Right before the Call of Duty League Championship Weekend, Game Rant sat down with pro player Sean “Seany” O’Connor of the London Royal Ravens. Just a few days prior, we had shared an interview with the twin pros of the same team, Wuskin and Skrapz, but a lot has transpired between then and now. Since the interview with the London Royal Raven twins, the team was booted into the elimination bracket after their teammate, Zer0, was disconnected mid-game in their first match against the Toronto Ultra. However, that wasn’t enough to keep the team down, and they have managed to claw their way back out of eliminations to beat Toronto and make it into the final four.
Our first question for Seany was how exactly it felt to go from such a crushing defeat to suddenly being one of the top teams contending for this year’s Call of Duty championship throne. He explained that the Ravens had prepared for weeks to beat the Ultra in their first match-up, but once Zer0 was disconnected, they knew they wouldn’t get another chance. “…that little moment put a lot fight in the team… I feel like it did light a fire underneath us for the next three games.” For Seany, though, there was also a personal element to the next three elimination games.
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You couldn’t have written it any better. For me personally, the franchises that we beat all turned me down at the start of the year. Paris turned me down twice, so I wanted to get a little dig at them. New York kinda turned me down, and Toronto- I have a lot of friends in Toronto and they still turned me down. It was a really good feeling coming to the biggest event and just telling them “shut up.”
Seany clearly has a lot of experience with the ins and outs of Modern Warfare, and he has emerged as a star player for the Royal Ravens as the season has progressed. After battling his way up through eliminations, we wanted to know how Seany would improve Modern Warfare for pro and casual players if he had the chance- excluding getting rid of connection issues like the one that booted his teammate, of course. While various pro and casual players have complained about issues like the spawns and maps in Modern Warfare, Seany took a different approach.
I would highly suggest league play from the start…. Even as pros, we used to all play that. In Call of Duty WWII‘s ranked play system, we’d all play against each other. A few pros came through from that experience. People come up through these ranked play systems, so I feel like it has to be in the game next year. For pros to get better and for amateurs to get more experience, it’s just a big benefit and there’s no negative towards it.
One of the major laments that players have had in this year’s Modern Warfare is the lack of a ranked system and the implementation of skill-based matchmaking even in casual game modes. The major benefits of ranked modes in shooters like Modern Warfare is that they allow for a separation between casual play and a more competitive approach, letting players tackle the game in whatever way they feel like at the time. As Seany pointed out too, it provides great experience for players hoping to hone their skills in a competitive setting.
Seany’s own teammates Wuskin and Skrapz both pointed out that. for now, Warzone may be the best way for casual players to experience something like the rush of high-level competitive play. Seany himself also expressed that at the start of Modern Warfare, one of the major features that kept him hooked was Warzone‘s battle royale. While Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War is rumored to keep skill-based matchmaking, perhaps one way it could get a leg up on Modern Warfare would be to include a ranked mode as Seany suggests.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone are available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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