RADIO
Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 4/22/21. 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 to the start of the third stage of the 2021 CDL Season! Toronto Ultra pulled off one of the best underdogs runs throughout this tournament and upset Atlanta FaZe in the Championship match! It was quite impressive and I really didn't think Toronto had much of a chance! It's time for a new set of games coming into this third stage! Should be a great weekend to make some money! Make sure you read as much as you can as there have been quite a few roster moves since the end of Stage 2 and we wanna make sure that you don't miss a thing!
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! My Name is Koby and I'll be here all season long to help guide you through the COD DFS world. We have a fantastic set of games ahead of us this weekend! To start us off on Thursday we have Dallas Empire taking on the Paris Legion and the reigning champs get the Florida Mutineers to start! On Friday we have a fantastic matchup with the new and improved LA Thieves taking on a hungry Seattle Surge as well as Optic Chicago looking to continue their hot season against a struggling London Royal Ravens team.
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Thursday and Friday, April 22nd-23rd, 2021, at 3:00 PM. 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: London Royal Ravens Home Series
Best of 5
- Dallas Empire (-260) vs. Paris Legion (+195)
- Toronto Ultra (-180) vs. Florida Mutineers (+135)
- LA Thieves (-135) vs. Seattle Surge (+105)
- Optic Chicago (-475) vs. London Royal Ravens (+315)
Slate Overview
Dallas Empire is coming off a crushing defeat against Toronto Ultra in the Semi-finals of the 2nd Major and looks to get back on track against the poor Paris Legion who have struggled all season long to get things going and just haven't been able to. Paris Legion made a much-needed roster change in benching Fire and grabbing Temp from the LA Thieves. I think this gives Paris a better chance in the future to get some wins but starting against Dallas is something I can't imagine they could have hoped for to start. I expect Dallas to come out hot and win this match fairly easily.
So Toronto is our Stage 2 champs. Didn't think I would be saying that to be honest. I'm still very hesitant with this team though and I think the oddsmakers are as well. Toronto has been a team of ups and downs this season and I can't confidently pick them against Florida. This match I think ends up being very close especially with the long-awaited return of Havok to the pro scene from last year. Havok has been on the bench waiting patiently for his time to shine and that time is now. Havok, Skyz, and Owakening meshed extremely well last season and helped give Florida a much-needed boost. Havok is taking Slacked's spot on the starting roster which makes this team very lethal. I think Toronto could be in for an upset here or at least a very close 5 game match.
This might be our closest game of the weekend. Which can mean either a high-scoring affair from certain players on both teams or just a dominating performance from one. Both teams ended the last stage looking a lot better than they started it. Slasher and Temp were benched and Venom and Drazah were added. Drazah's impact was immediately felt. I don't think either team here will sweep the other and that leads me to believe this one should be a bloody matchup. This match is definitely going at least 4 games and if Seattle wins at least one Hardpoint, it definitely could go 5.
Last but not least we get Optic Chicago against the worst team in the league in London Royal Ravens. London also made a roster move once again as Dylan was subbed out for the likes of their Academy team player in Zaptius. Zaptius played with PaulEhx in the Challengers scene before getting the call up to the CDL. This might help London a bit in the long run but against Optic it's going to make for a tough debut for Zaptius. Optic choked in the quarter-finals of the Stage 2 Majors against Minnesota Rokkr in Round 11 of Search and Destroy. Unfortunately ending their championship hopes once again. I expect a big performance from Optic out of this one and also a sweep.
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 K/D ratio. However, players can also earn fantasy points for planting or defusing bombs (three points each) in Search and Destroy rounds, so there are some players who we can target for other skills besides their ability to kill the opponent.
- 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 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 comes into Stage 3 in fantastic form. He has the best K/D on his team and is averaging the most kills in respawn game modes which is a lot of extra points when it comes down to it. He finally got priced up after having 5 of his last 6 matches result in 100+ DKP performances and two of those being 130+ as well. We finally get MVP Shotzzy back and I'm all for it. The discount off of Huke is a bonus as well as he hasn't quite performed to his 10.4k price and that's a lot to pay for with so many good players on the board for tomorrow. He averaged a 1.05 K/D overall in Stage 2 and was averaging a 1.02 in Hardpoint and a 1.09 in Control. 9,800 is steep but I think with a sweep looming and high kills out of Shotzzy, he could be worth grabbing in the captain spot for a chance at 150+ DKP.
