LA Thieves first team eliminated from CoD Champs 2023, ending back-to-back title hopes

There will be no repeat champion at the 2023 Call of Duty League Championship, as the Seattle Surge eliminated the defending champions, the Los Angeles Thieves, with a 3-2 victory today to advance to the elimination bracket’s second round. 

Seattle, who had struggled for much of the latter part of the season, came out hot in the series’ first map. Led by their second-year duo of Sib and Pred, who dropped 1.44 and 1.33 K/Ds, respectively, the Surge took the Embassy Hardpoint by a count of 250-161. All four members of Seattle dropped at least 23 kills, with veteran AR player Accuracy leading the lobby with 26 kills while also dealing the most damage in the lobby.

With the series switching gears for map two, El Asilo Search and Destroy would play host to the second map of the matchup. And this time, it was LAT’s turn to heat up. Octane and Envoy were dominant on the map, as they combined for 18 total kills and each averaged more than one kill per round. A swift 6-2 L.A. victory knotted the series at one map apiece, with another El Asilo coming up, this time for Control. 

Related: Results for 2023 Call of Duty League Championship

After a competitive first four rounds that saw the teams head to round five, the Thieves looked like they had it in the bag. After a two-piece from Drazah gave LAT a 10-6 advantage in lives, Mack and Pred were the only two Surge players close to the B point, the lone objective left. But Seattle’s SMG duo picked up four kills in seconds, spawning all four members of L.A. out and giving the Surge time to stack the point and rack up segments. 

Bodies were flying in the point as both teams battled for position, but it was Seattle and Mack, the latter of whom was the last player standing, that got just enough progress to finish the capture and take a 2-1 lead in the series. It was a defining moment in a swing map, and the Surge showed they had the clutch ability when it counted most. 

To the Thieves’ credit, though, they kept fighting. On Mercado Hardpoint, the team’s AR duo of Octane and Drazah were huge, combining for 55 kills in their 250-210 victory to send it to a win-or-go-home game five. 

With their seasons on the line, both teams refused to give an inch, and the map was tied at four after eight rounds on Fortress Search and Destroy. In the ninth round, Drazah found himself in a nearly impossible situation, needing to clutch a one-vs-four to keep Seattle from match-point. He picked up two kills and nearly had a third, but Pred was on the flank and took him down before he could do any more damage.

With Seattle up 5-4, Sib took over. He found an early pick onto Envoy, giving his team a one-life advantage early in the round. Mack was taken down, but not before he eliminated Kenny, giving Seattle a three-vs-two advantage. Sib then found both Drazah and Octane to take the map and end the defending champions’ Modern Warfare 2 season. 

Seattle will now look to make another CDL Champs loser’s bracket run after falling just short in the losers bracket final one year ago. They will face the winner of the Boston Breach vs. Minnesota RØKKR matchup on Saturday, June 17 at 2pm CT.