London Lose but Uli Performs in Royal Ravens Debut
On March 24, the London Royal Ravens brought Challengers player Ulisses “Uli” Rios into their Call of Duty League starting lineup. Uli is no stranger to success in the amateur scene, winning the Challengers Cup #5, Boston Open and Elite Stage 2 Playoffs in the last two months.
His debut match saw him take on the LA Thieves, and the Ravens didn’t get off to a hot start. A 250-101 Mercado Hardpoint defeat saw the London Royal Ravens instantly head into the series in a 1-0 deficit, but Uli showed glimpses of excellence in this map one. Uli had the joint highest non-traded kills on his team at 11 and the joint highest hill time too. This shows that Uli has fit into the role that the Ravens want him to, but playing the Thieves is always going to be hard. However, this map one performance from the squad could also be a sign of their disjointed comms that we’ve seen previously throughout the year.
There’s not much to say about the map two Embassy Search and Destroy. The LA Thieves dominated, taking the map in a 6-0 victory, with Drazah putting up a flawless K/D with 11k/0d, seeing them take a 2-0 lead in the series. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Uli as he showed initiative by getting in gunfights and ending the map with 5 kills, the joint highest on the Ravens. Uli matched the performance of his SMG duo Asim, showing that he has the ability to perform in the Call of Duty League and, with some more reps and chemistry with the team, could become a dangerous player.
Unfortunately for the Ravens and Uli, this series was over in three. The LA Thieves took a 3-0 El Asilo Control win to sweep the series and see the London Royal Ravens start Major 4 Qualifiers with an 0-1 record. However, Uli continued to hang with his Ravens teammates. He had the tied highest kills on the team in this map three, and looking at the mapset of this series, the London Royal Ravens were yet to win on Embassy Search and Destroy and El Asilo Control this season, so it is no surprise that this was a tough debut series for Uli. Regardless of the result, Uli showed that he belongs in the Call of Duty League, and that he has the ability to perform at the top level.
The London Royal Ravens return to action on Sunday, April 2, as they take on OpTic Texas. They’ll be looking to improve on this result here and increase their chemistry as a team.
