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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 5/19/23. 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! We crushed it in last weekend's edition! Boston wound up being the better stack and both Atlanta and LAG got their wins as expected with a great value pull in Exceed and Kremp. This week we get another bottom-tier game as well as an interesting twist within the Minnesota Rokkr franchise as they have benched one of their best players in Afro for the likes of Attach.
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 Florida Mutineers who are still fighting for their spot in Champs going up against London Royal Ravens looking solely to play spoiler now that they are out of the Champs conversation. After that we have LA Thieves looking to bounce back against a familiar foe in the Minnesota Rokkr, and our final game of the day ends with a great matchup of SMG players as Hydra and the NY Subliners take on Pred and the Seattle Surge.
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Friday, May 19th, 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 Five Qualifiers
Best of 5
- Florida Mutineers (-310) vs. London Royal Ravens (+225)
- LA Thieves (-1200) vs. Minnesota Rokkr (+600)
- NY Subliners (-200) vs. Seattle Surge (+145)
Slate Overview
When I saw the odds for this one, I thought -300 is a bit wide but I do believe that London is just that bad. Florida had a very impressive win over LA Thieves last weekend and I think they can take that confidence and momentum into this one as well. Florida will tear you apart when it comes to the respawn game modes and that is absolutely where London has been worst at. I do believe however that Capsidal is extremely overpriced and would recommend the fade on him. 3-1 is the call with Florida taking it.
The Thieves need to bounce back, they have had such a lazy start to Stage Five but they get a great matchup against Minnesota who they are 5-0 against this year. Every time these two play it is like a warm-up match for the LA Thieves. Minnesota also made the questionable move of benching Afro in favor of Attach. So maybe a new dynamic is what Minnesota needs to get a win on the board against a team who isn't London. I do believe though this is the game that LA Thieves get back on track, so a 3-1 win is in order here. The -1200 odds are insane though, so I don't mind a shot on Minnesota +600 for value purposes.
Now here is where the real fun begins. Seattle had a tough start but going against Toronto and Optic is no easy task. They got a win on the board against a tough Boston team and that should give them a little confidence coming into this game against the NY Subliners who are 2-1 so far at this Stage. I'm not too impressed by the win over LAG and with LAT struggling, it's hard to put a lot of stock in that. This one is a tough call but I do think it has the chance to go all five maps, and if that is the case I think NYSL takes the win 3-2. For GPP purposes though, Seattle is a great spot to grab some low ownership and take a shot on an underdog win.
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 a bonus of 20 points for not playing hardpoint and 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
Hydra: Probably the best option on the entire slate, so definitely expect Hydra to be one of the highest-owned players. He has averaged 107.8 DKP this season which is one of the highest in the league. This game should be close which can result in a lot of kills for Hydra. During Stage Five he averaged a 1.21 in Hardpoint and a 1.55 in SnD. He has struggled a bit in Control with a .88 K/D but I expect the Control game to be close as Seattle hasn't been the greatest in Control lately.
Octane: Although LAT has struggled to start Stage Five but has destroyed Minnesota in the past. Octane has been one of the top ARs this season, he has been insane in the respawn game modes averaging nearly a 1.10 K/D in Hardpoint and Control. If the past wasn't so good against Minnesota, I don't know that I would be playing LAT, but this is the perfect spot for a bounce-back and I expect Octane to be a crucial part of that.
Other captain plays: Pred, Kismet, Sib, Vikul, Envoy
COD DFS Value Plays
Felo: I will say this, If you can go afford to go Vikul, do so but if you need the value. I think Felo has a good shot to crush his price. In their win over LA Thieves, he scored 106 DKP which was his highest of the season so far. His bread and butter has been the respawn gamemodes but struggles in SnD. He has averaged a 1.05 in Hardpoint and a 1.23 in Control. If we get something close to his last game, we should hit value fairly easily.
Priestahh: 90+ is all we need from Priestahh for me to feel like we got good value from him. He has struggled a bit in Control but makes up for it as he has been very good in SnD and Hardpoint during Stage Five so far. Averaging a 1.10 in Hardpoint and a 1.32 in SnD. He is a great pair with Hydra or Kismet and cheap enough to allow a second star player to be added to your lineups.
Other value plays: Vikul, Kenny, Accuracy(GPP)
COD DFS Stacks
Florida Mutineers: The safest team is the Thieves but I have my hesitation. I also believe no one sweeps in tomorrow's slate which makes it to that we are relying on the players performing rather than a free 45 extra points. Overall I think Florida has the best matchup and is still playing for a spot in champs. London has been awful all year long.
Vikul has been great since returning to the starting lineup, and Felo has also looked good and for his price, it is worth a shot. I have a hard time taking Capsidal with his price being what it is and how inconsistent his scoring has been. 10k plus is a lot for a player who isn't consistently hitting over 100 DKP. Brack has been fine but he is a little on the higher side but I'll let it slide with the matchup being as soft as it is.
Other Team Plays: LA Thieves, NY Subliners, Seattle Surge (GPP)
Summary
TLDR: Florida 3-1, LAT 3-1, NYSL 3-2
- Florida: Brack, Vikul, Felo
- London: Skrapz
- LAT: All
- Minnesota: Attach, Fame
- NYSL: Hydra, Kismet, Priestahh
- Seattle: Pred, Sib, Accuracy
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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