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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 3/3/22. 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! Welcome everyone to the first Major of the 2022 CDL Season! This one is a live LAN event that is being held in Texas! The first slate might be a bit tricky as some players do have a bit better record on LAN *Cough* Octane *Cough*. But it will be good to see how these players perform and give us a better look into future LAN tournaments as well as the rest of this one!
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 I finally get to put all this knowledge to the test! The first matchups for Major 1 start with LAG taking on London as they look for revenge! Next, we have Atlanta taking on Boston with massive odds in favor of FaZe, LA Thieves and Toronto should be an absolute banger of a matchup and one of the games I am most excited for. Lastly, we have Optic Texas taking on Seattle Surge!
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Thursday, March 3rd, 2022, at 3:00 PM EST. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @DFSKoby or find me in the slack as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions!
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Call of Duty: Major 1
Best of 5
- LA Guerrillas (+230) vs. London Royal Ravens (-310)
- Atlanta FaZe (-1400) vs. Boston Breach (+675)
- LA Thieves (-120) vs. Toronto Ultra (-110)
- Optic Texas (-190) vs. Seattle Surge (+145)
Slate Overview
London is going to be looking for revenge in this one as their only loss during stage one came at the hands of LA Guerrillas. LAG has a lot more experience in LAN-style gameplay but I think overall London has some insane talent currently. This could end up being a close matchup and I like it to at least go 4 maps. Gunless is pretty cheap for his possible output and is definitely where I would start GPP lineups with LAG focus along with Huke. As for London, Afro is very cheap and Gismo is very expensive, pair together they go well like peanut butter and jelly. I got London 3-1 but I think the game has upset potential.
Sheesh, -1400 favorites already. That is a little steep, I think FaZe wins but there is no value in that but I'm looking at the +3.5 maps for the side of Boston as we may see Boston come out blazing on LAN and at least grab a map which is definitely worth some money. Atlanta is very expensive so it might be a one-off type of deal for them being Abezy or Cellium holding that spot. As for Boston, they need to steal a map to make this interesting and it might need to come on the back of Capsidal if they can.
Just a couple of weeks ago we saw LA Thieves knock off Toronto Ultra 3-1 in their last game of the Qualifiers. It was a great matchup the first time and I think it is going to be even better this time around on LAN. Octane is known as the human turret and really turned up for Seattle last year during the LAN tournaments and they are going to need him to continue that into this year's LAN tournaments. Overall this team has a lot of experience and talent to swing this one in their favor. They are one of the best Hardpoint teams in the league right now and if they can keep it together on SnD and Control, they can win this match. LA Thieves 3-1.
Lastly, we see Optic Texas taking on the Seattle Surge who seem to be in a bit of a slump as of late losing their last two matches after a 3-0 start. Optic is riding hot right now and Shotzzy is playing out of his mind. Seattle is going to need the rookies to take over in this one to really take this team to a win. Sib and Pred can do it and they did it during the Kickoff Series almost winning the entire tournament. I think we should see at least 4 maps if not a 5th. I do have Optic though as I have to ride the hot hand. 3-1 or 3-2.
COD DFS Basics
- Like in CSGO, players receive two points for a kill and are penalized -1 for dying. Therefore, the simplest 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 is going to be a lot different in gameplay as it's round-based and not the first one 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 are going to be very crucial this year.
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COD DFS Captain Considerations
Shotzzy: Shotzzy has been on a reign of terror recently and it looks like Optic has finally come more into form. They get a tough task against Seattle though who crushed in the Kickoff Series which was on LAN. This should be a competitive matchup and I think Shotzzy is on the right side of it. We should be seeing Bocage as well in Hardpoint which has shown to be one of those maps that have been getting insane amounts of kills on. He has a hefty tag at 10k but he has shown to be paying that off with ease scoring 113, 143, 131, and 152 in his last 4 games! During the Qualifiers, he averaged a 1.14 K/D in Hardpoint, a 1.28 in SnD, and a 1.05 in Control.
Abezy/Cellium: Both of these guys are super expensive but I believe at least one of them can pay off that price tag. Cellium has been the most consistent and has the higher floor but I do believe Abezy's ceiling has yet to be seen, he has insane potential as his FPTS could push over 150 on any given day. The odds are indicating that this matchup ends up being a 3-0 but I think Boston is good enough to steal a map as they did earlier in the Qualifiers. Either way though, I think you are getting great players at the high end of the salaries! Cellium has averaged a 1.13 K/D in Hardpoint, an insane 2.68 K/D in SnD, and a 1.32 K/D in Control. Abezy has averaged a 1.25 in Hardpoint, 1.05 in SnD, and a .91 in Control.
Other captain plays: Gismo, Envoy, Octane, Dashy, Cammy, Sib
COD DFS Value Plays
Afro: I seriously don't understand this price. Afro has the third-highest overall K/D at 1.14 so far this season only below his teammate Gismo and Cellium. Yet for some reason we are getting him at 7,200$. He has dropped 119, 105, 102, and 120 and only one of those was the result of a sweep. So it shows that Afro is absolutely killing the game right now. I could see this match ending multiple ways but most end in London winning this matchup and Afro crushing this weak price. During the Major 1 Qualifiers, he had a 1.10 K/D in Hardpoint, a 1.16 in SnD, and a 1.22 in Control.
Drazah: I can't get over this price, these two teams just faced off and Drazah had a great game dropped 99 kills in 4 maps with a +4 K/D differential. Does this happen again? I think there's a chance it happens but for 6,400$ I'm willing to take a risk. There is a lot of top players on this slate that are interesting and finding that one super cheap player to help you get that second top tier player could make the difference. Drazah has struggled in SnD quite a bit but I think he makes it up quite a bit in Hardpoint and Control. Drazah played well on LAN last season and If he can carry that over into this season he could pay off 6,400 $ quite easily.
Other value plays: Kenny, CleanX, Illey, Pred, Gunless
COD DFS Stacks
London Royal Ravens: With the odds that Atlanta has if you can get away with stacking them at such an expensive price by all means go for it. I went with London in this spot because honestly they have really stepped up this season and honestly I was down on them at the beginning but they are growing to be a team to stack right now. All 4 players have a 1.03 K/D or better, with Gismo and Afro having the 2nd and 3rd highest K/Ds. Oddly enough the team they took their only loss to was against LAG but I think this time around I'm expecting revenge from the London side of things. I believe it was just an off day for them and this time around are going to be much more prepared and make for a great matchup especially with it being on LAN this time. Afro and Gismo stand out as the top plays from London and I would focus there with Nastie being your best third option for the team.
Other Team Plays: Atlanta FaZe, Optic Texas, LA Thieves, Toronto Ultra
Summary
- TLDR: London Royal Ravens 3-1, Atlanta FaZe 3-0/1, LAT 3-2, Optic Texas 3-2
- London: Gismo, Afro, Nastie
- LAG(GPP): Huke, Gunless
- Atlanta: All
- Boston: Capsidal(GPP)
- LAT: All
- Toronto: Cammy, Insight, CleanX
- Optic: Shotzzy, Dashy, Illey
- Seattle: Sib, Pred
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