The London Royal Ravens have swept the Los Angeles Guerrillas to secure their first CDL win of the season.
London Royal Ravens sweep Los Angeles Guerrillas
The LA Guerillas were 2-3 during Stage 1 groups, as opposed to London Royal Raven’s abysmal 0-5 performance. Map one saw both teams face off on Apocalypse Hardpoint, a new map in the competitive rotation. A fantastic 33/19 performance from the substitute Zach “Zed” Denyer pushed the tied game in London’s favor, who were able to secure the map 250-189.
In map two, Miami Search and Destroy, it was the rookie Paul “PaulEhx” Avila that stepped up for the team alongside Sean “Seany” O’Connor. PaulEhx went 8/4, while Seany went 7/3 to close out the map with a 6-2 victory over the Guerrillas. Checkmate Control went to a game five after the Guerrillas answered London in back-to-back attacking rounds. Both teams were playing their hearts out, but in the end, London had the composure. Another stellar performance from Seany helped London secure both points and gave them the strength to pull out the fifth round of Control. With their win on Checkmate, the London Royal Ravens secured their first victory of the season with a 3-0 sweep against LA.
London finally finding their grove after roster changes
In Stage 1 London was unable to secure a win in the group stage and had to add a substitute for Alex “Alexx” Carpenter before the Major. Zed stepped in for Alexx–who had to go back to Europe due to family issues–which hindered London’s play. No one would have expected the Royal Ravens to win with a substitute player at the tournament. However, they were able to force Toronto Ultra to a game five in the first game of the Lower Bracket.
For Stage 2, London replaced Christopher “Parasite” Duarte with WestR member PaulEhx. Parasite had been holding his own with the Royal Ravens but overall did not perform up to standards. PaulEhx was brought in from the Challenger series to hopefully turn things around, something that paid off against the LA Guerrillas.
