Esports illustrated

FaZe Secures 3 Peat - CDL Major 2 Recap

  • Atlanta FaZe win their 3rd straight championship establishing their dominance in Black Ops 6
  • Undefeated qualifier curse continues as LA Thieves are stunned by Toronto Ultra
  • Vancouver's Stage II Cinderella run comes to an end

Taven Passey

Atlanta FaZe are the Call of Duty League Major 2 Champions
Atlanta FaZe are the Call of Duty League Major 2 Champions / @ATLFaZe on X.com

Heading into Major 2, the Atlanta FaZe were looking to win their 3rd straight championship and their second of the 2025 CDL season. With an undefeated run through the Winner's Bracket, Atlanta went on to a clean 4-0 sweep in Grand Finals, securing their 3rd straight major tournament victory. Here's how it happened:

  1. Toronto Slams Thieves
  2. FaZe Squeak by Surge in Winner's Finals
  3. Surge Drown Out Ultra
  4. Utter Dominance in Grand Finals
  5. What to Read Next

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Toronto Slams Thieves

Toronto Ultra beat the LA Thieves 3-0 to Start Sunday
Toronto Ultra beat the LA Thieves 3-0 to Start Sunday / @CODLeague on X.com

The undefeated qualifier curse continues as the LA Thieves were bounced out of the tournament by the Toronto Ultra in a dominant fashion to start the day on Sunday. Thieves never had a chance here; they came out incredibly slow and were fully dominated in all stages of the game by the Ultra.

Map 1 Scoring Breakdown
Map 1 Scoring Breakdown / Breakingpoint.gg

In Map 1, Ultra jumped right on the Thieves and never gave them a chance beating them 250-115. In the post-game interview, JoeDeceives talked about how Toronto had been working to expand their map pool and that clearly showed. They squared up with one of the best Protocol Hardpoint teams in the game and nearly 100 point clubbed them.

In Map 2, Thieves couldn't catch a break as they threw away multiple man advantaged situations. In Round 10, JoeDeceives sealed the map with a disgusting turn-on kill that ended up winning them the round. Down 2-0 with zero momentum, the Thieves desperately needed to recapture some momentum in Map 3. Unfortunately for them, Map 3 was even quicker than Maps 1 and 2.

In the first round, Thieves were down to 5 lives remaining with zero ticks captured. They were able to get two complete waves of kills that allowed them to capture A and get a stack on B. While it looked good for a second, CleanX came in with a huge triple kill completely killing the Thieves hopes of a hot start.

This was a monumental victory in the seasons for both Toronto and LA. Not only does this validate Toronto's offseason moves, but it has cemented JoeDeceives as one of the best players in the league in his current form. In a matchup with so much crossover between these two rosters, Toronto got the revenge they were looking for:

This is certainly a low point for the Thieves on the year. Heading into the tournament, they were the only undefeated team and were the overwhelming favorite to win the event. Having lost in Winner's Round One and failing to make it to the Grand Finals, failure is the only thing that can describe this performance from one of the best rosters we have seen in CDL history.

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FaZe Squeak by Surge in Winner's Finals

FaZe take down Surge 3-2 in Winner's Finals
FaZe take down Surge 3-2 in Winner's Finals / @CODLeague on X.com

In the second match of the day, Atlanta squared up with Vancouver in the first 5-game series we've seen in a long time. Vancouver came out hot in the respawns and got out to a fast lead in this series behind huge performances from 04 and Abuzah.

After taking Map 1, FaZe took both maps 2 and 3 to take the lead in the series. Bouncing back from back-to-back losses, Vancouver took the second Hardpoint of the series forcing a game 5.

FaZe vs. Vancouver Map 4 Scoreboard
FaZe vs. Vancouver Map 4 Scoreboard / @CODLeague on X.com

After recovering from both respawn losses, FaZe was able to Neslo the series, taking both S&D's and the Control to win the series 3-2.

