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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 5/13/21. 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 Stage 3 Major! We have a great set of games to work with as the Losers bracket face off to start the Major. Last week we saw Seattle choke away their match to London, FaZe swept Optic, and Dallas Empire may have ended up winning this match, but by far Minnesota had the better scoring players oddly enough. The game was close but the Empire prevailed.
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 start the Major with the first two games coming from the losers bracket as the London Royal Ravens take on Paris Legion, and the LA Guerrillas take on the Seattle Surge. In the Winners bracket to start us off the Atlanta FaZe take on Dallas Empire and the Florida Mutineers get the LA Thieves. Let's dive in!
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Thursday, May 13th, 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: Stage 3 Major
Best of 5
- London Royal Ravens (-170) vs. Paris Legion (+130)
- LA Guerrillas (-210) vs. Seattle Surge (+160)
- Atlanta FaZe (-400) vs. Dallas Empire (+280)
- Florida Mutineers (EVEN) vs. LA Thieves (-130)
Slate Overview
This is one of the very few matchups this season that has yet to be played. The battle of Europe. Both of these teams are fighting to stay alive in the playoffs and to be honest I have to give the edge to London, they looked like the much better team against Seattle and were able to knock off NYSL as well. Paris has one win in stage 3 and that continues to be Florida who they seem to beat every time. I think this makes for a good mini stack to your lineups as they aren't all-around solid of a team but should be able to do well in this game. Seany and PaulEhx are the two I'm looking towards here. Paris' best chance for a map win is in Hardpoint. In SnD they are 0-5 and in Control they are 1-4, London is much better on both maps. They also looked really good in hardpoint against Seattle last week, so I wouldn't put it past them for a sweep.
Oh, have the mighty surge fallen. If it wasn't for Paris being much worse, Seattle would definitely be at the bottom and it blows my mind because the team is solid they just can't put a win together to save their lives. LA Guerrillas other than a sweep over Paris have lost every game since. This is going to be one of those games to fade as it's probably going to be ugly and not a high-scoring match. Seattle is good enough to take this to 5 maps but it will be tough. Since bringing Cheen on to the squad, LA Guerrillas have improved and were able to take Dallas, Florida, and Minnesota all to 5 games but their SnD woes continue as they have choked it away. They haven't been great on hardpoint either so this match might be close than the oddsmakers predict. I'm going to give LAG the advantage here and say they win but I wouldn't put it past Seattle to grab a map or two and try and force a game 5.
So Optic decided to just not put up a fight. Atlanta came in and made a statement that they are here to play and not mess around. That seemed to convince the oddsmakers to make them the largest favorites on the slate. Dallas was able to beat Minnesota 3-1 but I can't say that they looked great in that game as all of them except c6 just barely went Even or +1 on the day. Whereas Minnesota had largely positive K/Ds. I'm not sure that Dallas is going to be ready for this match therefore it makes sense for an Atlanta stack here. All players are in play as even Arcitys is playing extremely well.
This game is going to be tough to dissect. LA Thieves had been looking great until they looked extremely rough against NYSL. Not sure if Thieves were just off that game or if NYSL was just on their game for sure. Florida on the other hand this season has been the bane of my existence. I pick them to do well, they lose. I pick them to lose, and they dominate. There has been 0 consistency with them and that makes it very difficult to pick them. They have big wins over Minnesota and Dallas but also have a questionable loss against Paris and a close win against LA Guerrillas. I'm looking at this game more from a player-picking standpoint rather than a game stack. This should be bloody and it could very well go all 5 maps here. Thieves should win Control, and I think Florida wins on Hardpoint, but SnD is 100% up for grabs as both teams have been mediocre.
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/Cellium: Any of these guys are great plays, In a game that Atlanta should sweep, they are all great options. Simp I'm still a little hesitant at that price as his production has just been a bit up and down. I do like Abezy though for a bit more. Getting multiples of this team will more than likely be pretty chalky. My favorite pair is Abezy and Arcitys or Cellium and Arcitys. Cellium has a 1.00 in hardpoint, a 1.09 in SnD, and a 1.28 in control. Simp has a 1.17 in Hardpoint, a .96 in SnD, and a 1.27 in Control. Abezy has a 1.06 in hardpoint, a 1.41 in SnD, and a .95 in Control. I would say Abezy's is much lower than the rest because of his engagements and how much higher it is than everybody else. He is dying more but is also getting more kills. Which is something we are definitely going to want to look for in our lineups. Cellium looked much better and refreshed in this last game and that gives me a lot of confidence in his game for tomorrow.
