Doug “Censor” Martin, Call of Duty veteran player and YouTube personality, has joined UK esports org the Lightning Pandas.
Ahead of the fourth event of the Call of Duty World League season, CWL Birmingham (which takes place at Insomnia62 later this month), Censor joins the Lightning Pandas in place of Nicholas “Proto” Maldonado, who’s being benched by the organisation ‘until further notice’.
The new Lightning Pandas roster is as follows:
- Jevon ‘Goonjar’ Gooljar-Lim
- Mathew ‘Royalty’ Faithfull
- John ‘Xotic’ Bruno
- Doug ‘Censor’ Martin
Doug “Censor” Martin said: “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity presented to me by the Lightning Pandas and the team. It’s time to get to work.”
Currently, the Canadian-based team maintain the highest-rated seed outside of the CWL Pro League, and are the reigning Canadian National Circuit champions after going undefeated in stage one.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity presented to me by the Lightning Pandas and the team. It’s time to get to work.”
Doug “Censor” Martin
“Following our recent top 12 performance at CWL Atlanta, the Call of Duty roster decided a change was needed in order to continue to improve and offer the best performance at upcoming CWL events,” said Rahul Uppal, esports manager at Kairos Media, which owns the Lightning Pandas.
“After reviewing our options as a team, we identified Doug as the best option and we’re delighted to welcome him to the Lightning Pandas.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nicholas for his time with the organisation and wish him the best for the future.”
The new roster will make their competitive debut within Stage 2 of the Canadian CWL National Circuit later this week.
At the upcoming CWL Birmingham event, the team will be aiming to improve upon the top 12 finish at CWL Atlanta, before aiming to qualify for the CWL Pro League and CoD Champs later this year.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
