RADIO
Hello there eSports DFS enthusiasts, and welcome back to RotoBaller's coverage of Call of Duty DFS contests for DraftKings! It was not quite the start I was looking for to begin the season but a new game, can create new challenges, and with the Pros unable to decide which guns they are and aren't allowed to use it can make it challenging to figure out how these slates will look. This upcoming weekend will likely look different from last weekend with the recent ban of the M4. Hopefully, this time around we can get a better read on what happens and get some big wins on the board.
This is easily one of my favorite sports to cover here at Rotoballer because I play a ton of COD myself and I like to think I'm pretty good at it as well. I have been following the COD League for about five years now and finally get to put all this knowledge to the test! First things first we have the Seattle Surge taking on the London Royal Ravens, next, we have the Florida Mutineers taking on the Minnesota Rokkr, After that we have the NY Subliners taking on the LA Guerrillas, and lastly, we have the Toronto Ultra taking on the Atlanta FaZe.
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Friday, December 9th, 2022, at 3:00 PM EST. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @DFSKoby or find me in Discord as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions!
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Call of Duty: Major One Qualifiers
Best of 5
- Seattle Surge (-135) vs. London Royal Ravens (+105)
- Florida Mutineers (+200) vs. Minnesota Rokkr (-275)
- NY Subliners (-115) vs. LA Guerrillas (-115)
- Toronto Ultra (+130) vs. Atlanta FaZe (-170)
Slate Overview
The Seattle Surge didn't look as hot right out the gate as I had thought and the complete opposite happened with the London Royal Ravens who I thought were going to be the bottom feeders turned out to be one of the top teams in the league at the moment. All around London has looked good from Nastie to Zero. So far they have been dominant in SnD and Control which happens to be where Seattle has struggled. I give the slight edge to Seattle when it comes to Hardpoint, however. In the end, if London continues to play the way they did in the first weekend then I predict a 3-1 or a 3-2 in favor of London. Seattle has a good enough team though to pull off a win here so I don't hate Seattle as a play.
This is going to be an interesting one, Florida came out hot against Vegas as MajorManiak looked unstoppable but all that came to a screaming halt against Optic who swept them out of the lobby. Minnesota didn't look awful against Optic but honestly should have come out with an L but Optic forfeiting the match ended up giving Minnesota an asterisk next to that one. I think this one is a bit closer than the odds make it seem but I do believe Minnesota comes out on top of this more than likely 3-1.
This one is dead even in the odds and I have to agree. It is a hard match to pick a side both haven't been spectacular to start the season and NYSL has looked awful compared to what they look like they should be on paper. Only winning one map so far in their 2 matches. Whereas the LA Guerrillas have taken both matches to Game 5 pulling out at least one of them. The issue is though, none of their players have looked good. All scoring an average of 75 DKP or lower which is so low that you would think they have been swept in both games. NYSL, on the other hand, hasn't been much better, to be honest, I would just fade this game other than maybe a shot on Hydra as he probably will be the best player in the lobby. I guess I'll say 3-1 LAG but I have no confidence in that pick.
This one might be my favorite of the day. Toronto is one of my sleeper teams this year. They lost Bance and Cammy in the offseason but brought on Scrappy and Standy which can make this team very lethal. This will be a big test for them as they take on Atlanta FaZe. Scrappy, I was liking at his price last week but I'm not sure I can take him at his price this week. It is a bit steep and he has quite a challenge ahead of him. I like the price of Standy and CleanX for Toronto but overall Atlanta has looked pretty good to start the season taking down the defending champs in LAT. I like Cellium and Slasher coming into this slate. They both have been about even as far as game modes go, so I'll say Atlanta 3-2.
COD DFS Basics
- Like in CSGO, players receive two points for a kill and are penalized -1 for dying. Therefore, the most straightforward stat to look at here is the K/D ratio.
- You need to roster a team slot on both sites. Teams accrue fantasy points for games won (+4), matches won (+10), and Search and Destroy/Control rounds won (+.5).
