Right before the recently concluded Call of Duty League Championship Weekend, Game Rant had the chance to talk to Sean, “Seany” O’Connor of the London Royal Ravens. We had already spoken to his twin teammates Wuskin and Skrapz earlier in the season, but since then the team had made an impressive run up from the bottom of the elimination bracket into the final four championship contenders. Seany himself has been responsible for some truly spectacular plays this season, so we were eager to get into the head of a bona fide Modern Warfare pro.
Seany was happy to discuss his favorite guns, weapons that he thinks are massively underrated in Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty‘s need for a ranked mode. We also talked over some of the ins and outs of this pro league season’s tumultuous events, some of the keys to making sure a team works well together, and much more. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
GR: Can you describe what it was like to lose your first match only to sweep through the elimination bracket into the final four?
S: Honestly, it was meant to be. 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. So, people must have thought I was just s***. It was a really good feeling coming to the biggest event and just telling them “shut up.”
Starting off against Toronto, we planned for three weeks to beat this team, and then we came in and won fourth map. It was a good spot to win, Zer0 was doing really well. We were in a good spot to go to our last map pick when Zer0 disconnected. When Zer0 disconnected, usually you’d hear raging and complaining from the twins and etc., but as soon as he disconnected, we knew we were not getting a replay. All of us, all four people left in the game, said “listen. We have to go even harder and win this, or else we’re in the losers bracket.” At that level, that little moment put a lot fight in the team.
We were actually all pretty pleased with how we handled it, and we went into the next few matches knowing we could do it. A lot of other people would have given up and just stopped playing, but we didn’t and we kept fighting 4 v 5. I feel like it did light a fire underneath us for the next three games, and like I said before, we ended up playing Paris- who is our nemesis. For some reason they always end up giving us a hard game. We knew if we beat this team we could go all the way. Then we beat Paris, and then we played New York. They were talking some s*** in scrims and practice, so we wanted to play New York. We beat them. The last team was Toronto, the team that we had gotten kicked off playing against, and obviously they were looking pretty good to be top four, so we got to tie a little bow on everything. It was just written, it was meant to be.
GR: You individually had a great play against the Subliners in which you basically soloed an entire round of Search and Destroy. What’s going through your head in a moment like that?
S: I don’t know how to describe it. I was just walking around my construction and just picking up people who were trying to get in. The only thing where it came down to decision making was in the 1 v 2, my teammate was calling out that if I got this kill I could plant. So I got the kill, got the plant, and then I just sat in the corner. I got pretty lucky when he smashed in through that front door. But let me tell you, when he came through that front door, I was sh****ing in the corner. If you watch the mini map, you can see my little arrow go back and forth like three times because I didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know where I was, but obviously I found him and it was a good clutch and we got the momentum swinging in our favor.
GR: What are the comms like during that?
S: I feel like in most teams it would be pretty quiet, but in our team as soon as someone dies, they want to talk. We have a lot of backseat gamers, and it must work, because our search and destroy is pretty good. I just hear little whispers, someone will just whisper in me ear like- “he’s over there, do this do that.” So instead of me having to think for it, they’re putting ideas in my head and I just pick which one I think is the best in that situation.
GR: CoD is a game where one player can go nuts, and people love to see that, but team play is how you win games. How do you guys balance letting players do their thing, while still keeping the team cohesive?
S: Interesting question because we had a lot of that this year with Dylan. As you know, Dylan came into this team, probably the biggest prospect from last year other than Simp. He had a lot of pressure to perform above everyone else, and in the past few months our main focus was to become more of a team with him. With Brad (Wuskin) being the slowest and Dylan being the fastest, we wanted to get that closer together. Obviously that took some time but it looks like it has worked. It’s helped my performance a lot, and now we really work as a team rather than five individuals.
GR: How do you get into the right mindset before a match?
S: What we all do is listen to the same song. It sounds pretty cringey, but listen- it’s essentially a house mix. I don’t know what happened, but every time before a game- a few months ago Skrapz said Sean, listen to this, and soon everyone was listening to it. Then we were all listening to this 30 minute house mix just vibing and getting gassed before a game. Other than that it’s just wake up and have a good breakfast.
GR: What would you do to improve professional play?
S: 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.
GR: What setup do you run when you’re not playing competitively?
S: Honestly I’m one of those people that when I play I still run the classes that I use when I compete. I use MP5 and M4. When everyone had BRUENs I was just using the M4. I just figured I might as well use the guns I’m gonna use, that made more sense to me.
GR: Is there a weapon you like just because it’s fun?
S: Sniper. Don’t get me wrong, Wuskin is the sniper of the team, that is never gonna change. The kid is unreal with it. If I had a chance I’d definitely be a sniper next year. If they came to me and said you’re gonna be our sniper I’d be so gassed. If I’m messing about in CoD I’ll use sniper.
GR: Do you think there are any overlooked weapons?
S: A lot of amateur players are using the RAM-7. Pro players never gave it a chance; I think they just wanted to keep the game M4/MP5. I reckon that RAM-7 is probably better than using three MP5s. That or the MP7. I think the MP7 could have been used, but for some reason CoD mentality is to use the same thing- if they’re using it, I should be using it. FaZe was using the MP7 for a while, and they were rinsing us with it, but everyone else stuck to the MP5 and eventually they went back to it. The mob mentality in CoD stops people from experimenting with guns. The M4 is definitely the best AR, but the SMG category definitely has a few that could be used and for some reason they don’t. It doesn’t make much sense but it’s the way it is.
GR: If you could take any gun into a match, regardless of the rules, what would you bring?
S: Tell you what- I’d take a shotgun. Search and Destroy, like Ghosts days. I know it’s not a skillful gun, but in Call of Duty: Ghosts you could bring a shotgun and it was one of the best Search and Destroy games there’s ever been. I wanted to just experiment and bring a shotgun and piss everyone off. I think all those guns should be in competitive, all those little- it makes it more exciting for me, and I think the fans would find it more exciting.
GR: What’s the most fun you’ve had in this game or in any other CoD game?
S: It’d have to be MW2 times. When I played MW2, I didn’t know anything about competitive, but as a kid, I played MW2 the most. It was great fun.
GR: There’s a lot of nostalgia in this community from MW2- is there anything you’d bring forward from that game to make this game better?
S: The ACR. If you brought that back I’d be gassed. If they brought back the exact same gun, the way it shot and everything… If that was in the game that would bring the nostalgia back for me.
GR: How are you going to feel if you come all the way through eliminations and take the top spot?
S: If we didn’t lose a bracket run from round one and took the top, you might not see me again. If you’d asked me that at the start of the season I’d blow it off. I’d just go out and have a good time, and I might not come back. That’s the best answer I can give you mate, because I don’t even know myself.
GR: What are you looking forward to most?
S: I’m looking forward to having a proper holiday. As players we don’t have much time off. This season there’s a decent break. Obviously champs is number one, but after that having a good break with some friends.
[End.]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone are available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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