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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 5/25/23. 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! Getting the sweep from Florida in last weekend's article was great but LA Thieves don't look like their usual selves. This is the beginning of the fifth and final Major of the CDL season. After this, we have Champs where eight teams will battle it out for Call of Duty glory. The LA Thieves won the last Major, can they make an insane losers bracket run or will they come up short?
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! Our first day of games is filled with some great ones, first up we have the Atlanta FaZe taking on the Las Vegas Legion, and after that we have the Toronto Ultra taking on the NY Subliners. Next, we have the scorching hot Optic Texas taking on the Florida Mutineers, and finally, we have the Boston Breach taking on a surging Minnesota Rokkr.
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Thursday, May 25th, 2023, at 1:30 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
Best of 5
- Atlanta FaZe (-600) vs. Las Vegas Legion (+375)
- Toronto Ultra (-150) vs. NY Subliners (+115)
- Optic Texas (-525) vs. Florida Mutineers (+340)
- Boston Breach (-150) vs. Minnesota Rokkr (+115)
Slate Overview
Vegas is still fighting for a spot in Champs but will need some help if they want to make a push, they get the brutal task of taking on the Atlanta FaZe in the first match of the day. This is do-or-die for Vegas as they need to get a few wins here to have a chance at Champs still. Although they beat good teams in Seattle, Minnesota, and NYSL. They also got pummeled against FaZe in their qualifiers as well. Vegas is going to need a miracle, and I'm all for an underdog story but I just don't see how they do it. They might be able to steal one or two maps but I don't see Vegas doing enough in SnD to steal the game away. Give me Atlanta 3-1 but I won't be surprised at a sweep either.
As of right now, NYSL's best chance at getting a win is stealing a hardpoint, they are by far the better team in SnD at the moment, but Toronto is very good in Control. I believe how this game ends is dependent on how game four goes. This could either end in a 3-1 Toronto win or a 3-2 NYSL win. I'm leaning towards Toronto Ultra but this is going to be a barn burner of a matchup and I don't think you can go wrong picking either side.
I want to believe Florida has a chance here, but in reality, they got the toughest test out of all on this slate. Optic just beat this team 3-0 not even 4 days ago. Florida is going to have to pull off a harder miracle than Vegas has. Florida played tough at the end of the season but they are going to come up short as Optic takes this one, once again in a 3-0.
Now here is where things get interesting. Minnesota looked like they made the correct move, Fame is back on the SMG like he should have been, and Attach is back in the lineup and it's worked for them. They have won both of their games against tough opponents in LAT and Toronto. Boston on the other hand has been a tough team to crack this season and I cant seem to get them right. Minnesota made a decent run with a worse team in Major Four. That being said, I'm going 3-2 Minnesota.
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
Shottzy: Shotzzy has been on an unreal run. He has scored 105+ DKP in 6 straight games and 153 DKP game in his last outing against the very same team he is going against tomorrow. During the Major Five Qualifiers, he has averaged 1.13 K/D in HP, 1.63 in SnD, and 1.00 in Control. We get him at a great discount of 9,400$ which is 800$ cheaper than his teammate dashy. If he can keep up his level of play going into this Major we are looking at a nice score from Shotzzy in the captain spot.
Scrappy: It will be very tough to get a solid lineup with Scrappy in the captain spot with his price being at 10.6k. But he has by far been one of the most consistent players this year. He has a wonderful matchup against NYSL which is a team that can keep it close. And when I see a team that can stay close, I see lots of kills.
Scrappy has a much higher engagement rate than his teammates by quite a bit. During the Qualifiers, he averaged a 1.24 K/D in HP, a 1.19 in SnD, and a 1.29 in Control. I will say he does take a slight step back when on LAN so there is a bit of risk in that but Scrappy has been frying at the moment. He is worth the shot.
Other captain plays: Cellium, Owakening, Attach, Hydra, Dashy
COD DFS Value Plays
Simp: I'm actually confused about this pricing. I don't think I have ever seen Simp this low in such a good spot. 7,800$ is such good value compared to what he was at all last year. With this being a slate that is a bit tight on the value, I think this is a great place to start your lineups. Atlanta FaZe is in a good spot to possibly sweep and just recently he had 121 against Vegas. During the Major Five Qualifiers, he averaged a 1.27 K/D in HP, 1.48 in SnD, and a rough .83 in Control. I don't like to say lock often but this is damn near one.
Fame: If you need deep value, I would go here with Fame. he seems more settled into his original role that they brought him up for now that he is back on the SMG. Since the change, he has had one great game and one mediocre game. If you can afford to go to Bance, I would do so but Fame has pretty good potential for his 6,600$ price. This matchup is going to be close so it could end up being a shootout. His numbers are by no means flashy but I have seen what fame can do and it's worth a shot.
Other value plays: Bance, Kremp, Ghosty, Huke
COD DFS Stacks
Optic: I'm usually not the one to just take the safest team to stack but I think that is the move in cash games. Every piece of this team has been on fire lately from top to bottom. They just smoked this same Florida team not too long ago and I don't see anything changing. Don't second guess yourself, this is the best Optic has been in a long time and this is the perfect spot to continue the stack. Vegas is much more dangerous to Atlanta than Florida is to Optic...
Other Team Plays: Atlanta FaZe, Minnesota Rokkr, Toronto Ultra
Summary
TLDR: FaZe 3-0, Toronto 3-1, Optic 3-0, Minnesota 3-2
- FaZe: Cellium, Simp, Abezy
- Vegas: Standy, Clayster(PUNT)
- Toronto: Scrappy, CleanX
- NYSL: Hydra, Kismet
- Optic: All
- Florida: None
- Minnesota: Attach, Bance, Fame
- Boston: Owakening, Beans, Kremp
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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