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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 5/5/23. 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! The LA Thieves have broken the Champs curse, they are the only team to have won a Major the next season after winning Champs. It was a dominant road for LAT and they are clear favorites to repeat. Optic came up just short once again taking second place in Major Four. This slate looks very straightforward. Hopefully, we can find an edge to capitalize on in our GPP contests.
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 game up we have Atlanta FaZe taking on the awful LA Guerrillas, next, we have Optic Texas taking on the Las Vegas Legion, and finally, in our one close game of the slate, we have Seattle Surge taking on the Toronto Ultra.
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Friday, May 5th, 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
- LA Guerrillas (+1100) vs. Atlanta FaZe (-3300)
- Optic Texas (-700) vs. Las Vegas Legion (+395)
- Seattle Surge (+185) vs. Toronto Ultra (-250)
Slate Overview
When I say LAG sucks, I don't say that lightly. They are by far one of the worst put-together teams in the league and I'll stand by that. Atlanta should come in and dominate this team, but as we have seen in the past. This probably means LAG somehow pulls off one or two maps to make this one way closer than it should be. Joe is about the only hope LAG has to be a halfway decent team. I won't go too in-depth on this one but Hardpoint is LAG's only shot at a map and that shot is very small. 3-0 Atlanta.
I'm not going to believe in Vegas anymore, every time I try to hype them up they let me down. They have a well-constructed team but just can't string the wins together and make a run. Optic however has been unbelievable and besides two losses to LAT, they have been the best team in the league. Optic has been one of the better HP and Control teams in the league and so I would say that Vegas's hope lies in SnD where they have looked very good online. I still believe that Optic sweeps though and gets the quick win.
Last but not least, here is where things get interesting. This is where you can get different with it. Toronto struggled in their online portion of Stage Four but I expect them to bounce back a bit. They are a very good Control and Hardpoint team but have been awful in SnD. Seattle has been a bit more well-rounded and I expect them not only to win the first SnD but for them to get one win in one of the hardpoints as well. I see this ending more than likely in Seattle's favor, I could see 3-1, but I think 3-2 is the likeliest of options.
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 granted a bonus of 20 points for not playing hardpoint and a bonus of 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
Cellium: This might be a quick game, and that's about my only worry when it comes to picking Cellium, he averaged 111 DKP in his five qualifying games in Stage Four. He also leads his team in both respawn game modes with a 1.28 K/D in HP and a 1.27 in Control. He's quite expensive but has shown that he is the most reliable player from FaZe this season. If you want to go a bit cheaper then I would recommend going to Abezy as a pivot option.
Scrappy: If this game goes to five maps as I expect it to, I would assume that means Scrappy is having one hell of a game. He has been one of the most impressive players this season and the unanimous option for Rookie of the Year. He has one of the most insane floors/ceilings in the league and online he has been so good. I think this game could be neck and neck the entire time, which could lead to a lot of kills. You should have either one of Scrappy or Pred or even both in this great matchup.
Other captain plays: Pred, Abezy, Dashy, Shotzzy, Sib
COD DFS Value Plays
Huke: He is on the high side of value plays, but with how he has played recently, I can't believe we get a chance to play him at 8k. The sub duo of him and Shotzzy has been one of the best in the league and with a game against Vegas to start the Major Five Qualifiers with, I expect them to continue their dominance online with a big win. During the Major Four Qualifiers, he averaged a 1.06 in HP, a 2.14 in SnD, and a team-leading 1.09 in Control. At his price, he is great value and possibly even a decent play at Captain for cheap.
Accuracy: Accuracy had a fairly decent outing during the last set of qualifiers scoring 100 or better DKP in four of the fives games. The one game was against FaZe and well he just gets slammed nearly every time against FaZe. He is near the minimum price which is exactly what we want in a value play. He has a solid floor but has a potentially high ceiling as well. If we get 90+ out of Accuracy, I will consider that a win. He averaged a 1.05 in HP, a 1.00 in SnD, and a 1.06 in Control during the Major Four Qualifiers.
Other value plays: CleanX, Temp(GPP), Ghosty
COD DFS Stacks
Optic Texas: I think both Optic and FaZe will be chalky, but I trust Optic more overall as a team to get the sweep and each player to do well. For example, I trust Ghosty to score more than Slasher, both are value plays and both have sweep upside but Slasher has shown all year he isn't quite at that level anymore. The dynamic duo of Huke and Shotzzy I believe has been better than Simp and Abezy. As for Cellium and Dashy, you can't go wrong with either guy and they both should score very well, and I hope they would consider their prices.
Other Team Plays: FaZe, Seattle Surge, Toronto Ultra
Summary
TLDR: FaZe 3-0, Optic 3-0, Seattle Surge 3-2
- FaZe: Cellium, Abezy, Simp
- LAG: None
- Optic: All
- Vegas: Standy, Temp(GPP)
- Seattle: Pred, Sib, Accuracy
- Toronto: Scrappy, CleanX
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