The Los Angeles Thieves notched a massive victory at the Call of Duty League Major Four, taking down their rival Atlanta FaZe by a count of 3-1 and punching their ticket to the championship Sunday.
Los Angeles’ Drazah, who is one of the most outspoken players in the league, has never been shy about his disdain for FaZe. After Drazah helped the Thieves claim the 2022 CDL Championship last year, he let Atlanta know about it via two hand gestures at the conclusion of the series. There had been Twitter exchanges dating back to early 2022 with Drazah and Simp arguing over competitive integrity regarding smoke grenades during the Vanguard season and the trash talk has been amped up over the past year.
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The series kicked off on Hotel Hardpoint, where Los Angeles got off to a hot start. Behind great play from Octane and Kenny, the Thieves held a healthy lead after the map’s second hill. From there, though, it became a back-and-forth affair. Ultimately, though, FaZe turned it up a notch and closed the map out by a count of 250-229. Atlanta goes as its 2021 CDL MVP, Simp, goes, and he continued his run of great play thus far in Columbus. He led FaZe with 29 kills and was massive down the stretch in their victory.
The series then switched gears, heading to El Asilo for the series’ lone Search and Destroy. Shaking off the tight loss in Hardpoint, Los Angeles were in fantastic form throughout the SnD. Despite an aBeZy first blood in round one, L.A. overcame the four-vs-three disadvantage to win the first round. Thanks to a massive 11 kill performance from Drazah, L.A. never looked back in a massive 6-2 victory to tie the series at a map apiece.
The series returned to Hotel, this time for Control. Los Angeles continued their hot play, managing to win the first two rounds of the map. Atlanta did manage to snag a defensive round win to push it to 2-1, but the Thieves were determined to end it before it got to round five.
A quick four-down for L.A. turned into a quick capture of the B point, leaving A as the lone remaining point to capture for the map win. All four members of the Thieves stacked the point while Simp was the only FaZe player remotely close to the point. He was unable to make a play, and L.A. were just one map away from punching their ticket to the winner’s finals.
The series returned to Hardpoint, with Hydro playing host for the series’ fourth map. Just like the first Hardpoint of the series, this was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams taking turns in the lead through the beginning of the map. However, Los Angeles flipped a switch and turned on the heat. The killfeed lit up in Thieves’ colors throughout the rest of the map, and with a dominant second half, clinched a spot in the winner’s finals with the 250-178 victory. Drazah and Envoy combined for 64 kills in game four, and both made massive plays all over the map.
After the victory, Drazah was the first to let FaZe know his feelings, yelling across the intimate venue with his opponents just a few feet away. He also let his feelings be known on Twitter following the match, posting the following Tweet.
To the victors go the spoils, though, and Drazah and his Los Angeles teammates were dominant in the final three maps of the series. Drazah was especially impressive, dropping 88 kills and dealing more than 10,000 worth of damage, both of which were the most in the series. This matchup has turned into a legitimate rivalry which certainly helps with the storylines and drama that competitive CoD is known for.
Atlanta will now have to deal with a tough matchup against the Toronto Ultra if they want to climb back up to the grand finals. Toronto, who started this event in the loser’s bracket, are the defending champions after winning the CDL’s third major back in March. With the victory, Los Angeles advance to Sunday and will play the winner of the OpTic Texas vs. New York Subliners winner’s bracket matchup.
