Los Angeles Thieves defeat New York Subliners to claim first CDL Championship

The Los Angeles Thieves become Call of Duty League champions for the very first time since their inception, claiming the New York Major championship after knocking off the New York Subliners in 5–3 fashion to take the best of nine Grand Finals.

After a stormy 2021 season, which saw numerous roster changes, the Los Angeles Thieves played the long game in 2022. This season had not gone the way the players or management had hoped and Los Angeles had moments where they could have taken the easy route and made a mid-season adjustment like so many teams in the CDL had. But the Thieves’ decision to stick with their original roster of Octane, Kenny, Envoy, and Drazah paid massive dividends in the season’s last major. 

New York came out swinging in their hometown finals series, clinching the first two maps, Bocage Hardpoint and Desert Siege Search and Destroy. After the Subliners defeated the Los Angeles Thieves 3–1, there could have been a sense of deja vu from Los Angeles. But to their credit, they fought back to keep the series within reach, taking the Berlin Control and Hardpoint to tie the series at two maps apiece. But the Subliners, led by the winningest player in CoD history, Crimsix, would not go quietly. 

In the series’ fifth map, Bocage Search and Destroy, New York held a 5–4 lead and were one round from taking a 3–2 series lead. In a two-vs-three situation, L.A.’s Envoy had made his way into the second story of the building known by competitive players as ‘Grandma’s House.’ He had a beat on both PaulEhx and Crimsix but the game glitched, not allowing Envoy to shoot his gun. PaulEhx found the easy kill, which left Octane in a one-vs-three before HyDra ended the round and game. 

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This was a tricky situation because there are not rules within CDL ruleset to allow for a round replay for a glitch within the game, which meant the Thieves would have to accept the loss. But, to their credit, Los Angeles Thieves did not let the unfortunate outcome affect their gameplay the rest of the way. They came out swinging in the Gavutu Control, winning the map 3–1 and washing the bad taste from the previous map out with a dominant performance. After L.A. rebounded with the swift victory on Gavutu Control, there was a shift in the series.

Los Angeles Thieves for the CDL Championship?

Now the Los Angeles Thieves will carry loads of momentum into next month’s CDL Championship, playing their best Call of Duty of the season at the perfect time. This team always had too much talent to underachieve and seeing what they are capable of must be a scary sight for the rest of the CDL. The roster construction of the Thieves received a lot of criticism after shortcomings earlier this season, but now they might just have the team to win a world championship.

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Nadeshot, former pro player and massively popular content creator, founded the Los Angeles Thieves a long time ago and had not won a CoD championship since 2019, the final year of the CoD World League. Both Kenny and Octane were a part of the team that won the championship at CWL Anaheim in June that year and it was only fitting that the two veterans were the pillars of the team that returned the Thieves to glory.