Last week, the London Royal Ravens announced their all-English Call of Duty League roster for the 2022 season, featuring returning players Trei ‘Zer0’ Morris and Byron ‘Nastie’ Plumridge, as well as a newcomer to the Ravens, Joey ‘Gismo’ Owen, and existing player Marcus ‘Afro’ Reid.
Having been plagued with visa issues in the past, Zer0 has now acquired a visa and is able to play with the team in the US. But after a difficult 2021 regular season where the Ravens finished 10th out of 12th, can ReKTGlobal’s franchise team push on in 2022 with this new roster? Dom Sacco asks Zer0 for his thoughts in this interview.
Congratulations on rejoining the Ravens! How does it feel to be with the organisation again?
It feels great to compete for the only UK-based organisation in the CDL for the second time round, it was supposed to be the third but it didn’t turn out that way, so I’m very happy to rejoin them and do well with them again.
You’ve been the victim of visa issues in the past – have these been all sorted now and are you able to play with the team in the US?
COVID hit me and the Ravens hard last year and caused them to have a tough year, so now that I have acquired my visa I’m here to turn it around like I did in the Modern Warfare season.
What are your personal goals with the Ravens this time around? How well do you think you guys can do in 2022?
The personal goal is always to win, but to add to it differently this year it’s to help my teammates that are newer to the League system and being away from family. I want to help them become better and just to genuinely help them the best I can, whilst winning of course.
The team I have now has some of the best talent I’ve ever seen, so I believe we will do extremely well in the 2022 season – and we will only be focusing on winning.
“It’s been a while since I last played here, but it’s the same thing as always with UK teams: we always do really well and sometimes fail right at the end. So we’ve just got to work harder so that doesn’t happen. We’ll only be focused on winning.”
Zer0, London Royal Ravens
What are your initial/general thoughts on Vanguard and how it compares to past versions of CoD?
Vanguard has mixed opinions from myself but nothing that can’t be sorted. I love the gunplay, it has some of the best gunplay COD has ever had, they tried something new this year so we will have to see how it plays out come the time the season starts.
You have a lot of experience on UK rosters in the past. What do you think of the current state of UK talent in CoD esports?
The talent in the UK seems to grow a lot each year, there’s a lot less talent coming up at the moment just due to the SnD (Search and Destroy) scene not really being here, that’s where you would find a lot of the younger talent. But there are still a lot of players in the UK that could easily get a league spot.
What do you think of your current teammates in Afro, Gismo and Nastie?
This is one of, if not the most talented roster I’ve had, it’s definitely got some of the funniest individuals on it, it’s nice to be able to team with three people with the same goals in mind with no distractions.
They are mature for their age as well, so when it comes down to business, they know what to do.
What have you learnt since playing for the Ravens last time and how would you like to do things differently this time around?
It’s been a while since I last played here, but it’s the same thing as always with UK teams, we always do really well and sometimes fail right at the end, so we’ve just got to work harder so that doesn’t happen.
What’s it like working with Odee, a UK esports veteran who’s competed in the past himself and is now in a management role?
Odee is a character, good guy and wants the best for his players so it’s always a pleasure to play here.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Shoutout to the best coach in the world: Dominate. It’s my fourth year with him as a coach so hopefully we can win something.
Thanks Zer0 and good luck in the 2022 CoD League.
You can follow Zer0 and the Royal Ravens on Twitter here
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.
