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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on /15/23. 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! Champs is finally here and this will be the final weekend of COD DFS until we are back next season! NY Subliners came up huge against FaZe in Game Seven of the Grand Finals to get the Final Major win of the year! Will they go back to back or will another team take home the ultimate prize of COD Champions and the over One Million Dollar prize?
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! On the first day of Champs, we have NY Subliners taking on the Minnesota Rokkr, after we have Atlanta FaZe taking on the Seattle Surge, then we have Optic Texas taking on the Boston Breach, and we end the day with a barn burner as Toronto Ultra takes on the previous champs in LA Thieves!
Today, I'll bring you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings on Thursday, June 15, 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: Championship Weekend
Best of 5
- NY Subliners (-410) vs. Minnesota Rokkr (+285)
- Atlanta FaZe (-600) vs. Seattle Surge (+365)
- Optic Texas (-450) vs. Boston Breach (+305)
- Toronto Ultra (-154) vs. LA Thieves (+120)
Slate Overview
If NYSL is anything like LAT was last year, they are going to be dominant and honestly get one of the best matchups to start Champs with a game against Minnesota. Minnesota started Major Five very well but once they ran into legit competition they folded under pressure and were 3-0'd immediately by FaZe and NYSL. The momentum favors NYSL too much at the moment so I will take NYSL 3-0 once again. Minnesotas' best chance at a map win comes in Control but even then their chances are low.
Atlanta FaZe gets one of the easier matchups this weekend but that's what you get for being the first seed. Seattle has two LAN wins this year since their Major One Finals appearance, both those wins came against LA Guerrillas. So therefore I'm not impressed and see Seattle having very little chance of making it through this game. Give me FaZe 3-0 as well, but I will be rooting for the upset!
Boston made the questionable call of bringing up their substitute Snoopy to replace Vivid. This will be his CDL debut in their first game of Champs. I don't believe this is a great move, it might be a Hail Mary in hopes he can elevate this team to another level but I just don't see with the little time and lack of experience as a whole is going to do much good. On top of that, Snoopy averaged a .98 overall K/D while playing on the Boston Challengers team.
As for the game itself, I didn't love the way Optic looked in Major Five and that worries me a bit coming into Champs so if there is a spot for Snoopy to make a splash and help Boston overcome an obstacle I believe this is a good spot for that. But on the other hand Optic has overall the better team and I think they bounce back and get the win. I'm going to say a 3-1 win for Optic as Boston can definitely steal one away but more than that will be on Optic selling the game away rather than Boston playing extremely well.
Last but not least, we end on a great note. This is going to be a tough match as LA Thieves looked a bit rough during Major Five and were bounced by this Toronto Ultra in a 3-0 fashion. Champs is a different monster though and this whole team has been here before. They were counted out all last season and ended up winning champs. Toronto has struggled in Hardpoint a bit and that is usually LAT bread and butter. The hardpoint games will be a big factor and therefore I think LAT pulls off the upset and sends Toronto to the losers bracket, I'll say 3-1 LAT this time around.
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
Hydra: Hydra is currently in MVP form and I believe has one of the softest matchups of this weekend's tournament. Minnesota has its moments but I don't think they are ready for what NYSL brings to the table. During Major Five he scored; 144, 130, and 121 DKP and averaged a 1.33 in HP, a 1.74 in SnD, and a 1.10 in Control all of which lead his team by a decent margin. Out of all the 10k+ players, I believe Hydra brings the most to the table.
Octane: It's a risky play for sure but only one player has been better across the last two majors and that is Hydra. Octane holds a 1.18 overall K/D between Majors Four and Five with an HP K/D of 1.15, a 1.24 in SnD, and a 1.21 in Control. What makes it risky is the fact they have to go against Toronto which is by far one of the tougher matchups in Day One. I would say this is more of a GPP play but Octane's price makes him a very tempting add. With the cheaper price at Captain, it allows you to get some higher players with the rest of your lineup!
Other captain plays: Scrappy, Dashy, Shotzzy, Cellium, Owakening(GPP)
COD DFS Value Plays
Simp: I went with Simp during Major Five as well but I just don't understand this price, 7,600$ is on the high side of value but if he continues his hot streak he will be well worth that price. He gets a great matchup against a Seattle team who has been on the downhill for a while now. During Major Five he scored 130 and 105 DKP in the two games scored by DK, he also averaged a 1.15 K/D in HP, a 1.14 in SnD, and a 1.20 in Control during their Major Five run.
Priestahh: They keep giving him such a cheap price, and I will continue to exploit it. I think the fact that he has been a lot worse online compared to when he is on LAN is bringing his price down but during this last Major, he scored 119, 111, and 104 in the three games scored by DK. During the entire Major, he averaged a .95 K/D in HP, a 1.21 in SnD, and 1.02 in Control. For his price, I will take anything relatively close to that.
Other value plays: Drazah, Huke, Ghosty, Bance(GPP), Snoopy(GPP/Punt)
COD DFS Stacks
NYSL: FaZe is probably the safer pick but I think overall I like NYSL as a team stack much more. The salaries match up much more with the likes of Hydra and Priestahh, or Kismet and Priestahh. Potentially in some GPP lineups, you could run Hydra and Kismet. On top of that, the team spot is cheaper than both Optic and FaZe, which makes it the most favorable as it could save you an additional 600$.
I believe FaZe has the highest chance to 3-0 their opponent but I believe we will have a slight advantage in NYSL being lesser owned than FaZe. Skyz will be the lowest owned of the four so if you want to get different, grab him in a few lineups and hope he has a great day!
Other Team Plays: Atlanta FaZe, Optic Texas
Summary
TLDR: NYSL 3-0, FaZe 3-0, Optic 3-1, LAT 3-1
- NYSL: Hydra, KISMET, Priestahh
- Minnesota: Bance, Fame
- FaZe: Cellium, Simp, Abezy
- Seattle: Pred
- Optic: Shotzzy, Dashy, Huke
- Boston: Owakening, Beans, Snoopy(Punt)
- LAT: Octane, Drazah
- Toronto: Scrappy, CleanX
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