RADIO
Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 5/29/21. 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 Stage four of the 2021 CDL Season! Optic and Atlanta were our big winners as they pulled off big wins, and Dallas made a great comeback to seal their first win of Stage 4. Toronto on the other hand took a rough loss against Florida who seems to be finally putting it together. Let's move on to the next!
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. For Saturday we have Minnesota taking on Paris Legion both of which are coming off big losses, LA Thieves get the new look Surge, and NYSL gets the LA Guerrillas in both of their first games of stage 4.
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Saturday, May 29th, 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
- Minnesota Rokkr(-230) vs. Paris Legion (+175)
- LA Thieves (-385) vs. Seattle Surge (+265)
- NY Subliners (-300) vs. LA Guerrillas (+220)
Slate Overview
It's crazy to think that the first game of the day is going to be more than likely the closest game of the day. Minnesota has looked really mediocre and so has Paris. Paris did manage to grab a map off of Atlanta surprisingly enough. This is going to be critical to give one of these guys a much-needed win in a very tough group of teams. This could be a game that goes 5 games as Paris is the better Hardpoint team and Minnesota is a better Control team. Recently Paris has been improved on SnD, so it's gonna be really close on those maps. I give the edge to Minnesota, but I would not be surprised if Paris pulled off the upset and got the win here.
My poor Seattle Surge has officially become the No Play list. They have made another roster change as Decemate has left the team and Classic from Paris has joined. LA Thieves also made a roster change as they have reverted back to TJHaly from Huke. I think this might be actually a good move. When Drazah first joined the team they were playing very well with TJHaly and since Huke was on the team it just seemed to not work as well. I think them going back TJ is a good move for now and they should look good against Seattle and take them out. I don't think it ends in a sweep as Seattle has been very good about not getting swept too often is usually able to grab at least one map. This benefits Kenny though as he can get big numbers still in 4 game maps.
This game should be a sweep though. LA Guerrillas didn't make any roster changes and as one of the worst teams in the league, it might have been something they needed to do. NYSL took it all the way to the finals before losing to Atlanta FaZe. This game is going to be a warmup match for them as Hydra has become one of the elite players in the CDL right now and that shows in his DK Pricing as he has topped the players at 10.6k. If you look at the Clayster game logs on DK, you'll see he has a couple of random games where he just choked. That's because I picked him to do well. So keep in mind he's a good play but you won't see him as a Captain option on this slate in hopes he has a good game still.
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
Hydra: Yeah, I knew this was going to happen eventually. This man has been going absolutely berzerk as he has a 1.29 K/D in Hardpoint which leads the league, and a 1.10 in SnD, and a .94 K/D in Control this happens to be NYSLs worst game mode and so therefore as a team, they struggle. LAG has struggled in Control though as well, so I think this is going to help boost his K/D. So far this season on DK, Hydra has had one poor game, otherwise, he has been one of the best players in the league. As he averages 109.1 DKP per game and his most recent games he has 117, 115, and 139 even against teams like LA Thieves and Optic Chicago. This game should end in a sweep and if Hydra can push for over 50 kills we will be sitting nicely. He is pricey but he is well worth it and should be highly considered in your lineups no matter if it's captain or flex.
Kenny: Kenny is finally starting to creep up there in price, unfortunately, DraftKings has caught on to him eating the competition. He has 104+ DKP performances in 5 of his last 7, with big wins over Optic, NYSL, and London where he dropped a killer 144 DKP in a 4 map match which is unheard of. 95 kills in 4 maps is absolutely crazy. In the last outing against Seattle he had 107 DKP in 5 maps, I do expect LA to win this with it being not as close as last time. I'm expecting either a 3-1 win or a 3-0 sweep by LA. During Stage 3, Kenny averaged a 1.06 K/D in Hardpoint, a 1.09 in SnD, and a 1.15 in Control. He is also leading his team in engagements per map which means he seeing a lot more kills than the rest of his teammates. Kenny might be one of my favorite plays on this slate other than Hydra.
Other captain plays: Drazah, Attach, Standy, Mack(Value Captain)
COD DFS Value Plays
Venom: With a slate filled with so many fantastic plays at such high prices, we are going to need value. And let me say this, it's slim pickings. I tried to hop on Venom as soon as he got in the league in hopes of grabbing a rookie at a very cheap price and it ended up burning me severely. Venom has been very inconsistent this season but has improved much more in recent weeks as he has been getting 85+ DKP in 6 of his last 7 matches, and for someone as cheap as Venom that is something I will take every time. He does have a couple of 100+ games but those are much rarer. His K/D has been rough as he has a .91 K/D in Hardpoint and a 1.05 in SnD, and a .84 in Control. It's not very pretty to look at but the matchup is good and let's hope it plays in our favor and Venom has a really good game. Cause this slate does not have much value, but some fantastic top plays. Sacrifices have to be made somewhere.
Temp: The last thing I thought I would be doing is putting Temp in the lineup but with how poor Minnesota looked the entire game. I'm giving Paris a chance here to get a win. Temp was the only one who went positive against Atlanta surprisingly enough. He is 7k and is probably one of the cheapest plays other than Venom on the slate that I'm even considering. He has been doing okay recently as he has had 3 straight 90+ DKP performances and with the matchup against Minnesota being a bit more favorable I really like Paris to try and keep this one close. If this does go 5 games Temp could be a low-owned value play that needs to be considered. Temp has a .97 K/D in Hardpoint, a 1.02 in SnD, and a 1.00 K/D in Control.
Other value plays: Mack, Priestahh, Prestinni(PUNT), Zaptius
COD DFS Stacks
NYSL: NYSL is coming off a 2nd place finish in Major 3, and LAG is a bottom 3 team in the league. This is a recipe for disaster for LAG as the Hydra/Clayster duo is playing insanely well right now, and Asim and Mack have been a great compliment to them recently. This team has been on fire as they went 6-2 in Stage 3 with losses only to Atlanta in the Grand Final and London 2-3 loss early in stage 3. They are expensive but Hydra and Clayster are in a great spot but should be highly considered. With Asim and Mack though they have been pretty inconsistent, but the matchup is great and either guy can make for a great pair with Hydra or Clayster. I lean with Asim but Mack has improved in Stage 3 and could make for a cheaper NYSL play.
LA Thieves: Thieves was kind of off and on in Stage 3 but I think the addition of Huke through them for a loop and I think them going back to TJ will end up working better overall. Last time out LA Thieves came back after going down 2-0 to Seattle and reverse swept them. I think this is going to be a better game for them, I don't think they sweep as Seattle is still a decent team but this is still going to be a favorable match for LA Thieves as Seattle went through another roster change and that's going to put them all sorts of out of wack. Classic wasn't very good on Paris and I don't expect everything to change for him in Seattle. Kenny and Drazah are the top plays to look at, and Venom is a great value play who improved since he started back in stage 2. I'm waiting to see how well TJ plays before I can start taking him again.
Other Team Plays: Minnesota Rokkr, Paris Legion
Summary
- TLDR: Minnesota 3-2, LA Thieves 3-1, NYSL 3-0
- NYSL Chalk
- LA Thieves next top stack
- Minnesota/Paris might be worth a look in cash games,
- NYSL: All Players
- LA Guerrillas: Assault at most
- LA Thieves: Drazah/Kenny, Venom(Value)
- Seattle Surge: Octane
- Minnesota Rokkr: Standy, Attach, Priestahh
- Paris Legion: Skrapz, Temp(Value)
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