- Teams will be playing best-of-five matches on a rotation of various game modes. Those modes and the order in which they are played are as follows: Hardpoint, Search & Destroy, Control, Hardpoint, Search & Destroy.
- In hardpoint rounds, players with positive K/D ratios are usually the highest scorers and these rounds are often the bloodiest.
- They also have changed a game mode from Domination to Control for League play. This will be a lot different in gameplay as it's round-based and not the first to 200. They play first one to 3 round wins. You win by capturing both points or killing the enemy team until they run out of their lives. One team defends and the other attacks.
- There is a sweep bonus this year as teams and players both can get a 20-point player sweep and a 5-point team sweep. In the chance, they do sweep they also get granted a bonus of 20 points for not playing hardpoint and a bonus of 5 points for not playing the final Search and Destroy map. So that adds up in a sweep to a total of 45 extra points, which will be very crucial this year.
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COD DFS Captain Considerations
Sib: Even in a loss he still dropped 82 DKP. In his first game this season, he had 176 DKP, which I believe is the highest I have seen over the last two years of COD. If not the highest it is definitely up there. I do believe this game goes 5 maps and that could lead to another high-scoring line from sib who has been killing it so far this year with a top 3 K/D of 1.29! Only Cellium and Scump are higher so far to start the season. We also get him at a very fair price of 9,400$ which is cheaper than 5 other players on the board. If we see anything close to the first game we could be in for a treat from Sib.
Abezy: I wanted to go right back to Cellium here, but I also didn't want to be too repetitive. I don't think you can go wrong with anyone on FaZe. They have all been playing and scoring well so far this season. Abezy is a really good price at 8k and is a very viable captain option if you are looking for something a little bit cheaper so you don't have to go digging too deep for some value. So far he has averaged a 1.05 K/D overall with about a minute in hill time as well. He hasn't performed as well as Cellium has this season but he is a good cheaper option to grab that might end up being less owned.
Other captain plays: Cellium, Attach, Scrappy(GPP), Pred, Simp, PaulEhx
COD DFS Value Plays
Slasher: Slasher has been quietly pretty good so far this season. Averaging 97.8 DKP in two games so far this season and that's with getting hammered 3-1 by Boston. I believe this game fits his style of play much better and going forward I'll take a 90+ score, especially for his price at 7k any day. So far he has averaged a 1.1 K/D and about 70 seconds in hill time-averaged as well. I was expecting him to be a bit higher in price to be honest so us getting him this cheap I'll take a shot on him and hope he can continue this level of play.
Afro: When I saw this price I thought it was a joke. At his price, I could even see putting him in the captain spot to save some extra money. He is 5th overall in K/D this season at 1.22 and we are getting him at the great price of 7,800$ and he is favored! All signs are pointed to him being 100% owned for me, so Afro is quite literally make it or break it. He is leading his team in K/D in all three game modes and is averaging nearly a minute of hill time as well.
Other value plays: MajorManiak, Standy, CleanX, Zero
COD DFS Stacks
Atlanta FaZe: I wouldn't say the matchup is necessarily the most favorable of the four games but just overall I feel like you can't go wrong with this team. Every single player on the team is in a very good position to score well. They all have done so throughout the season so far and aren't all crazy in price like they were last year. Slasher being at 7k is a perfect place to start. I love the pairing with either Cellium or Abezy. Simp isn't a horrible option but I would rather pay up for Cellium or take a cut and take Abezy a bit more. They are also dirt cheap when it comes to their team spot at 2,400$, which can go a long way in getting one more stud in your lineup.
Other Team Plays: Minnesota Rokkr, London Royal Ravens, Seattle Surge(GPP)
Summary
- TLDR: London 3-2, Minnesota 3-1, LAG 3-1, ATL 3-2
- London: Nastie, PaulEhx, Zero(PUNT)
- Seattle: Sib, Pred
- Minnesota: Attach, Afro
- Florida: Brack, MajorManiak
- LAG: Huke
- NYSL: Hydra
- FaZe: All
- Toronto: Scrappy, Standy, CleanX
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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