London Royal Ravens upset previously-undefeated New York Subliners

London Royal Ravens defeated the New York Subliners 3-2 during the opening match of the Paris Legion home series on April 29.

The London Royal Ravens have been in a slump since the start of the Call of Duty League, despite several roster changes. However, they were able to come together in their third game of Stage 3 groups to beat the previously undefeated New York Subliners. London recently added WestR Challengers player Alex “Zaptius” Bonilla in place of Thomas “Dylan” Henderson. Despite the recent change, the Royal Ravens started out 0-2 last weekend during Stage 3.

New York Subliners, on the other hand, were coming off a nail-biting victory over the Atlanta FaZe. In their match against London, the Subliners looked like a completely different team. Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez was still a shining light for the team, dropping a 1.09 KD overall in the series alongside James “Clayster” Eubanks’ 1.13. Both Obaid “Asim” Asim and Makenzie “Mack” Kelley struggled against the Royal Ravens, dropping a 0.81 and 0.88 KD respectively.

New York Subliners choke in Search and Destroy against London

Moscow Hardpoint started the best-of-three off in favor of the New York Subliners. They took the game 250-181. London stayed even with New York at the start but slowly began to fall on the back foot as the game progressed. Everyone outside of Paul “PaulEhx” Avila had a poor performance on the first map, with the team dropping a 0.7 KD or lower.

Express Search and Destroy swung the match in the Royal Raven’s favor. Their whole team dropped a 1.5 KD or higher. PaulEhx went huge for the team after he went 6/2 with a 3.0 KD to finish the map. Express went in the favor of London 6-2 against New York, who looked lost on the map.

Signs of life in Stage III from @RoyalRavens, defeating @Subliners 3-2!#LRR | #CDL2021 pic.twitter.com/KXu4suACJ9

— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 29, 2021

Checkmate Control continued to swing things in the favor of the Royal Ravens. London was able to take the map with a clean 3-0 to take the lead 2-1 in the best of three series. However, like the first Hardpoint, New York took control back of the game on the Garrison Hardpoint. London attempted to hold on but ultimately lost 250-192 in favor of the Subliners to tie the series up 2-2.

Raid Search and Destroy was the final game of the series to determine who would come out victorious. New York was able to get a few more rounds this time around in comparison to the Express S&D. However,  HyDra and Mack couldn’t anything going during the last map of the series. Both of New York’s star players dropped a 0.5 KD in the final round to lose the game 6-4 in favor of London.