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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 5/1/21. 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! Wouldn't be a weekend of COD without something happening! Finally a good start to a weekend! Subliners blew it somehow against London but everything else went pretty according to plan. So since Subliners beat FaZe and London beat Subliners, this means London is going to be FaZe right? Oh, I hope not or I'm going to be toast.
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 we have Atlanta FaZe taking on London Royal Ravens, Dallas Empire taking on LA Guerrillas, and Lastly the CDL Marquee matchup with NYSL taking on the Seattle Surge!
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Saturday, May 1st, 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
- Atlanta FaZe (-1100) vs. London Royal Ravens (+575)
- Dallas Empire (-375) vs. LA Guerrillas (+250)
- NY Subliners (-275) vs. Seattle Surge (+195)
Slate Overview
I can't believe NYSL was able to knock off FaZe and then turn around a week later and not be able to handle London. It's actually kind of sad. Now FaZe gets to come in and do it and ruin any chances the Royal Ravens thought they had of pulling off a comeback story. The only issue I see here is that the prices on Abezy and Simp are absurd and it's going to make it very difficult to pay for them without punting two spots at least. Arcitys looked much better last game and was able to score well in a 5 game match for one of the first times this season. This should be a sweep but with how inconsistent London has been, who knows. Cellium hasn't looked great this stage so far, so I'm a little on edge with him.
Dallas needs some redemption, and what better team to play than the inconsistency of the LA Guerrillas. FeLo looked okay in his first start, and this game he will have more of a chance to shine. LA Guerrillas tried to give Toronto a fight on hardpoint but was blown out in Control and SnD. Dallas is a much better Hardpoint team and I expect them to come out swinging and prepared for this game. They have had all week to prepare for it and it should be a hard-fought battle. I don't think they sweep here as LAG has been a really good SnD team so far this year. So more than likely I could see this one being a 3-1 win by Dallas Empire.
This one is going to be fun. I have no clue what is going to happen when it comes down to this one. Subliners have been all over the place beating the No.1 team and losing to the No. 12 team. Seattle had a rough loss against LA Thieves and was swept by Chicago so far in Stage 3. I think they keep this close with NYSL but I don't think they win. Seattle has struggled severely in Control, I do like Seattle for SnD though. This one should go to 4 games and maybe 5 if Seattle can grab one of the hardpoint games. Those hardpoint games are going to be critical. Hydra has been killing it in Hardpoint though and that's going to be a tough match. Give me NYSL 3-1 but don't count Seattle out.
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
Simp/Abezy: You should definitely be grabbing one of these guys at least! They are some of the best plays on the slate and both average over 110+ DKP. Simp has been elite this season. He has a 1.23 K/D in Control, 1.15 in SnD, and a 1.22 in hardpoint. Getting him is going to be difficult in the captain spot but getting him in the flex is much easier and a lot more reasonable. abezy gets a lot of kills but also dies quite a bit. He is averaging more engagements than anyone on his team but over 3+ engagements. I really like both of these guys and if you can get both definitely make it happen. They are elite plays and very much could break the slate. They are going to be high-owned so getting your other players correct is going to be critical but definitely grab these guys in cash games.
Shotzzy: This is definitely a rebound game for Shotzzy, the last two games for shotzzy have just been awful. They have yet to play LAG this season, so this is going to be new for them. LAG has been very inconsistent and I think Shotzzy is a player that can break a slate and he has been very good in respawn game modes. This is going to be critical for shotzzy to get lots of kills in, I do think LAG grabs the SnD in this one, and Dallas can take on a bloodbath of maps in two hardpoints and Control. This should be a high killing game for shotzzy and I think his price is warranted but he does come at risk with him struggling the last two games. I'm hoping this game he can rebound and go off as he has in the past. The matchup is good and hopefully, he can take advantage of it.
Other captain plays: Clayster, Octane, Hydra, Cellium, Illey
COD DFS Value Plays
Arcitys: Now here is your chalk play. Arcitys finally managed a 100+ point performance in a game that wasn't a sweep. Arcitys could be starting to get it together finally. In the five map match against LA Thieves on Thursday, he went +25 with 2 minutes in hill time at 85 kills. He now gets an even better matchup against London who is coming off a win against NYSL, but I don't think they can pull this off twice in the same weekend. NYSL made a couple of late mistakes in SnD and London was able to capitalize. London is going to have to find a different game mode though if they want to try and pull off an upset as Atlanta is 17-10 in SnD compared to London is 6-14 in SnD. Arcitys is looking like a really good play at 7,400 and will more than likely be one of the highest owned players on the slate.
FeLo: FeLo is the safer play here but I do really like Prestinni as well. I'm just not sure how the Surge/Subliners game goes. I don't think it ends in a sweep so therefore the bonus is gone and you are looking for someone to score as high as possible in a 4+ map match. Back to FeLo though, He had a rough start and we didn't get a great look at him. In respawn game modes though he did have 23+ kills in both and that was with a loss, if he can tone down the deaths and get some more kills going, we could be looking at a really good play for very cheap too. At 6,600 he is by far the best play at that cheap. No way am I touching any London players and Loony is hot trash. Apathy isn't a horrible pick but has been really up and down this season. FeLo burned me against Toronto but I have a good feeling with him here against LAG.
Other value plays: Prestinni, Mack, Clayster
COD DFS Stacks
Atlanta FaZe: This should be the obvious stack, and have fun avoiding it if you want to cash. Grabbing them in the team spot might be one of the most important parts of your lineups. It's very expensive at 4k but it's going to be worth it as they have the most security for a win on this slate. I actually prefer Simp, Abezy, and Arcitys. Cellium has struggled especially in hardpoint in Stage 3. I think the matchup is favorable though and a good spot for a rebound but his price is a bit high for his recent production. Arcitys is a great play in what could be a sweep as he has scored above 100+ DKP in every sweep this season and is only 7,400. Grabbing him and either Abezy or Simp is more than likely going to be optimal.
Dallas Empire: This is more than likely going to be our chalk lineup with Dallas/Atlanta. It's just going to be a matter of who. FeLo didn't really get a chance to show off what he can do against Toronto, but I think this is a much better chance for him to shine. He is really cheap at 6,600 too and won't affect your line too much if he doesn't do as well as we hope. If Dallas can be on the right side of a sweep or a high-scoring 4 map match then I could see FeLo scoring much better. Shotzzy is my favorite play from Dallas. C6 is a bit high but has been playing well recently. I do like Illey much more for about 400$ cheaper though. LAG has been very inconsistent and didn't look great against Toronto today but this is the same team that came out and smoked Paris who knows anymore.
Other Team Plays: NY Subliners, Seattle Surge(GPP)
Summary
- TLDR: Atlanta 3-0, Dallas 3-1, NYSL 3-1
- Atlanta/Dallas is cash stack
- Subliners/Surge is going to be a good game, and it's definitely a GPP play. For Subliners look to Hydra and Clayster. For Surge look to anyone but Loony.
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