Atlanta FaZe celebrate their Call of Duty League Major 2 win

It's been a long road for Atlanta FaZe since the start of the Vanguard season of the Call of Duty League. Internal issues and perennial second-place finishes have made the last 18 months a tough one for Chris "Simp" Lehr, Tyler "aBeZy" Pharris and McArthur "Cellium" Jovel.

The introduction of Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat to the team at the start of Modern Warfare 2 began a culture change for FaZe, one that has resulted in them taking home the Major 2 crown in Boston.

FaZe defeated the Los Angeles Thieves in the Grand Finals of the event, taking the final series of the weekend 4-2. Atlanta finished second in every event bar one in the Vanguard season, with the only other one being an even worse placing.

That makes the win, and the return to the summit of the Call of Duty League all the more impactful for the players on the team.

"It means a lot," aBeZy told esports.gg. "A lot of things last year were not going our way. The fact that we even got second as much as we did was crazy. We’ve changed it around and now we feel like we are on top of our game."

Simp shared in the feeling that winning an event feels truly important after going so long without a chip.

"This one feels really special," Simp said. "There’s been a lot of people saying a lot of BS about us. You try being second at every event, and then we will see how it goes for you. This feels amazing compared to all of the seconds we got last year."

SlasheR also won Major 2 last season but was part of the Los Angeles Guerrillas team that used the soon-to-be GA'd Volk to help them on their way to the title.

"It feels great," he added. "There is a lot of hard work we’re putting in behind closed doors. I’m just so happy that these guys keep believing in me and accepting me and telling me to come and do my thing. There is a lot of pressure on my shoulders so it feels really good to win one."

Something that tends to not get credit inside the competitive Call of Duty scene is the coaching that goes alongside playing.

Whether it's at an Academy level, with coaches such as William "Veohz" Lachance at LAG, or right up to the Major-winning James "Crowder" Crowder, coaching is becoming more and more important in CoD.

FaZe's coaching system has worked wonders and the change in mentality that SlasheR brought has been carried through the coaching team.

Crowder can hold his head up high with his team's performance at Major 2 and the mental resistance that they have shown this season.

"I am incredibly proud," he said. "We have had so many ups and downs with this roster this season and we had so many heartbreaks last year.

"To be able to fight through that as a team and change the mindset and change the culture, it takes so much work that people don’t see.

"It feels so good to bring in SlasheR and have a leader that does what he does. They get better every day and that’s what it is about. I’m super proud and super happy."

Despite coming away with the win in the event, FaZe still had some irks to air with the way that the scheduling plays out on a Championship Sunday.

The current format is that winner's finals is first on, with the day ending on a Best of Seven series.

SlasheR thinks that this isn't the best way to decide Champions of Major events in the CDL.

"I think I like the double best of five," he said. "It’s a little weird when you come from winners bracket and you can lose 4-3 and I think that is kind of cheese in my opinion.

"Every series has its pros and cons, I think it should at least be a best of nine with a 1-0 head start. The winners bracket team just doesn’t have an advantage."

After FaZe won the upper bracket final against Minnesota ROKKR in Boston, they were sat backstage for five hours before playing again.

"You can go to loser’s bracket and it doesn’t mean anything," SlasheR continued. "Realistically it doesn’t matter, veto advantage is a little bit but it’s really not much because you’re still playing two hardpoints and two controls."

Teammate aBeZy also thinks that the scheduling doesn't make sense and that a rejig could make things better.

"The schedule on Sundays does not make sense," he said. "Winners finals should be the second match, not the first match.

"Why are the winners players having to wait for three hours in the back doing nothing whilst the loser’s bracket team plays one or two games before going straight into finals."

FaZe will try and go back-to-back in CDL Major events for the first time since Cold War with the Texas Major 3 event in four weeks' time.