FormaL: FormaL has been one of the best Optic players for a while and he is now top 5 in overall K/D this season at 1.10. We are getting him at quite the discount with Envoy playing very well currently and Dashy being one of the best in the league right now. That's just how stacked this Optic team is. FormaL is one of the best in Hardpoint right now as well with a 1.16 K/D, so even if this match happens to go 4 games. That just plays right into FormaLs arsenal and that can add up to another 25+ kills to his total. He is great in respawn game modes. If you are looking at stacking Optic, he is a great place to grab at the captain spot to maximize the rest of your team's salary as Envoy and Dashy can make it very difficult otherwise to finish your lineup. FormaL has gone for 90+ DKP in his last 4 games and has multiple games this season of 100+ as well. The upside is there and with the game being so favored for Optic, it's a great place to grab him.
Other captain plays: Dashy, Drazah, Envoy, Octane, Skyz
COD DFS Value Plays
Havok: Skyz, is definitely the safer play but Havok was a killer in last year's CDL. I think we get Florida at already low ownership, but to have someone that hasn't played in this year's CDL, might take away even more ownership from Havok. We could be getting Havok at less than 10% and I'm all for it. This is purely a GPP play because we honestly don't know how he will do to start his 2021 pro season. I wish I had the stats from last year to further back the Havok play but unfortunately, I don't. It has been playing well in the Challengers scene though and hopefully will come in and ready to help lead Florida to a win here. I'm confident in the fact that benching Slacked was the move though as he has been inconsistent and definitely the part of Florida Mutineers that has hurt them. Havok should make a difference and give Florida a boost.
Prestinni: In what should be a bloodbath of a game, I love me some Prestinni at 6,800. In his last 3, 5 game matches, Prestinni has scored 111, 98, and 104. He has improved quite a bit since the start of Stage 2, and I expect that to continue here. Even if this match only goes 4 games, I could definitely see Prestinni still hitting value. As long as his price stays where it is, Prestinni will always be in consideration for a value play. He had 100+ DKP upside for cheap. The game environment is great too. He is averaging the most engagements on his team in Hardpoint and Control as well as Kills Per 10 Minutes in those game modes as well. He is averaging a 1.13 in Hardpoint and a .95 in Control. Either way, he is seeing a lot of kills and as long as we get that 2nd hardpoint game, Prestinni should be looking at 70+ kills and hopefully a positive K/D.
Other value plays: Skyz, Illey, Scump, Kenny, Venom(PUNT)
COD DFS Stacks
Dallas Empire: I'm still not sure how Dallas hasn't managed to win a Stage yet. They have such a well-rounded team and have very good players in Huke and Shotzzy. They were big favorites coming into this season to repeat a championship run and have so far just choked when it mattered most. This stage though gives them their best chance to finish the group stage in first place and get themselves a headstart. They have the easier of the two groups with LAG, Paris, and Florida all in that group. They are big favorites here to beat Paris and they should definitely. Shotzzy is coming into this stage playing very well and Huke is starting to get it back together after a slow start to the last stage. Illey is also looking better since the change in meta but unfortunately got the price increase we hoped wouldn't happen. C6 is viable but Illey is 200$ less and I think is more consistent. Dallas sweep.
Optic Chicago: I'm pretty confident in an Optic sweep here, so that means they are going to choke right? I sure hope it doesn't, Optic has looked like one of the most well-rounded teams in the league this year next Atlanta FaZe. London just hasn't looked themselves this year and has been making so many roster changes it's crazy. They looked like they had something when PaulEhx first joined but since their first two wins they have looked absolutely horrid. London's one shot at a game mode win here is in SnD. Something Optic has improved on but still has a ton of work to be considered one of the better SnD teams. Dashy is starting to piece things back together after a rough start to Stage 2 and Envoy and FormaL have stepped up big time. I have picked FormaL a lot this season and he hasn't disappointed much. He's been a consistent player this year and is one of my favorite Optic pieces on this slate. Scump is viable in a sweep situation but has had his price increased which makes me like him a bit less.
Other Team Plays: Florida Mutineers, LA Thieves, Seattle Surge (GPP)
Summary
- TLDR: Dallas 3-0, Florida Mutineers 3-2, LA Thieves 3-2, Optic 3-0
- Optic and Dallas are today's cash stacks.
- The other two games are heavily GPP viable. I really like Florida and its pricing. Toronto is going to be higher owned too.
- LA Thieves/Seattle game is more than likely going to be a blood bath so picking the correct plays could be crucial here. Octane, Gunless, and Prestinni all are great options. Look to Drazah or Kenny for LA Thieves.
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