There wasn't a particular stand out performance for anyone on the side of FaZe. Everyone on the team was negative in the series besides Cellium due to how dominant Vancouver was in both Hardpoints. It was clear FaZe needed to clean up their respawn game if they were going to finish the tournament as champions.

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Surge Drown Out Ultra

Surge didn't let their loss to FaZe derail their Major 2 run as they were able to make quick work of Toronto in Loser's Finals. After slamming Thieves to start the day, many people believed Toronto could win the entire event. That didn't last long once this series started, and Surge continued their Cinderella run in Major 2.

Surge continued their respawn dominance with a map 1 win that went down to the wire. Once again, Surge's late-game poise got them a crucial map win, giving them the confidence they needed the rest of the way.

Toronto punched right back and took the Map 2 S&D 6-4. Surge continued to struggle in Search as they lost their 3rd of the day. Luckily for Surge, they were able to bounce right back and secure a map 3 win that gave them the momentum they needed to close out the series.

Heading into a fourth map, things looked desperate for Toronto as Surge were perfect on the day in Hardpoint. Surge were able to close out the series in the Map 4 Hardpoint and punch their ticket in a Grand Finals rematch with Atlanta FaZe. Here is how it sounded:

Utter Dominance in Grand Finals

The only word that can be used to describe Atlanta's performance in the Grand Finals was "Dominance." Vancouver came into the series red hot after making quick work of Toronto in their Loser's Finals matchup. With an undefeated Hardpoint record on the day, Vancouver ran into the brick wall that was FaZe and got taken down 4-0 in the Grand Finals.

Grand Finals Map 1 Stats
Grand Finals Map 1 Stats / @CODLeague on X.com

After keeping it close in Map 1, it looked like this would be a competitive, back and forth series but Vancouver was running out of gas. In the Map 2 search, Cellium closed the game on a 9 killstreak as FaZe utterly dominated Vancouver taking all the momentum in the series.

Knowing that Vancouver wasn't in a spot to make a 3-0 comeback, everyone knew that Map 3 was a must win. They gave themselves many winnable scenarios but the guns of FaZe were just too much to handle. After multiple gut-wrenching round losses, FaZe took the Control and was coasting to a Major 2 victory:

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The Map 4 Hardpoint was a victory lap for FaZe in what was Vancouver's best map statistically heading into the series. They jumped out to a huge lead early after winning every rotation in the first set, and Vancouver just couldn't keep up. FaZe won Map 4 by a score of 250-137, securing their third Major Championship victory in a row. Here's how it sounded live:

This was a record-setting performance for every FaZe member. This victory marks the first 3-peat in Competitive Call of Duty History since Black Ops 3, and Faze's 13 series win streak on LAN is the most ever in the CDL era. Simp, aBeZy, and Cellium are without question the best trio in CDL history and have earned their spot in the conversation for the best in Competitive Call of Duty history.

"At this point, it's just getting boring"

- Drazah in his post-match interview

The MVP of the tournament, Cellium had the best Grand Finals K/D in CDL history with a 1.72. It is also his 26th straight tournament with a positive K/D.

Simp and aBeZy career stat comparison
Simp and aBeZy both with record-setting events / @BrianStats1 on X.com

Heading into Major 3, it will be interesting to see if any teams will be able to take down the 3-time defending champs. With many top teams potentially making roster moves, who will be standing on top in Boca Raton at the end of CDL Major 3?

What to Read Next

Published
Taven Passey
TAVEN PASSEY

Taven is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon's Sports Business program. During his time post-grad, he has developed his own website where he has covered the Call of Duty League as well as college football. He competed semi-professionally in the CDL Challengers Circuit for three years as well as for The University of Oregon's CCL team, which made playoffs and placed T48 each of Taven's three years. Taven still enjoys playing Call of Duty in his spare time, as well as World of Warcraft and any game he is obsessing over at the time.

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