The Return of Prophecy - Exclusive Interview with Oli Sellors and XLNC

(Originally published on 360Icons on 4.12.13)

On the 2^nd December an announcement was made by Oli Sellors (Proph Acid), Team Boss of Prophecy, that they would be restarting as an active CoD Esports team in the very near future.

They have been out of the limelight for quite a while now, after disbanding shortly after i49, with players leaving for new ventures. Oli thought this was an opportune time to give the organisation a break from competitive gaming, and so Prophecy faded into the background, well at least the team did, as let’s face it, Oli is one of the most recognisable faces in CoD esports, and he remained active at events and monitoring the whole scene.

After reviewing the recent Ghosts events at MLG and i50, Oli decided that it was about time that Prophecy was brought back, and the announcement was made along with the news that Nick Ward aka Proph XLNC would be on board as team captain and the first team member to be announced.

I caught up with both XLNC and Oli, and here is what both had to say on the announcement, starting with XLNC:

“Oli recently approached me in that he wanted to rebuild Proph in 2014, which I thought would be the perfect opportunity for me to get back into the swing of things. I've recently been taking a break from cod as I’ll be away to Brazil this month (for 5 weeks) so I thought it'd be best to try arrange something after I get back; as it wouldn't be fair on a team if I was to join them for a few weeks only for me to then go on a lengthy break.

 It's also great to see Oli continuing the Proph brand too - with or without me. He's put far too much effort into Proph for it to go to waste and I'm glad he's come to realise that. With all this being said, hopefully we can arrange a line-up that can challenge the best teams this game has to offer by the end of January (at the very latest). Be sure to follow @ProphecyTeam for updates on our squad! #prophReturn”

Following on from that, Oli had this statement on the return of his team:

“Going back to after Gfinity 1, the team made a huge decision to release both Swanny and Jake, in which I supported. We quickly made it clear we wanted MadCat and Jurd, who at the time were the best two EU players on the game, and we thought it was exactly what we needed. Then came EGL10 where we fell short of our expectations placing 5th (something I wasn't too fussed about). Jurd went back to Epsilon after, just before i49 and we weren't sure what to do from then, and then even after winning i49 MadCat left to return to Epsilon. In reality this upset me as one of the main things I wanted with Proph was stability, and minimal change is our roster throughout the year. When we had no chance to attend Gfinity 2 or ESWC I said to Gunshy and XLNC that would be it from Proph for Black Ops 2, as I didn't want to force anymore rosters that we weren't comfortable with.

Since then we lost Gunshy to TCM, which he came to me with the news before anything went public. I was happy for him that he got to attend MLG Columbus and Clash of the Titans as he deserves it, but majorly gutted I'd lost the main player I started Proph with, and probably my best friend in gaming. It got me having doubts of whether I wanted to continue on doing what I was doing, as I gave a nice job to do this full time, so it was something I instantly lost out on, but for so long I'd been happy doing Proph and working with the team I had.

This weekend watching i50 gave me the spark I needed to know that I will be 100% carrying on the Proph name. I created Proph to put the EU/UK scene on the global map, to give the EU someone they could support and get attached to like the US scene has. Not only that, I wanted to make sure individuals received the fanbase and profiles they deserved. I still have on going business talks in the background to make Proph even bigger than it already is, but we will be coming back stronger whatever happens!

 Prophecy is grateful to work with some of the best in the business, and companies who provide us with the support we need to be the very best. We look forward to our continued partnerships with Red Bull UK, ASTRO Gaming, SCUF Gaming, Philips Monitors and GamerGrip. Look out for some possible new partnerships on the horizon in the near future to.

Follow myself @prophAcid on twitter to find out more on Proph as the news unfolds! #prophReturn #prophLife”

So it would appear that the EU scene has got back one of its biggest names, both in terms of teams and a personality! I believe that a strong Prophecy team will only be good for the EU scene, and will help take the fight to the NA contingent!

Good luck to Oli, XLNC and whoever ends up on the team, and one thing’s for sure, it’ll be an entertaining and interesting ride!

Let me know your thoughts people, and feel free to get in touch -
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Old_GrumpyGamer
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Peas out chaps! 
Neil