The #9 player of the Modern Warfare 2 season brought to you by Thunder Pick is the Alaskan Assassin, Zach “Drazah” Jordan. One of the most versatile players in the scene proved his worth yet again during MW2.
Drazah took a massive step forward during Vanguard, becoming one of the best flex players in the CDL, and helped the LA Thieves win the World Championship. He only continued this during 2023, playing at a high level across all three modes. Even though the year didn’t end how the Thieves would have preferred, they still took home Major 4 and had highlights across the year.
Season Review
After the team struggled to get going during Cold War, Drazah & Co. brought it all together in Vanguard to win multiple tournaments including the World Championship. This would again be their goal going into the new game, looking to win everything during Modern Warfare 2. To do that, they would have to take on the entire CDL, as they had the target firmly on their backs.
The season began with a bit of struggle for LA, finishing 2-2 in the opening qualifiers before not hitting their potential at Major 1. With losses to Seattle & Toronto, the squad would have to go back to work before the next major cycle. Heading into the 2nd stage, the Thieves would defeat to New York, LAG, and Toronto but would finish 2-3 to earn the 8th seed. They would suffer another hard defeat to OpTic Texas to begin the tournament, sending them to Lower Round 1 right away. The Thieves would bounce back, winning five straight series to earn a place in the Grand Finals. Unfortunately, they’d face a red-hot Atlanta FaZe and lose 4-2 to finish in 2nd place. In the end, it wasn’t a championship but the Thieves battled back despite low points throughout the stage.
Drazah & Co would have a rather forgettable start to the second half of the season, finishing Top 8 at Major 3. This wouldn’t have the Thieves down for long, as they’d net wins against London, LAG, Minnesota, and Seattle during the fourth qualifier to earn the 2nd seed heading into Major 4. The Thieves then would go on a run of 3-1 victories over Minnesota, Atlanta, and Texas to make the Grand Finals. OpTic Texas would rebound in the Lower Finals to set up a rematch in the Finals. LA would come out strong though, taking a 4-2 victory with Drazah having multiple great maps individually.
There is said to be a curse put on teams that win CoD Champs, making winning tournaments a rarity following a World Championship. That is what made that Major 4 win very special for the LA Thieves, Sadly, the season would take a turn for the worst from there. LA would end up going 1-4 during the fifth and final qualifiers, which relegated them to a Lower Bracket start at Major 5. They manage to claw back a Top 6 finish going into Champs. At the final tournament, the team just could not get going as a unit. They’d fall in the opening match to Toronto Ultra and then Seattle Surge, both in 2-3 fashion to be eliminated from the tournament. The Top 8 showing would end up being the final time any of the four players would don the Thieves jerseys.
How good was Drazah in 2023?
Hardpoint
Hardpoint wasn’t Drazah’s strongest mode during MW2, but he still produced good numbers for the Thieves. Over the year, Drazah had a 1.01 KD in Hardpoint, which was the 2nd highest on the team. His per 10-minute data was strong having 21.8 kills, 2627.6 damage, and 57.2 seconds of hill time. Drazah’s best stage of the season was during their championship run in Stage 4. During that part of the season, Drazah finished with a 1.12 KD, 22.8 Kp10M, and 2733.7 DMGp10M. Outside of that run, the star flex stayed remarkably consistent.
The LA Thieves were one of the best Hardpoint teams in the CDL. The team finished the year with a 46-34 record in the mode while having a 23-15 record in LAN matches. During their Major 4 run, Hardpoint was a key game mode for them as they had a 6-2 record while going 3-0 on Hydro Hardpoint. Drazah had similar stats for both online and LAN but was slightly better at Majors. He finished the year with a 1.01 KD with 21.5 Kp10M, 58.4 HTp10M, and 2595.9 DMGp10M in the online qualifiers. That compared to a 1.02 KD, 22.2 Kp10M, 55.9 HTp10M, and 2661.2 DMGp10M at the Majors.
SnD
Drazah is one of the best SND players in the CDL and showed that this season during Modern Warfare 2. He was extremely impactful both early in the rounds and in the late stages. Over the year, Drazah had a 1.14 KD in the mode with 0.76 kills per round and 99.4 ADR. He led his team with 92 opening duels won, including 50 on the attacking side while only losing 38, for a 57.5% opening duel win percentage. His late-round impact was also great, having a team-high 12 clutches with 5 1v2 wins. While his team didn’t excel in the mode at all times, Drazah was very impactful individually for the Thieves.
LA only managed to finish with a 30-28 record in Search & Destroy, their worst record out of the three modes. They ended up with a 17-13 record at Majors and 13-15 online, showing that they were better in LAN matches. Drazah was at his best on LAN as well, having a 1.22 KD with 0.81 kills per round and 103.6 ADR. He had a 61.7% opening duel win percentage while having multiple kill rounds in 20.4% of his rounds played. His 0.21 opening duels won per round played ended up ranking 3rd in the CDL for the season. Without the rough Stage 3 performance (0.70 KD for the stage), his season statistics would be even better on LAN.
Control
Heading to the final mode of Control, his statistics were very similar to his in Hardpoint. While his KD numbers weren’t eye-catching, his underlying stats were strong. Over the season, the star flex had a 1.03 in Control with a 0.99 on the attacking side and 1.07 on the defending side. He finished with per 10-minute data of 18.3 kills, 2322.8 damage, and had 2.4 tick captured per attacking side. Drazah’s best stage of play was the final leg, finishing Champs with a 1.09 KD. Even though it was a small sample size (only 2 Controls played), Drazah led the CDL with an 89.5% non-traded kill percentage. He added the 2nd highest DMGp10M (2515.7) with a 1.38 KD on the attacking side and 162.8 damage per life. It was individually his best single tournament.
During Modern Warfare 2, the Thieves finished with one of the better records in the CDL at 31-19 in Control. They were at a high level during the Majors, having a 17-9 record on LAN compared to 14-10 in the online qualifiers. As is a common theme, the Thieves played exceptionally better on LAN compared to online. Drazah stayed consistent across both online qualifiers (0.97 KD, 18.6 Kp10M) compared to LAN Majors (0.99 KD, 18.0 Kp10M). His reliable objective and damage output are what made him an important stabilizing force for the Thieves.
A look ahead to Modern Warfare 3
After three seasons as a part of the LA Thieves franchise, Drazah left the team during the offseason to join a contender while LA went through a rebuild. After three championships and winning CoD Champs in 2022, the team officially split apart and each went their own way. Drazah would end up picking Atlanta FaZe over OpTic Texas to join the core of Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris, McArthur “Cellium” Jovel, and Chris “Simp” Lehr. This team should continue playing electric Search & Destroy while improving greatly in respawns just by fixing the potential pacing issues that occurred at times last year. Going into Modern Warfare 3, the expectation will have to stay at winning Championships and improving the play during Sundays. The team will continue being ranked with Texas, Toronto, and New York in the Top 4 but will have to find better consistency in respawns to take the next step.
