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Hello there eSports DFS enthusiasts, and welcome back to RotoBaller's coverage of Call of Duty DFS contests for DraftKings! We finally got our upset! In a slate full of big favorites Vegas Legion came through and got the win. It didn't translate to scores as much as I would have liked but as for my predictions, they were perfect. This week we have the Fourth Major of the CDL Season and with us getting closer and closer to Champs, teams need to make a push to get as many points out of this Major as possible.
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 up we have the LA Thieves taking on the Minnesota Rokkr, after that, we have the NY Subliners taking on the hot Las Vegas Legion, then a banger between a surging Optic Texas against the Boston Breach, and finally we have the Seattle Surge taking on the Atlanta FaZe.
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Thursday, April 20th, 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!
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Call of Duty: Major Four
Best of 5
- LA Thieves (-525) vs. Minnesota Rokkr (+320)
- NY Subliners (-210) vs. Las Vegas Legion (+158)
- Optic Texas (-325) vs. Boston Breach (+220)
- Seattle Surge (+130) vs. Atlanta FaZe (-170)
Slate Overview
The first one is going to be a great one to get the Major started. LA Thieves looks very dangerous right now and is one of the favorites to outright win the entire Major. Minnesota seems to be having issues and if it wasn't for a couple of wins against inferior opponents they would be starting in the loser's bracket. Thieves are one of the best HP teams and have improved in SnD which is already something Minnesota struggles in. Minnesota's best chance at a win comes in Control, but even then they got swept in their control game against LA Thieves just a few days ago. At worst this is a 3-1, but I believe it will be a 3-0 sweep.
This might be the most interesting matchup. This is Legion's first time starting in the Winners bracket in their entire CDL existence. In their last Major, they upset LA Thieves and did fairly well in the losers bracket and that was with 2Real. Standy is a major upgrade and I believe this team poses a real threat to NY Subliners. Legion is very good in SnD, and with that being said they just have to win one other map and they could take this to map five where they would have a chance to win in SnD.
As for NYSL, this is a very well-rounded team, and if it wasn't for a very early exit in the last Major I would be more inclined to think that NYSL could pull this off but the last two Majors have not been kind to them. I'll take the upset and say 3-2 Legion!
Optic has just been so good lately, it's hard to pick against them. I don't think I will either but it more comes down to how I see it going down. Huke and shotzzy have been one of the best sub duos in the league and Dashy is one of the top ARs. Boston is good enough to take a map but I don't think good enough to outright win. I'll say 3-1 Optic but I wouldn't be surprised at a sweep either.
Last but not least. Is it time for Atlanta to make a change? They seem to have struggled a bit during the qualifiers, outright getting swept by Seattle and barely beating teams such as Florida and Minnesota. Slasher has been awful, to say the least, and Simp has been a bit of a letdown this season. Atlanta has slightly lost their touch at the moment and I believe Seattle comes out and takes the win. This time in 3-1 fashion as I think Seattle loses SnD on LAN.
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 will be a lot different in gameplay 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 granted a bonus of 20 points for not playing hardpoint and a bonus of 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
Standy: Right off the bat, I'm going with a little underdog play. This is the best lineup I have seen Legion put together since the start of the CDL. Standy is a big part of the reason why this team has taken that next step. Since joining Vegas at this stage, he has averaged a 1.29 K/D in HP, a 1.58 in SnD, and a 1.01 in Control. 9,200$ is a tough price and I will say I like Temp as well as a pivot piece but Standy has an insane ceiling scoring upwards of 130+ in 3/5 games with Vegas.
Octane: I just can't justify dropping 10,400$ on Envoy when I have Octane at 9,400$. He has been playing out of his mind lately and that's just for the online games. He has always been known as a LAN player and I believe that to be true. He is one of the top ARs in the game and I still think he doesn't quite get the credit he deserves. During the qualifiers, he averaged a team-leading 1.22 K/D in HP and 1.75 K/D in Control. He lacks a bit in SnD but has always shown to make up for it in respawn. On top of that they are playing a Minnesota team that they just swept not even four days ago. I wouldn't be surprised to see it again.
Other captain plays: Hydra, Pred, Cellium, Shotzzy, Owakening
COD DFS Value Plays
Kenny: Kenny seems to have figured out his recent struggles. Just during stage four, he looked so much better than he had the rest of the season. I will say though LAN has not been his friend this year and that is something to look out for but I love his price at 7k with his recent play being so good. The matchup is great for him as they have just played Minnesota so recently. During Stage four he averaged a 1.23 K/D in HP, a 1.07 in SnD, and a 1.14 in Control. The LAN struggles worry me but I'll take a risk.
Kremp: With how good Optic has been playing, I don't have a lot of faith in this play. But Optic has always struggled slightly more compared to online matches. So with that being said Boston has a chance and I believe they have a solid enough team to make a move. Of course, this is a GPP play and the Punt Play to rule them all. Kremp has had a great start to his CDL career averaging a 1.00 K/D in HP and SnD, and a 1.26 in Control. As I said, the matchup is a rough one but he is 6k. If we can get even a somewhat close game, Kremp could pay off the very cheap price.
Other value plays: Huke, Priestahh, Simp, TJHaly(GPP)
COD DFS Stacks
LA Thieves: LA might be the largest favorite on the slate but I don't believe they will be the highest owned. Optic and FaZe always garner more ownership and with Optic going 5-0 in their qualifiers, they will come out with very high ownership. So I believe it is smart to take the Thieves as they just played Minnesota not so long ago and smoked them.
I believe all players are options but my least favorite is Envoy as he is the most expensive on the entire slate. My favorite pairing would be a stack of Octane and Drazah. Kenny is solid, especially at his price and recent play but he struggles on LAN a bit so therefore I like Drazah just a bit more over him.
Other Team Plays: Optic, Seattle, NYSL, Vegas(GPP)
Summary
TLDR: 3-0 LAT, 3-2 LV, Optic 3-1, Seattle 3-1
- Rokkr: Afro, Fame(punt)
- Thieves: Octane, Drazah, Kenny
- Legion: Standy, Temp, TJHaly
- Subliners: Hydra, Kismet, Priestahh
- Optic: Huke, Dashy, Shotzzy
- Breach: Owakening, Nero, Kremp(GPP)
- Surge: All
- FaZe: Cellium, Abezy
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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