duty Challengers Dallas Open 2020. Despite a second-place finish, it was rumored that the academy team had been liquidated and the roster competed under the name “connect 4.” Nastie is one of just a few European Challengers players who had consistent tournament placements over the last two seasons and finally can show his potential against some of the veterans in competitive Call of Duty.
Gismo enters the Call of Duty League as a rookie alongside Nastie. He notably joined Team Singularity during the end of the Modern Warfare season. With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in both Challengers and the CDL going online indefinitely, the organization flew its roster to Dallas to complete the season. With their consistent high placements, they ended their season with a second-place finish in the Call of Duty Challengers North America Finals.
During Cold War, Gismo was notably a part of the “Orgless” roster in European Challengers, which was known for their back-to-back tournament victories in June and winning the Call of Duty Challengers European Finals 2021.
With London’s 2022 team averaging an age of 21, this young roster will be looking to break out from the middle of the standings and claim their first tournament title when the next season begins.
