London Royal Ravens Re-Add PaulEhx As A Temporary Substitute

The Call of Duty League franchise London Royal Ravens re-added Paul “PaulEhx” Avila to replace Joey “Gismo” Owen ahead of CDL Major 2. The London squad announced the news on Wednesday, March 6, unveiling that the change is only temporary.

As announced by London Royal Ravens, the team will continue with PaulEhx, who will take over for Gismo. The announcement comes after London Royal Ravens got eliminated from the CDL Major 1 when Gismo revealed that he is not feeling 100%.

As stated by the 20-year-old, one of his family members go diagnosed with cancer, while his younger brother was also dealing with health issues over the last two weeks. As a result, he felt like he needed to take some time away from competing.

“I need to catch a break, a family member gets diagnosed with cancer, little brother collapsed and had a fit, and I’m literally throwing up blood (have been for the last two weeks). My head just isn’t in the game atm so hopefully, come stage 2, my luck changes,” said Gismo.

To fill in the vacant spot, Royal Ravens added PaulEhx, who will return to the London outfit a month away. However, PaulEhx joins only as a temporary substitute and will play for London Royal Ravens against the New York Subliners and Los Angeles Thieves.

After that, Gismo is expected to return just in time for London’s second week matched in the CDL Major 2 qualifiers against Paris Legion and Atlanta FaZe on March 18 and 19.

PaulEhx is a well-known name in the CoD esports scene, having begun his esports career in October 2018 with C2C Gaming. He has since played for several prominent CoD teams, including Atlanta FaZe Academy.

Albeit he has throughout his career mainly served as a substitute and needed nearly two years to find a home at WestR, who he joined in November 2022. With WestR, PaulEhx won several CoD Challenger Cups and reached the final of CoD Challengers 2021 Elite NA Stage 1.

His success in the lower division of CoD esports scene earned PaulEhx a spot in the big boy league when he got picked by London Royal Ravens in March 2021.

Unfortunately, his stint with the Royal Ravens was rather short-lived, and he got removed from the team after the London squad finished the 2021 CDL season in 10th place. PaulEhx has since played for some lesser teams and eventually landed in Team WaR ahead of the 2022 season.

With the squad, PaulEhx got off to a strong start and placed second in the CDC North America 2022 Cup #5 in February. And even though Team WaR couldn’t achieve much since, PaulEhx has done well enough in the Challengers league to get called up to the CDL roster.

Ahead of the 2022 CDL season, Londo Royal Ravens completely rebuilt its roster by adding three new players in Gismo, Byrton “Nastie” Plumridge and Teri “Zer0” Morris, who teamed up with Marcus “Afro” Reid as the only remaining player from 2021.

Although the expectations on the new-look roster were low, London Royal Ravens did not hesitate to prove all the doubters wrong. The team placed second in the CDL Major 1 qualifiers and produced a deep run in the opening Major of the season.

In the CDL Major 1, London Royal Ravens defeated Los Angeles Guerrillas and the 2021 CDL Champs finalists Toronto Ultra. And even though they proved no match for the eventual finalists in OpTic Chicago and Atlanta FaZe, Royal Ravens showed enough to claim a bronze medal.

With that, the London outfit sits in third place in the season standings, with a 6-3 record and 80 CDL points. They’re just 15 points behind OpTic Texas in second and 20 clear of LA Thieves, who occupy fourth place.

Their next match is slated for Friday, March 11, when London Royal Ravens clash with the New York Subliners for the first time of the season.