LA Thieves break 11-year ‘champs curse’ with Major IV win
In the voice of Jack "Courage" Dunlop, "The curse has been lifted!" The infamous line from the former Call of Duty caster has now rung true once again, this time for his own organisation.
The Los Angeles Thieves are the reigning Call of Duty World Champions and have managed to do what no team has ever done before, as their Grand Finals victory over OpTic Texas at Major IV has broken an 11-year-old curse.
LA Thieves win Major IV to break the infamous CoD Champs Curse
Click to enlargeIn a thrilling final day, LA Thieves stunned OpTic Gaming fans, who fully expected to be watching their team hoist the trophy by beating them twice and ending their undefeated Stage feat and their record-breaking Hardpoint streak.
The Thieves dumped OpTic into the Lower Bracket with an emphatic 3-1 win before meeting them again later in the day in the Grand Finals. There were solid performances on Control saw them be too hot to handle for OpTic, beating them 4-2 and winning Major IV for the second consecutive season.
But most admirably, LA Thieves has now broken the "champs curse," as they become the first-ever Call of Duty team to win a Major with the same team after winning the World Championships a season prior.
What was the Call of Duty 'Champs Curse?'
Until Thieve's win, Call of Duty World Championship-winning teams has always faltered the season after. Whether it's teams disbanding entirely, a rule change to team size resulting in changes, bad juju leading to no success the year after, or the formation of franchising coming into play, throughout the last ten seasons, not one reigning World Champ has won a major.
- Fariko Impact 2013 - Disbanded after winning in Black Ops 2
- compLexity 2014 - Disbanded after winning in Ghosts
- Denial Esports 2015 - Disbanded after winning Advanced Warfare
- Team Envy 2016 - Failed to win a Major in Infinite Warfare after winning in Black Ops 3
- OpTic Gaming 2017 - Made two changes before winning a Major in World War II, after winning in Infinite Warfare
- Evil Geniuses 2018 - Disbanded after winning in World War II
- eUnited 2019 - Disbanded after winning in Black Ops 4
- Dallas Empire 2020 - Forced into roster changes with 4v4 to 5v5 transition, and failed to win a Major in Cold War, after winning Modern Warfare
- Atlanta FaZe 2021 - Failed to win a Major in Vanguard after winning in Cold War
- LA Thieves 2022 - Broke the curse by winning a Major in Modern Warfare 2 after winning in Vanguard
LA Thieves shout 'f**k the Champs curse' after winning Major IV
As soon as the Thieves won, MVP-winning Sam "Octane" Larew shouted, "f**k the Champs curse," with the bug clearly in the back of their minds.
"The 'Champs Curse' was always utter nonsense. It was just a sense of fulfilment that every other champion suffered with. We are built different though, that ring was never enough," added LA Thieves coach Shane "ShAnE" McKerral on Twitter.
Thieves could also become the first-ever team to win back-to-back World Championships, after putting themselves into a prime position to overtake OpTic and FaZe in the current standings.
