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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on /16/23. 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! What a first day it was! The games were much closer than I expected in some cases including a very close match between NY and Minnesota that game down to the wire! We nearly had a perfect day had it not been a choke from the LA Thieves and a poor Simp outing. Alas, there is the next slate, so let’s dive in!
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! It is the second day of COD Champs, so that means some teams will be heading home. In those matches we have the LA Thieves taking on the Seattle Surge, as well as the Minnesota Rokkr, taking on the Boston Breach. In the winner's bracket side of things, we have the Atlanta FaZe taking on the Toronto Ultra, and Optic Texas taking on the NY Subliners!
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Friday, June 16, 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: Championship Weekend
Best of 5
- LA Thieves (-360) vs. Seattle Surge (+250)
- Minnesota Rokkr (-170) vs. Boston Breach (+130)
- Atlanta FaZe (-165) vs Toronto Ultra (+125)
- Optic Texas (-130) vs NY Subliners (+110)
Slate Overview
LA Thieves nearly had it today but came up short in game five. They now get a Seattle Surge team that still doesn't have a win on LAN since Major One who isn't LA Guerrillas. I hate to say it but I see Seattle Surge being the first team eliminated from this year's tournament. They just didn't make any changes after multiple times failing this year. They might win one map so I'll say 3-1 but I wouldn't be surprised to see LA Thieves walk away here with an easy 3-0.'
This one is interesting, Minnesota made some critical mistakes in SnD and it cost them the match against NYSL. Boston didn't look half bad in Snoopy's debut and we get him at a great price once again going into this matchup, which should be a close one as well. Snoopy will definitely need to step it up in the SnD category, but he was frying when it came to the respawns. I believe overall this one comes down to how the control plays out. I'm leaning toward 3-1 Minnesota but this is a coin flip.
Now here is a banger, Atlanta FaZe has had Toronto's number all but once this year, will that change? I don't think so, other than an odd hiccup in Control, they looked extremely dominant in Hardpoint and SnD. Toronto struggled heavily in Control as well which evens it out a bit. Toronto is good enough to keep it close but in the end, I think FaZe is just too good to lose this game. They will Toronto to the loser's bracket tomorrow.
Last but not least we have a match that I have no idea which way this one ends up. It could seriously end in any way possible but I don't see a sweep here, which means take the players that stack kills like crazy. Those players are; Hydra, Shotzzy, Huke, and Priestahh. These guys are the ones you should be targeting in this game, as it could get bloody. I believe this will go either 3-1 Optic or 3-2 NYSL.
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 gameplay will be a lot different 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
Octane: I hate to be repetitive but I feel like this one is warranted. Octane went absolutely ballistic on day one and it's too bad LA couldn't pull it all together and get the win because that performance was unreal. He finished with 102 kills on a +27 K/D differential and this was with them getting slammed. We still get Octane at a great price of 9.2k which is 1.4k cheaper than his teammate Envoy. LA has probably one of the best matchups on the day, so I'm running it straight back with Octane.
Owakening: This is more so on the GPP side of things as I do think Minnesota wins, but there is a decent chance that Boston could pull off the upset and it starts here with Big Wake. Since the beginning of Major Five, Owakening has averaged the sixth-best overall K/D at 1.16 with a 1.23 in HP, a .96 in SnD, and a 1.10 in Control. He is the big hitter from this Boston team and despite losing today he finished with 73 kills on a +10 K/D differential.
Other captain plays: Cellium, Abezy, Shotzzy, Hydra
COD DFS Value Plays
Slasher: I think I have made it known in the past how much I dislike playing Slasher, but he has been in good form since the beginning of Major Five. He has four straight games of 100+ DKP and is still only 6,400$. Simp did me dirty today so hopefully Slasher doesn't join the party but with FaZe I would recommend getting a variety of them rather than all-in on one guy. Slasher has the third-highest overall K/D at 1.24 since the beginning of Major Five, and we are getting insane value on him.
Snoopy: I'm taking the risk in a much safer matchup. Snoopy was frying in his CDL debut and I gotta say, I was on the hesitant side but he proved me wrong. If he can get the SnD working, then he will be a dangerous player in the future. He had 100 DKP in his debut today but is still a mere 6,200$. I will gladly take a shot on Snoopy if he can keep this up in what should be a great matchup against Minnesota.
Other value plays: Drazah, Simp, Priestahh
COD DFS Stacks
LA Thieves: LA is by far the safest play in my opinion. Seattle has just been awful on LAN and can't string maps together. LAT has shown over and over they are extremely dominant on LAN and even though they came up short today, they will be ready to start a loser's bracket run tomorrow. The stack will be tough though. I highly recommend Octane and Drazah together as they work the best in lineups. Envoy looked great today but his price makes it tough to not only stack other players with him but make a decent lineup that I like. Kenny showed us all last year he can pop off in big moments, well he will need to be here as it is do or die at this point. I don't mind a shot on him at his cheap price.
Other Team Plays: Atlanta FaZe, Optic Texas, Minnesota Rokkr
Summary
TLDR: LAT 3-1, Minnesota 3-1, Atlanta 3-1, Optic 3-1
- LAT: Octane, Envoy, Drazah
- Seattle: Pred
- Minnesota: Attach, Fame, Bance
- Boston: Owakening, Beans, Snoopy
- Atlanta: All
- Toronto: Scrappy, CleanX
- Optic: Shotzzy, Dashy, Huke
- NYSL: Hydra, Priestahh
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