UK Call of Duty League (CDL) franchise team, the London Royal Ravens, were active around Insomnia 69 today to interact with their fanbase.
We caught up with Michael ‘ODEE’ O’Dell, chief gaming officer at Ravens’ parent company Infinite Reality, and Ravens player, Trei ‘Zer0’ Morris. We caught up with them to discuss their appearance at i69, CDL and more. Here are some highlights plus the full vid.
What are your thoughts on the UK esports scene, and UK CoD in particular?
“I think it was a bit better back in the day, because events were still held in the US, but we still kinda got one or two in the UK. It’s harder right now to compete but I feel the reward is better with franchising.
Every single year there are a few UK people that break through and get to the CDL, and primarily they come to us or get a sub spot somewhere else. But me and Dom [head coach Dominate], we’ve been here three years, so I don’t really see us going anywhere. I’d say we breed UK talent when they come through, so I feel like that is a good thing for the UK scene; I’m not retiring, I’m still young in my opinion.”
Trei ‘Zero’ Morris
Do you have any fond memories of Insomnia?
“None of them have been good memories, no… I don’t mind the place. It’s just, when you come to compete and don’t win, there are never good memories. I do like coming to these conventions, it’s better to be here rather than competing here so I can actually see what’s going on.”
Trei ‘Zero’ Morris
“I’ve been to lots of i-series. The first one was i4 I think in 2000 or 2001. I’ve won lots of tournaments here, lost lots of tournaments here. We’re doing an activation with one of our partners, LG, a showmatch and a meet and greet.”
Michael ‘ODEE’ O’Dell
Do you feel as though franchising is good or bad for esports? Why?
“Stability is really important because in CDL for example, there are only 12 teams at the moment. Hopefully that will expand to whatever number and there will be more teams and a lot more European teams at some point so we can split NA and EU league.
But I’ve been part of good franchise leagues and I’ve been part of complete disasters like Championship Gaming Series which went horribly wrong.”
ODEE
London Royal Ravens Showmatches at i69
The London Royal Ravens also made an appearance today at Insomnia 69 (i69) to do meet and greets, as well as hosting showmatches featuring Ravens pro players Zer0, Nastie, Harry and Afro, as well as streamers Jukezy, lMAngelikaa and various fans.
The action in these games – such as Afro getting over 60 kills in a 3v3 hardpoint – made up for a slight delay at the start.
Afro played against Trei and managed to get a convincing win on Hotel Royal.
Nastie played against his old Atlas Lions teammate and Royal Ravens substitute, Harry, which became a very tightly contested game. Harry won despite a strong 10-kill streak start by Nastie on Eagle’s Nest.
Jukezy vs lMAngelikaa was an absolute whitewash, with IMAngelikaa and her team becoming part of the 100 point club (when a team loses in hardpoint so badly they fail to reach 100 points). But let’s not forget, it was a fun showmatch – and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.
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