LA Thieves Lose: Major 4 Winners Struggle in Opening Weekend of Major 5 Qualifiers

The LA Thieves start Major 5 with an 0-2 record, but what's gone wrong?

The LA Thieves were the Call of Duty first team ever to break the Champs curse. The Champs curse is the idea that no team can win an event after winning the Championship weekend the previous year. This comes from the fact that, well, no team had ever done it. Until Major 4, where the LA Thieves took the trophy home following a dominant Stage, going 3-1 in Qualifiers and not dropping a single series at the Major.

However, the team has started Major 5 Qualifiers with an 0-2 record, so what’s changed for the LA Thieves?

The Thieves’ first match of Major 5 Qualifiers was against the hosts of Major 5, Toronto Ultra. Toronto Ultra are a team that have historically had the upper hand over the LA Thieves, having a 3-1 record against them following their 3-1 victory on Saturday. Search and Destroy was the main force in the Thieves Major 4 victory, and could always be relied on. However, they haven’t been able to do that so far in this stage, losing all three Search and Destroy maps this weekend.

Some say S&D wins championships...@LAThieves would say they're right 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Sdx55yDfRg

— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) April 28, 2023

One thing that the LA Thieves couldn’t plan for this weekend was Thomas ‘Scrap’ Ernst breaking the kill record with 42 in their Fortress Hardpoint map one. However, the Thieves were just outright dominated in this match on maps they regularly play, so this could just be put down to a slip up of concentration.

After a defeat to Toronto Ultra, the LA Thieves took on the New York Subliners. Here, the Thieves looked to play some regular maps again, but these were all extremely good maps for the Subliners too. This saw NYSL come out hot in map one, and take convincing 250-169 Hydro Hardpoint win, outslaying by a massive 28 kills. Again, it was the Search and Destroy that let down the LA Thieves in this series, suffering two 6-2 losses, with the final loss denying the reverse sweep for LAT.

There is no doubt that the LA Thieves are an extremely good team, and being the first to break the Champs curse is some achievement. However, this start in Major 5 Qualifiers is not good, but with the Florida Mutineers, Minnesota ROKKR and London Royal Ravens left to play, Thieves fans can rejoice, as they should comfortably finish the stage 3-2, and secure a winners bracket spot.