Top 20 Players of MW3: #15 Gwinn

The #15 player of the Modern Warfare 3 season brought to you by House Bet is the winner of the CDL’s Rookie of the Year, Isaiah “Gwinn” Gwinn.

After not getting a shot on the Seattle Surge roster last season, Gwinn came out with the fire for the Carolina Royal Ravens in Modern Warfare 3. Gwinn won the Challengers Finals in MW2, showing that he was one of the most talented prospects heading into the offseason. The Royal Ravens jumped on the opportunity & Gwinn wouldn’t disappoint. Leading the team in multiple categories, including overall KD (1.07), Slayer Rating (81.5), Respawn KD (1.08), and more, showed he was well worth the risk.

Season Review

During the offseason, the Royal Ravens decided to change their branding heading into the new year. The franchise moved from London to Carolina, where their teams have been located in previous seasons. With the new city came a brand new starting roster. The organization took a unique route, signing two veteran ARs in James “Clayster” Eubanks and Adam “GodRx” Brown. To go with them were two rookies Gwinn and José “ReeaL” Castilla. It was a high-risk, high-reward lineup.

📸 Photo by @CODLeague

The season would start off rocky, as ReeaL suffered from visa issues, which meant the team had to find a substitute early in the season. After playing some matches from Canada on high ping, the Royal Ravens would bring in Thomas “TJHaly” Haly to play in his position. That wouldn’t be the only issue, as GodRx would struggle early, leading to the team looking for a replacement heading into the major. Gwinn & Co would end the qualifier struggling to a 1-6 record, forcing them to start in the Lower Bracket at Major 1.

With the team knowing that they needed one more change, they’d bench GodRx in favor of Tyler “FeLo” Johnson. This would give them the first Major to experiment for the rest of the season. They’d show promise instantly, taking down New York Subliners 3-1 in their opening match. It shocked the League but showed that they were making the correct moves. Even though they’d fall 2-3 to Seattle, there was optimism going into Stage 2.

📸 Photo by @CODLeague

Expectations were higher for the second qualifier after beating New York at Major 1. The team would have two solid wins over LAG (3-1) and Seattle (3-1) but would still finish just 2-5. As will be the story over the entire year, online play would be their weakness until the team moved in together. Starting the Major in the Lower Bracket, Carolina would yet again string together multiple good performances. The run would start with a 3-0 win over Miami before taking down Las Vegas in a 5-map thriller. Unfortunately, the Subliners would get their revenge. The Royal Ravens would fall 0-3 to finish Top 6, which earned them 30 crucial CDL points.

Now, with 75 CDL points, the Royal Ravens would need to build off of the momentum they had on LAN. Finally, the team would find a little bit more success in the qualifiers. Taking down both New York 3-2 and Minnesota 3-1 would lead to a 3-4 finish. This was good enough to secure the 6th seed and their first Upper Bracket start of the season. They’d draw OpTic Texas in the first round. Behind a good performance, they were able to fight but ultimately lost 1-3. Gwinn & Co would bounce back against the LA Guerrillas before falling to Seattle Surge to finish Top 8 at the LAN.

📸 Photo by @Spribs_

As the team continued to show that they were a Top 8 team on LAN, online was their Achilles heel, holding them back in the season standings. If they wished to qualify for the Champs, they needed to perform throughout the entire stage. In heartbreaking fashion, the Royal Ravens would finish the qualifier 3-4 but be the first team the entire season to go 3-4 but have to start the Major in the Lower Bracket. With the tiebreakers, the 2-3 loss vs LA Guerrillas proved too costly. The Major would be over in a flash. With LAG upsetting Toronto, Carolina had to face a pissed-off Scrap & Co. in their opening match. The Ultra would take the series 3-0 to eliminate Carolina from both the Major & CoD Champs.

How good was Gwinn in 2024?

Hardpoint

Gwinn was at his best in respawns this season. In many cases, when rookies come in, they have the edge in SnD, but it takes time for them to develop in the respawns. Not for Gwinn, as he ended the year with a 1.08 KD in the mode. The rook added in per 10-minute stats of 22.7 kills (Team-High), 55.4 seconds of hill time, and 4108 damage. Out of the 6 Carolina players, Gwinn was the only to finish with a positive KD for the Royal Ravens in the mode. LAN didn’t cause him to miss a beat either, as the rookie finished with a 1.04 KD on LAN with 21.6 kills per 10 minutes.

Gwinn’s individual performance wasn’t enough to make Carolina a great Hardpoint team for the majority of the season. The squad finished with a 27-38 record, ranking 8th in the CDL, with an average margin of -12.7. They were good at breaking (26.6% Break Pct) but struggled with winning rotations (48%) far too much. They were 7-8 on LAN with some quality wins but struggled online with a 20-30 record. If they were able to figure out the online woes earlier in the season, the team would’ve ranked higher at the end of the year.

Search & Destroy

The weakest mode of the season for Gwinn was easily Search & Destroy, but even then he got better as the season went along. The rookie ended with a 0.97 KD in the mode with 0.73 kills per round, 151.8 ADR, and an opening duel win percentage of 48.7%. He also managed to have 9 maps with double-digit kills, and in 78% of his maps, he finished with at or over 5 kills. With another season to develop in the mode, he’ll be a three-mode star on the SMG.

Carolina, as a team, had an up-and-down season in SND. They were 17-23 online but improved slightly to 5-6 on LAN. Overall, the Royal Ravens ended with a 22-29 record, ranking 9th in the League. Their faults were clear. On Defense, they ranked dead last in win percentage (47.5%, 105-116 record). In early-round fights, they struggled mightily. With a 48.7% opening duel win rate, that ranked 9th. Add in that they only converted 66.2% of the opening duel wins (12th in the CDL), and the places where improvement is needed are clear for next season.

Control

Much like Hardpoint, Gwinn thrived in Control this season. Gwinn finished the season with a 1.09 KD in Control, again being the only player on the roster with better than a 0.97 KD. The rookie also led the team in kills per 10 minutes (20.0), damage per 10 minutes (3883), attacking KD (1.09), and defending KD (1.08). With more help in this game mode, Gwinn will be a star next season.

A look ahead to Black Ops 6

There are big questions about what the Carolina Royal Ravens plan to do for next season. Gwinn is the main piece to the roster, while veterans TJHaly and FeLo played well this year. Clayster has already been dropped from the roster for the Esports World Cup in favor of Ben “Beans” McMellon. If the roster performs well at EWC, it simplies a lot of their plans going into next season.

📸 Photo by @MediabyIsiah

For Gwinn, going into a Treyarch title with a low time-to-kill, his skill should continue to shine in the Call of Duty League. In each interview, the rookie has touched on his will to continue to develop. He is already a great respawn SMG but will focus more on teamwork & SND play, he has the potential to battle for a Top 5 SMG player.

If the roster improvements work out, Gwinn & Co. will be gunning to qualify for the Champs next season and make their mark at the Majors.

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