Owakening/Kenny: This game is going to be great, and it should be bloody. Both of these players are playing at elite levels right now and with the playoffs on the line, these guys are going to have to step up in a big way. On the Florida side, Owakening has been a monster, His last 6 games have been very impressive as he has dropped 100+ in 5 of those 6, and the one time he missed he had 94. In some of those games, they even lost including them getting swept and Owakening still having 111 DKP. He is an elite play in a match that should be close and might even go 5 games. I love the Owakening play. Kenny on the other hand has been an absolute demon lately. He has scores of 125, 123, and 144 in 3 of his last 4 matches all of which went to 4 games or more. In stage 3, Kenny has had a 1.13 K/D in hardpoint, a 1.11 in SnD, and a 1.34 in Control. Kenny is easily the best play from LAT. And should be highly considered in your lineups. These guys even pair well together in what should be a close match that should go at least 4 maps.
Other captain plays: Octane, Assault, Skyz, PaulEhx, Drazah
COD DFS Value Plays
Arcitys: Arcitys has stepped up big time in Stage 3. He has 4 straight games of 100+ DKP and only one of those has been a sweep. He is playing very well and at the start of the year, he was a play you only took if you were sure of an Atlanta sweep. Now he is only 8k and is a fantastic play. He is on the high end of value but he is still cheap compared to the rest of his teammates and has been easily one of the most consistent in stage 3. In his last 4 games, he has K/D differential of +14, +22, +13, +25. He is playing at the elite level he was expected at the beginning of the season. Now is the time to step up even more and the matchup against Dallas is a great one as they have struggled since Huke has left. He has a 1.17 K/D in Hardpoint, 1.16 in SnD, and a 1.31 in Control. Fantastic play at 8k and easily one of my favorite plays.
Havok: I know, I said I wasn't gonna play Havok again, but he's improved! He has had 106 and 104 in his last 2 games and has gone positive in both. With this being a bloody game, I really like him at his price. He's a bit of risk and isn't my favorite play from Florida. But his price makes him a very intriguing option as well as the cheapest option I'm willing to go on this slate. In the last two games, Havok has had a 1.02 on hardpoint, 1.44 in Snd, and a 1.10 in Control. At 6,200 he is well worth the price if you are looking to try and get a big Atlanta stack, then Havok is the necessary value needed for something like that.
Other value plays: Decemate, Prestinni, Venom, Neptune, Drazah
COD DFS Stacks
London Royal Ravens: I can't believe that I'm actually putting this team here as a game stack. I definitely do recommend this as a mini-stack to fit in with another large stack or mini stack from another team. PaulEhx and Seany have been the only consistent players on the team and I do highly recommend them as plays here. Paris is bad, they are by far the worst team in the league and just seem to have Florida's number this season. Paris against Florida they are 3-0. Paris against the rest of the teams in the league is 1-13. London has a couple of nice wins under their belt in stage 3 with a 3-2 win over the No. 1 seed in NYSL and a 3-1 win against Seattle. Zed at worst is the last play from London that I would recommend. Zaptius hasn't shown me anything this season to even give me any desire to grab him.
Atlanta FaZe: Atlanta came out and smoked Optic, not giving them any chance to breathe and shut them down. I thought it was going to be much closer, and man was I wrong. Cellium looked so much better than he did in previous games and that helped a lot in that game against Optic as he went +19, Dallas hasn't looked great in Stage 3, and I do think the benching and releasing of Huke wasn't a smart move. Atlanta should be able to come in and win this one as well. I will give Dallas a shot at one map in hardpoint but I don't even think that happens. Cellium/Arcitys have been the best plays for Atlanta in Stage 3 as they have been the most consistent in all three game modes. Abezy/Simp both have an insane explosive upside though and are a very dangerous fade. Their pricing is up there but if they are on their game, they can break a slate.
Other Team Plays: LA Guerrillas, LA Thieves, Florida Mutineers
Summary
- TLDR: London 3-1, LA Guerrillas 3-1, Atlanta 3-0, LA Thieves 3-2
- Atlanta and London are my favorite stacks
- I really like the Thieves/Florida game for a game stack as it should be a close match.
- I don't love LAG/Seattle but Assault has been playing well recently.
- London: Seany and PaulEhx
- Paris: Fade
- LAG: Assault and Cheen
- Seattle: Octane and Decemate
- Atlanta: All
- Dallas: Shotzzy
- LA Thieves: Kenny and Drazah
- Florida: Owakening and Skyz, Havok(Cheap)
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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