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Koby Hanson's DraftKings DFS lineup picks for Call of Duty on 7/8/21. 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 back to COD DFS! The first week of Stage 5 is upon us, hopefully, everyone enjoyed the last two weeks off and is ready to get back to the grind that COD is! Atlanta once again came out on top of the 4th major of the season in a thrilling Bo9 Grand Final against Dallas Empire who looked better than ever but came up just short to take their throne back.
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! To begin the first week of Major 5, we have Atlanta FaZe taking on the London Royal Ravens and Paris Legion get Optic Gaming to finish out Thursday. On Friday we have Minnesota Rokkr taking on the LA Guerrillas and to close us out the closest matchup of the slate with the new look LA Thieves and the NY Subliners!
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Thursday-Friday, July 8th-9th, 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: New York Subliners Home Series
Best of 5
- Atlanta FaZe (-2000) vs. London Royal Ravens (+900)
- Paris Legion (+275) vs. Optic Chicago (-400)
- Minnesota Rokkr (-325) vs. LA Guerrillas (+230)
- LA Thieves (+180) vs. NY Subliners (-240)
Slate Overview
I really don't think I need to talk much about this game. It's pretty straightforward. Atlanta wins and more than likely in a sweep. Atlanta has two losses in their last 18 matches played and both of them have come at the hands of NYSL. The -2000 favorites aren't messing around. London is at the bottom of the food chain and Atlanta is about to eat them for breakfast and move on with their day.
These two teams played each other last stage and it resulted in a 3-1 win with Optic losing a map in Control, no surprise there has Optic has played very poorly on Control recently and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen again. Optic has been a great hardpoint team so I have no doubt they win those maps, SnD is a bit closer but they have improved this season in SnD, so I give them the edge. This game will more than likely end up in a 3-1 or 3-2 win by Optic.
Minnesota hasn't been a very consistent team but LA Guerrillas is easily the most inconsistent team in the league. They lost every single match in Stage 4 except their opening round match against the LA Thieves who were all over the place with their roster and had an issue at that the last second with Huke and had to do a last-second roster change which probably messed with all their mojo and communication. LA Guerillas have been awful and with them changing out Cheen who was by far their best player for MentaL. I don't see much changing. Should be a 3-0 by Minnesota and at worst a 3-1.
Last but not least, this one is going to be interesting. Huke, Venom, and TJ have all been benched. LA has brought up John from the Challengers scene and Drazah is back in the starting lineup. Slasher and Kenny to join them. This team has the experience and has the ability to cause havoc but I'm just not sure how well they will all work together. They are constantly changing the lineup which can mess with how they communicate and so it's hard to say how this team will perform. I'm definitely not ruling them out by any means, but it might be better to stay on the low side of this team until we see how they all roll together. NYSL on the other hand gets their stud back in Asim. This is going to be a tough team to break when they are all together and with how elite they have been in Hardpoint that should be two free wins right there. Control they have struggled with though and so I'm giving a map to LA for that. SnD right now has been better for NYSL, so I'm thinking 3-1.
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
Cellium: Well, Good luck playing more than one Atlanta player because they are insanely priced at the moment, and unless they lose consecutive games they are going to probably stay in that range. Cellium on the other hand will continue to be one of my favorite plays whether he's in a flex position or captain. He has shown to be one of the most consistent players and has the ability to be explosive as well. His price is always cheaper than his teammates Abezy and Simp and I think that's what always draws me to him. He has been the best on the team in hardpoint at a 1.25 K/D, a 1.14 in SnD, and a 1.09 in Control. 9,600$ is pricey but in a game situation like this where they should sweep London, I like him a lot.
Standy: Standy has been one of the best things to happen to Minnesota this season. He pretty much has saved their season and has given them a glimmer of hope into the future. He scores very well in wins. Against NYSL he had 138 and their win against Seattle he had 139! These are some insane numbers. In their wins during Stage 4, Standy held a 1.19 K/D in Hardpoint, a 1.26 in SnD, and a 1.09 K/D in Control. More than likely you are going to see Atlanta players in the captain spot, but if you are looking to move away from all the chalk Standy is a fantastic pivot that has the ability to turn a slate upside down with his scoring abilities.
Other captain plays: Hydra, Simp, Mack, Dashy
COD DFS Value Plays
Priestahh: Priestahh really stepped it up in the Major helped lead his team to a big sweep over NYSL in the opening round before being demolished by FaZe and then Optic. Minnesota looked much better and really pieced some things together in Stage 4, and now they get an elite matchup against the LA Guerrillas who lost all but one game in Stage 4. Priestahh's K/D is nothing to be excited about but I like how well he has been scoring recently. He has 124 against NYSL, 105 in a loss against FaZe, and 102 against Seattle. At most I see this going to a Game 4, as LAG has been awful in Hardpoint and Minnesota has been great in Control. SnD is where the game lies. I don't think you can go wrong with MajorManiak either but I like Priestahh's recent play a little bit better to give him the edge.
John: This is a very risky play as we don't have very many stats on John but he has been playing very well in the challenger's scene where his team has taken first in 2 tournaments and 2nd in 2 tournaments so far this season. He has been playing for over 8 years of competitive Call of Duty and has a few 1st place tournament wins under his belt. At 7k it's a bit of a risk but on a slate lacking good value, it might be worth a chance in what should be the closest game of the slate. John is definitely the cheapest player on the slate that I'm even remotely interested in.
Other value plays: Drazah, Scump, MajorManiak
COD DFS Stacks
Minnesota Rokkr: Minnesota probably gets one of the easier matches to start their Stage 5 with. LA Guerrillas have been nothing but a total disaster. In stage 4 they didn't win a single hardpoint game. Minnesota isn't the best at hardpoint but this is definitely a game mode they should excel in against LA Guerrillas. Guerillas best shot at a map win is gonna come in SnD, and Minnesota hasn't been too bad at that either. I think there is a good chance here for a sweep and with a team like Atlanta being so expensive, I love Minnesota has a relatively cheap pivot to them. Standy is a fantastic option at 9,600 who thrives in these situations and Attach at 8k is almost disrespectful. Priestahh and MajorManiak pop up as great value plays. As long as Minnesota comes in and performs well against LA Guerrillas, we could be seeing a lot of them in optimal lineups.
Optic Gaming: I'm a little bit hesitant to write about Optic especially after how up and down they were in Stage 4, but Paris was also just absolutely horrid. Only 2 wins in Stage 4 with one of them against Seattle and the other against LA Thieves. Optic won 3-1 last time with their loss coming in Control, somewhere Optic has struggled at the most. So I do think something like that could happen again, but that's not to stop me from being interested in some of their top plays such as Dashy who is coming off some monster play in Major 4. Dashy would definitely be the top option look at with Envoy to look at next. Scump didn't look too bad in Stage 4 so I can't say that I don't like him here. FormaL on the other hand I'm not sure I can pay for him. His worst play of the season came in Stage 4 and I'm definitely going to need to see improvement before I go back to him.
Other Team Plays: Atlanta (Clear Cash Stack), Subliners
Summary
- TLDR: Atlanta 3-0, Optic 3-1, Minnesota 3-0, Subliners 3-1
- Atlanta: All Players
- London: Ballsy but Afro if you really want to take a risk.
- Optic: Dashy, Envoy, Scump
- Paris: Aqua, Temp
- Minnesota: All Plays
- LA Guerrillas: Fade
- NYSL: Hydra, Mack, Asim
- LA Thieves: Slasher, John(Value)
More eSports DFS Analysis
More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis
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