CoD: LA Thieves beat Atlanta FaZe 5-2 in CDL Championship 2022
The LA Thieves have taken the title of CDL world champion as well as the tournament’s grand prize of $1,200,000 after defeating the Atlanta FaZe 5-2 in a tense finale on Sunday.
The LA Thieves and the Atlanta FaZe have had a fierce rivalry throughout the season, clashing a total of six times. Before the grand finals, the record between the two teams was 3-3. Then, during the CDL Championship 2022, the teams faced off in the Upper Bracket, with the LA Thieves prevailing over FaZe 3-1.
The Thieves did not start as the dominant force in the Call of Duty Vanguard scene. Their early season performance was underwhelming, failing to place well at major tournaments and not working together very well. The team was reasonably good as it could consistently beat lower-end teams but couldn’t compete against the top ones.
However, during the Major 4, the LA Thieves seemed to hit their stride and caused an upset against the New York Subliners. Since then, the team has been performing exceptionally well with a strong tournament track record. The team went from consistently placing in the bottom half of tournaments to landing fourth place in the Call of Duty League 2022: Stage 3 Major and a second-place finish at the Call of Duty League 2022: Pro-Am Classic.
The Atlanta FaZe, meanwhile, has been consistently strong throughout the 2022 season, with a global win rate of over 70 percent. While the global stats for the LA Thieves are much less impressive at around 55 percent, this includes the times before they took over as one of the top teams of the season.
The upcoming rematch during the grand finals placed a massive amount of pressure on each team as their reputation and a large prize pool were on the line. During the CDL Championship 2022, the LA Thieves made it to the grand finals without dropping a single series achieving a 75 percent win rate for the tournament.
Final results
The grand finals started very strong for the LA Thieves, having secured four quick wins against the Atlanta FaZe. However, FaZe refused to go out without a fight and bounced back, taking two maps and bringing the score 4-2 in favor of the Thieves.
With the LA Thieves on tournament point and FaZe riding the momentum of their win, the final match was a hard-fought, 11-round Search and Destroy on Tuscan, which the Thieves would ultimately win. Kenny “Kenny” Williams was voted the tournament MVP for his extremely strong performance throughout all the games.
The tournament earnings for each of the eight teams in the CDL Championship 2022 are as follows:
1st: LA Thieves – $1.2m
2nd: Atlanta FaZe – $650k
3rd: Seattle Surge – $320k
4th: OpTic Texas – $160k
5th: New York Subliners – $80k
6th: Toronto Ultra – $80k
7th: London Royal Ravens – $30k
8th: Boston Breach – $30k
The rivalry between the Atlanta FaZe and the LA Thieves is expected to continue in the 2023 season of the Call of Duty League, with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 as the tournament’s game, replacing Vanguard.
