The Atlanta FaZe are again on high of the Name of Obligation League world after taking down the Los Angeles Thieves on Feb. 5 within the grand finals of Major Two in Boston. And for Atlanta’s core trio of Simp, aBeZy, and Cellium, this championship win had a little bit extra that means to it after what transpired on the finish of the final CoD season.
Although this was FaZe’s first championship since CoD Champs 2021, that doesn’t imply that they had a foul season in 2022—they simply got here in second quite a bit.
In actual fact, on the 4 Majors and Champs final 12 months, FaZe had 4 second-place finishes and one third-place displaying. That’s a stable 12 months of labor for many groups, however possibly not within the eyes of followers who grew to count on FaZe to win all the things.
However, FaZe proved any doubters fallacious this weekend by hoisting their first trophy because the finish of the Black Ops Chilly Conflict season. And the Major Two MVP, Simp, summed up how the victory felt in a single phrase: wonderful.
“With the ability to show that we will nonetheless win at the least since Chilly Conflict simply feels wonderful as a result of having an entire 12 months of Vanguard the place it felt like we may catch a dub once we received to the finals and we simply by no means did kinda sucked,” Simp informed Dot Esports. “So simply with the ability to come out right here and present individuals we nonetheless received it’s simply wonderful.”
The opposite half of the Tiny Terror duo, aBeZy, had a barely completely different outlook on getting again on high of the CDL.
“I don’t suppose there’s actually something for us to show at this level as a result of we’ve all gained so much,” aBeZy mentioned. “Final 12 months, the truth that we even received second so much was kinda loopy to me. It felt good to come back out right here and get the dub, although.”
Cellium, the third core piece of the Atlanta franchise, added he was proud of the work the workforce put in earlier than the occasion and mentioned it felt good to win once more.
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However on high of truly securing one other first-place end, Atlanta had been capable of do it towards a workforce that that they had a number of powerful battles with on the finish of the 2022 CDL season. The Thieves beat FaZe twice at Main 4 and CoD Champs 2022, eliminating them from each occasions. And within the case of Champs, L.A. gained the largest match of the 12 months with Atlanta on the opposite facet of the stage.
With that latest historical past between these squads, it wasn’t solely stunning to listen to the FaZe guys say this win felt that a lot sweeter.
“It felt wonderful,” Simp mentioned. “It felt nice to beat these guys.”
“It undoubtedly felt good, particularly to get our revenge after final 12 months,” aBeZy added.
SlasheR, the latest participant on Atlanta, wasn’t part of the FaZe squad that endured these CoD battles with L.A. final 12 months. However he has his personal historical past with the Thieves group. He was part of the Thieves’ inaugural CDL lineup in 2021 however was benched and reinserted into the taking part in roster all year long.
Regardless of the completely different circumstances in comparison with his new teammates, the veteran was clearly thrilled to have the ability to choose up one other championship and do it towards his former group and teammates.
“In fact, I at all times wanna play towards these guys,” SlasheR mentioned. “There’s undoubtedly some beef there, we ended on not one of the best of phrases, so it felt good to beat these guys within the finals. I’ve been ready to play them on LAN, too, so I’m glad. This was my first alternative to do this as a result of I’ve solely received two on-line matches versus them—and I’m at present undefeated. However yeah, it feels good.”
Based mostly on the efficiency of each Atlanta and the Thieves this weekend, it wouldn’t be a shock to see them sq. off in additional grand finals all through this 12 months, presumably constructing on this recently-developed rivalry.
However CDL followers will get to see a rematch very quickly, because the two heavyweight CoD squads will face off in a web-based qualifier match for Main Three on Sunday, Feb. 19.