Los Angeles Thieves Win Call of Duty League Championship

Los Angeles Thieves defeated the defending champions Atlanta FaZe in the Call of Duty League (CDL) Championship finals on Sunday, August 7, to claim the organization’s first CDL title. The Thieves won the series 5-2 and pocketed $1,200,000 in tournament winnings.

Los Angeles Thieves achieved what many believed was impossible on Sunday when they dethroned the two-time CDL champions Atlanta Faze with a dominant showing in the finals of the CDL Championship.

After nearly missing out on the playoffs due to inconsistent showings throughout the season, the Thieves found their stride in the playoffs and completed the miracle run with a handful of dominant victories.

Throughout the 2022 CDL season, the Los Angeles Thieves were known as a strong team that struggled to achieve anything meaningful. Although they had produced a couple of flashes of greatness, the Thieves weren’t regarded as a serious title contender until later in the season.

Los Angeles Thieves kicked off the season with a third-fourth place finish at the Kickoff Classic and CDL Major 1 qualifiers, but from there, their success was fairly limited. In the first Major of the year, the Thieves placed top-six and were even more disappointing in the second Major, placing 12th in the qualifiers and seventh-eight in CDL Major 2.

Los Angeles squad found some traction in the Pro-Am tournament in May, when they reached the finals, before returning to their old ways, struggling to win a single event. The Thieves placed eighth in CDL Major 3 qualifiers and fourth in the Major.

But despite their shaky performances throughout the year, Los Angeles Thieves found serious traction in the latter stages of the season. They placed fourth in CDL Major 4 qualifiers and won the final Major of the year, which earned them enough points to qualify for the CDL Championship as the third-seeded team.

Los Angeles Thieves entered CDL Championship as one of the underdogs, and they did not impress with their performance in the first round of the Champs, where they barely made it past Boston Breach (3-2). But from there, the Thieves looked like an entirely different beast.

In the second round of the CDL Championship, Los Angeles Thieves crushed one of the main candidates for the CDL title, OpTic Texas, with 3-0, which instantly earned them the tag of serious title contenders.

They doubled down on that with a dominant 3-1 victory against the defending champions Atlanta FaZe in the upper bracket finals, earning a spot in the CDL Championship finals.

In the grand finals, the Thieves met with FaZe, who eliminated Seattle Surge in the lower bracket finals and booked a spot in the organization’s third consecutive CDL finals. However, despite their status as the main favorites to claim the coveted trophy, Faze was no match for the high-flying Thieves.

Los Angeles Thieves kicked off the series with a dominant showing, taking the series lead with 250-187 on Gavutu Hardpoint. And they kept their wheel spinning on Berlin Search & Destroy, which proved to be just as one-sided as the first map of the finals.

Gavutu Control was a bit closer as FaZe pushed Los Angeles Thieves to round five, but it wasn’t enough, as the Thieves edged out a 3-2 victory and took a 3-0 series lead.

Things didn’t improve for FaZe on map four either, as they lost 212-250 on Truscan Hardpoint and were now just one more defeat away from a dreaded 0-5 loss.

With backs against the wall, FaZe found some momentum and crushed Thieves on Bocage Search & Destroy 6-1 to keep their comeback dreams alive. A reverse sweep suddenly seemed like a real possibility when FaZe took another map on Berlin Control, reducing the gap to 2-4.

But it was too late, too little for the defending champions, who couldn’t match Los Angeles Thieves on Tuscan Search & Destroy, where FaZe 5-6, proving unable to complete the reverse sweep.

Thanks to their phenomenal performance in the CDL Championship finals, Los Angeles Thieves claimed the organization’s first trophy and gave their CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, the CoD world championship title, which eluded him during his professional career.

Although the heartbreak FaZe had to suffer, the Atlanta squad remain the most successful CoD team in the world, having made the finals of each Call of Duty League season, winning two of them.