aBeZy & Simp: We’ve Been in a League of Our Own

With half of the Call of Duty League season in the books, Atlanta FaZe once again stand alone at the head of the table. They’ve been frontrunners every season since the League’s inception, and Modern Warfare 3 is proving to be no different. How does one team establish such a winning pedigree?

It starts with an unshakeable foundation. aBeZy and Simp have been an unstoppable duo for five years now. They first joined forces in Black Ops 4, and put the League on notice in no time.

aBeZy had found his feet as a competitor at the time, having built a reputation for being in the right place at the right time on every single map. Simp was the fresh-faced rookie who walked into his first LAN with a mountain of hype and walked out with a highlight reel slicker than a Nyjah Huston skate part. The duo went on to win their first World Championship together the very same season.

Fast forward five years, and they’re now in rarified air as a duo. Major 2 marked the 10th event win on their shared résumé.

“It was cool to hit a double-digit milestone,” Simp said of the achievement. “But I feel like staying on top of the competition like we have is something to be more proud of than the ten wins. With the way games change from year to year, I feel like we’ve been in a league of our own.”

“It’s super hard to do what we’ve done,” aBezy added. “Every year there’s new talent coming to the League, and the game changes every single year … the fact that we’ve been able to stay on top as long as we have is kind of crazy. Obviously, hitting ten wins is amazing, but I think we’ve got a lot more to go.”

You can’t just luck into that kind of accomplishment. You can’t get there with raw skill, either. The last time we talked, Simp (and Head Coach James Crowder) highlighted the importance of mastering minutiae, and how the difference between winning and losing is a razor-thin line. Watching the Major 2 footage, it’s clear FaZe took this mentality to heart.

They stumbled over crunch time decisions vs. Toronto Ultra in the finale of Major 1, and it cost them. It was a completely different story at Major 2. Look no further than Invasion Control against OpTic Texas in Grand Finals to see the difference. Down six lives in the last round, fighting to maintain their edge in the series, the gameplay was perfect. Cellium found some early damage to soften OpTic’s defenses on A-Zone, and the rest of the team flew in behind him to play clean-up.

“I don’t know if it was a listen-in or in a Comms video, but we won the Karachi Hardpoint against OpTic, and Tyler (aBeZy) was screaming ‘That’s what we practice.’ I feel like [those details] are exactly what won us Major 2,” Simp said.

Even after a dominant Major win, there’s no sense of relaxation in the FaZe camp. With half a season yet to be played, aBeZy is more concerned with how the team will adapt ahead of the upcoming Toronto Major. The CDL map pool has changed for the second qualifier in a row. Vista, 6-Star, and the brand new Rio enter the rotation and every team is racing to master the game all over again.

“We’re having to learn a new curve in Hardpoint and [Search & Destroy],” he said. “That’s a big thing for us. Taking the time to learn these new maps as fast as possible … we want to get ahead of the curve of the teams. We’re putting in a lot of work on those maps, and on pinpointing the little things that went wrong at [Major 2].”

Simp also talked about reworking strategies on the old maps. Making two Grand Finals runs to start the season means there’s a wealth of VOD for the competition to study, and getting countered is a surefire way to lose in big moments. “You know every team will be watching our stuff, trying to do what we do but better.”

What’s left unsaid about the incoming crop of maps is that they’re far more friendly to SMG play than the previous set. The three MCW meta dominated the early part of Modern Warfare 3, often stifling players like aBeZy. It’s harder to make lightning-quick plays on the map when 75% of the enemy team is taking it slow and playing long angles that the Rival–9 stands no chance against.

Major 3 qualifying matches are only just getting underway, but it stands to reason that the change could make FaZe even better — not just for one event, but the whole season. They’re already playing with a rare confidence. Simp feels better about his gameplay now than he has in a long time, perhaps even since the Black Ops Cold War Championship back in August 2021.

“I’d say personally, I’m the most confident [in the team and myself] that I’ve been in the last two to three years. That’s against any team … OpTic, Toronto, New York, LA Guerillas. Anybody. I feel like we’re going to go into matches and slam them.”

aBezy agrees. “This team, I feel like our work ethic and the way we approach practice every day, the way we approach matches - with our confidence and effort in general, we’re on a new level right now.”

Simp is also fired up about Major 3 for reasons outside the game. “I feel like what I’m looking forward to the most this year has been this Major. Toronto has always been a good city to host a tournament. They always bring the good vibes. Especially this time, it might be even better weather. It’s going to be a fun time in Toronto.”

They’ve already scored a thrilling series win in the rematch against OpTic Texas to kick off their Major 3 campaign, and it feels like the momentum may never slow down. Atlanta FaZe has the strongest foundation in Call of Duty. and they’re itching to prove it for the umpteenth time on May 16th.