RADIO
Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 12/9/23. 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! A new season is upon us! Plenty of new changes to teams, so at the beginning I highly recommend playing light with a new year comes new challenges to overcome. Modern Warfare 3 is the game this year and we have a big slate ahead of us.
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 Carolina Royal Ravens taking on the Miami Heretics, and after that is the new Las Vegas Legion taking on the Minnesota Rokkr. Then we have Toronto Ultra looking to rebound after their Grand Finals loss as they take on the LA Guerrillas. Finally, we have the Seattle Surge taking on the Boston Breach.
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Saturday, December 9, 2023, 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
- Carolina Royal Ravens (-175) vs. Miami Heretics (+135)
- Las Vegas Legion (+113) vs. Minnesota Rokkr (-148)
- Toronto Ultra (-1600) vs. LA Guerrillas (+725)
- Seattle Surge (+105) vs. Boston Breach (-135)
Slate Overview
Up first is Carolina vs. Miami. This is an interesting matchups they are completely new teams but the veteran leadership from Clayster is a really big point that Miami doesn’t have. There is a lot of unknowns with this Miami team and honestly I haven’t seen their scrimmages as much as other teams. Overall though I think Carolina has this one down and I’ll take them to win 3-1.
Next is another interesting matchup. Minnesota pulled a fire sale and has a brand new team. Accuracy has looked amazing in scrims so far and I think is poised for a solid role this year. Owakening and Vivid is a duo we have seen before and the intro of Lynz should make a for a solid team. Vegas made some Interesting moves as they dumped Temp and brought on Purj and Attach. I have seen nothing from this team as far as scrims so it’s tough to tell. I’m going to give the edge to Minnesota but this could be a tight one I’ll say 3-2.
This one is a bit obvious. Toronto gets an absolute cupcake matchup as they take on LAG. Who has already went through a couple of roster changes before the season. Toronto might be one of the top teams to win it all this season as they are stacked. They switched Hicksy for Envoy which is a huge upgrade. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a 3-0.
Last but not least we get a couple of teams that we saw play today! Boston played much better than I originally thought they would making it very close with a tough Faze team. And Seattle made quick work out of LAT besides a blunder in Control. For now I’m going to give the edge in HP to Seattle and Control to Boston. SnD will be the big factor whether this one goes four or five maps. Either way should be a close one but I’m going to give the edge to Seattle and say 3-1.
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.
Did you know RotoBaller has a Premium DFS eSports subscription?
Like what you read today? You can show your support for Koby by using promo code KOBY when purchasing an eSports Premium Pass. You get 10% off and full access to all of our Premium eSports cheat sheets, DFS research tools, and optimizer!
COD DFS Captain Considerations
Clayster: I was actually surprised to see Clayster this high in price. But to be honest it is well deserved. From all the scrims I have seen of Carolina, he has been frying! This Carolina team is going to be good and a lot of that is because of the duo of Clay and Gwinn. Scrims aren’t actual games but it gives us a good look and I think Clay has the chance to put on a masterclass.
Illey: I was going to go Scrap but I think after last season it’s an obvious play plus he is the most expensive on this slate. Illey however I will admit I slept on him today. I won’t be doing that again because he looks better than ever. He crushed the LA Thieves today as he went 81/47 with a 1.72 KD. Which is outrageous. He gets another matchup that should be favorable towards Seattle again and I could see another great performance on the horizon.
Other captain plays: Scrap, Gwinn, Owakening, Envoy
COD DFS Value Plays
Abuzah: Yikes, they dropped him even lower. I fully believe this is a mistake. 5.800$ is dirt cheap. He just went 66-65 as him and Illey led the team to victory today against LAT. Abuzah has been lighting it up during Scrims and at this price I can’t ignore him. He is a rookie so I’ll give DK that but that price is insane. I’ll have plenty of Abuzah in my lineups.
Insight: The other three are very expensive. But I believe this game suits Insight better than last year. As long as that AR is hitting for him he is going to be a lethal player. On top of that, this matchup is great. I’m fully expecting a 3-0 so that sweep bonus will be nice on top of however these Toronto players do. If you are looking to load up on players at the top, then Insight is a great cheap option at 6,800$ to help you get there.
Other value plays: Snoopy, GodRX, Nero
COD DFS Stacks
Carolina Royal Ravens: I think the majority of people will start with a Toronto stack as they are major favorites but I'm going to go with a team that I think might be slept on this season. Carolina put together a solid lineup this season that is led by Veteran COD player Clayster. His knowledge of the game is second to none and is getting paired up with a couple of rookies in Gwinn and Reeal. To round it out they get another vet in GodRx who some of you may recognize from MW19 when COD DFS first started.
That being said, this team gets a great matchup against quite the unknown in a Miami team that is only returning one player in Vikul. They have a solid young squad but that might come with a little bit of learning and therefore I believe this Carolina team takes advantage of that. I would begin your lineups with Clayster and either pair him with Gwinn or GodRx and round it out with the team spot. I rarely do three players from a single team and generally just use a third slot for the team spot.
Other Team Plays: Toronto Ultra, Minnesota Rokkr
Summary
TLDR: Carolina 3-1, Minnesota 3-2, Toronto 3-0, Seattle 3-1
- Carolina: Clayster, Gwinn, GodRX
- Miami: Vikul, Jurnii
- Vegas: Attach, Standy
- Minnesota: Accuracy, Owakening
- Toronto Ultra: All
- LA Guerrillas: none
- Seattle Surge: Abuzah, Illey, Huke
- Boston Breach: Snoopy, Capsidal
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
RotoBaller Testimonials
Readers of RotoBaller's eSports DFS articles have been winning money on DraftKings and FanDuel regularly. Some of them are winning contests daily and bringing in some serious cheddar. Check one out below and lots more here!
Did you read a RotoBaller article and win too? Send us your screenshots on Twitter @RotoBaller and we'll add it to our winners Hall Of Fame!
Had a member of slack take down the Insomnia Special last night. Pretty cool seeing that @RotoBaller logo up at the top! #Esports #LOL #Draftkings pic.twitter.com/S5FFRSUNB1
— "Thunder Dan" Palyo (@ThunderDanDFS) April 16, 2020
