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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 01/21/24. He analyzes the COD slates and top lineup targets for eSports DFS contests.
Hello there eSports DFS enthusiasts, and welcome back to RotoBaller's coverage of Call of Duty DFS contests for DraftKings! The final day of the Major One Qualifiers is here which means next week we have our first Major of the year! Last weekend was a bit straightforward forward and ended up doing fairly solid in my lineups. Today it is a bit more of a close matchup and after Friday's triple upset it goes to show anything can happen. Which team gets their second win of the season Carolina or LA Thieves?
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 six years now and finally get to put all this knowledge to the test! First up we have the LA Thieves taking on the Carolina Royal Ravens, after that we have a great matchup as the NY Subliners take on the Boston Breach, and finally, a timely classic as the Atlanta FaZe takes on Optic Texas!
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Sunday, January 21, 2024, 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!
Call of Duty: Major 1 Qualifiers
Best of 5
- Los Angeles Thieves (-310) vs. Carolina Royal Ravens (+225)
- NY Subliners (-315) vs. Boston Breach (+220)
- Atlanta FaZe (-240) vs. Optic Texas (+180)
Slate Overview
First things first, Reeal will not be playing for Carolina in this match due to Visa issues. GodRx was benched and then retired right after. That being said Felo and TJHaly will be taking their spot, They don't have Felo on DK but I don't see it being much of a difference, from the side of Carolina the only one I ever have interest in is Gwinn and maybe Clayster if you want to get different. LAT has had their own set of rough goings this year but I think are still better than Carolina has been this season. Carolina has been swept in all but two games this season. LAT should have this, I'll say 3-1
Subliners have looked great except for their blowout loss to Toronto on Friday and have a crisp 5-1 record on the year so far. Boston has been extremely inconsistent being the likes of Miami and Toronto but losing to Seattle, LAT, and LAG. So sometimes they are having the best game of the day and sometimes they just look completely lost. That being said out of all the games today I see a Boston upset being the likeliest of the three options so possibly consider a little Capsidal or Snoopy in your GPPs. Otherwise, I expect a 3-0 or 3-1 from NYSL.
I have no words about Optic, they have such a stacked team and yet they consistently just beat themselves. The two games they have played since break they have just looked atrocious, they were almost swept by a very poor Vegas Legion team. Then next game were swept by Miami, and I don't give you much of a shot to be Atlanta if you are having a hard time with what you have done. Their only quality game was their 3-2 loss to NYSL at the beginning of the season. Outside of that, I'm not impressed. Atlanta hasn't lost a game and has looked dominant against most of them however their strength of schedule has been a bit mediocre. This will be the true test, but I still believe Optic is in a rut and Atlanta handles them. 3-1 FaZe
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 the game mode from Domination to Control for League play. This gameplay will be a lot different as it's round-based and not the first to 200. They play first one to three 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 five-point team sweep. In the chance they do sweep, they also get a bonus of 20 points for not playing hardpoint and five 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: Sib was on a tear recently and besides an atrocious game from him against Toronto the two previous games since the break he scored 142 and 127 in those games. It looks like they are letting him be more aggressive and that has led to some high-scoring games from him. He has an overall K/D of 1.06 and ninth-ranked K/D of 1.12 in HP this season. I think a lot of people go with Hydra at Captain but I like the discount we get with Sib and I still would highly recommend pairing him with Hydra.
Afro: I thought about going right back to Simp but I have done that for nearly every slate involving FaZe so I won't go there this time and go to a guy that has potentially a high ceiling in Afro. In LAT's one win, this season resulted in 112 points from Afro who led the team in kills with 53 in their sweep over Boston. Overall his stats are nothing to pop off the paper but when LAT is firing all cylinders Afro is a main part of that as one of their SMG players. His price is much more lineup-friendly as well compared to Cammy at the top.
Other captain plays: Simp, Cellium, Capsidal(GPP), Hydra
COD DFS Value Plays
Drazah: Drazah is coming off a career game against the Vegas Legion and we are still getting him at 6,800$. The odds don't have Atlanta as a big favorite but I think Optic is in a slump and at an awful time too. This is a great spot for Drazah to pop off once again and get us a solid outing for super cheap. He has averaged a 1.1 K/D this season and has been lighting it up in respawn game modes especially Control, where he has the fourth-highest K/D in the league. Highly recommend pairing Drazah with another Atlanta player.
Kenny(GPP): This one is a bit of a twist, I like Atlanta a lot but for GPP purposes this is a really solid play. He is absolutely dirt cheap on the slate tomorrow and if this game ends up being close Kenny has been solid enough this season that he could hit value at that price. He has had three games of 100+ DK points and at his price, if we get anything north of 80 I will consider it a win. If you are looking to get different this is a really good place to start.
Other value plays: Skyz, JoeDecieves, Clayster
COD DFS Stacks
LAT: Carolina has been awful this year. They have five total map wins on the season which is pathetic. I think however that LAT might go a bit under the radar because of their poor play this season as well. Which may give us a leg up on the competition. Most might focus on FaZe or NYSL to stack their lineups but I think the real difference could be the winner of this game and if that ends up being the Thieves it could be optimal. The only thing Carolina has going for them is a close game they just had with FaZe, but something tells me that was an anomaly.
As for those on the team, I'm avoiding Cammy as he is severely overpriced and I haven't seen him do anything worth that price so for now I would say avoid or only use him in GPPs. I much rather take Afro who has shown this season he can be that guy and pop off. He is by far much cheaper and I think has a higher ceiling than Cammy does. I'll gladly take the 1.4k discount on that. Joe and Ghosty are a bit similar but I like how aggressive Joe is and prefer him at a much cheaper price. Taking LAT in general is a risk but with how poor Carolina has played I think it would be a miracle that Carolina pulls this one off.
Other Team Plays: Atlanta FaZe, NY Subliners, Boston Breach(GPP)
Summary
TLDR: LA Thieves 3-1, NYSL 3-1, FaZe 3-1
- LAT: Afro, Joedecieves
- Carolina: Gwinn, TJHaly
- NYSL: All
- Boston: Capsidal, Snoopy
- FaZe: All
- Optic: Pred, Kenny
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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