Call of Duty: Red Reserve Announces New Call of Duty Lineup

This article is part of our Call of Duty series.

To say this lineup could be one of the best teams in the world is an understatement.

The announcement comes only a month after Rated and Joee left Red Reserve at the end of the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare season. However, Rated was quick to gather the best of the European free agents in his short month off. In re-joining Red Reserve, Rated had this to say, "I'm very happy to be resigning with Red Reserve. After a very disappointing previous year I owe it to Patrik (owner of Red Reserve) to get the results he deserves, he is one of the very few owners that wants to win just as badly as the team and it is a pleasure to work with."

Rated isn't wrong. Simply put, last season was a disappointment for Red Reserve. Despite being considered one of the top talents in the scene, Red Reserve failed to enter into the playoffs at both Stage 2 and the CWL World Championships solely due to Splyce being a gatekeeper. It was a similar story for Jossh on Epsilon eSports when Splyce smashed them at CWL Birmingham and the 2017 CWL Championships. To add insult to injury, Rated, Joee and Joshh all have deep grudges against Splyce.

The three players were former members of Splyce, even taking the organization to second place at the 2016 CWL World Championships when they teamed with Ben "Bance" Bance. But in the Infinite Warfare season, Rated, Joee and Joshh were all dropped before Splyce went on to dominate the European region thanks to Zer0 and his excellent gunplay. Splyce would even go on to win Stage 1 and become the first European team to win an international tournament, an event where Zer0 was named Splyce's MVP.
Two weeks after Infinite Warfare ends, Splyce drops Zer0.

Rated briefly leaving Red Reserve turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He and Joee were able to gather the best in the region thanks to some obscene timing, grabbing Zer0 just as he dropped from Splyce and Joshh as he was booted from Epsilon eSports. Zer0 is likely furious at Splyce now, going from their MVP to the first person from the team to be dropped. In a way, Red Reserve has now become the "Spurned Lovers Club of Splyce".

More than that, everyone has something to prove. Outside of Zer0, who won Stage 1 with Splyce, these players have yet to win an international tournament despite nearly winning it in 2016. Zer0, on the other hand, went from one of the best slayers in the world to a shaky shot under Splyce. After having a painfully slow Stage 2 performance, he's more than likely eager to prove his the best gunner in Europe once again.

The new lineup also delivers the most "American-style" European team. A profound problem for the European CoD scene has been their reluctance in taking fights. For most of the Infinite Warfare season, Europe has played for picks, trying to find that one kill to put the odds in their favor before fighting. Red Reserve will be far more aggressive than their peers thanks to now having two of the top slayers in Europe. Red Reserve's playstyle will likely mirror Team EnVyUs' infamous strategy of consistent team slaying and steady map control. This will give them an edge in the coming Call of Duty: World War II season where map control will be massively important with both infinite running and jetpacks getting the axe.

However, a single question clouds this new Red Reserve's future: How will this team play together? Joshh is infamous for being a difficult player to work with. He butted heads constantly with Ben "Bance" Bance during his time on Splyce and was very controlling while leading Epsilon eSports. Meanwhile, Rated is a hot-headed and outspoken personality. He has a heated rivalry with eUnited's James "Clayster" Eubanks and has been known to tilt easily, often taking to Twitter to publicly voice his grievances. While both Rated and Joshh have calmed down since their tumultuous season on Splyce, how these two will work together will determine the future of Red Reserve. If this lineup can listen to each other and work together they can become one of the best in the world.

As Rated eloquently said in his statement, "I can't wait for this game to drop so the team and I can get our heads down and fulfill the potential we have."