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Koby's DraftKings. DFS lineup picks for Early Morning Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on 12/18/20. He analyzes CS:GO slates and top targets for eSports DFS contests.
Hello Esports enthusiasts and welcome to our Esports coverage of CS:GO DFS! The Final Major Tournament of the year is upon us! The IEM Global Challenge has 8 teams: Vitality, Astralis, Natus Vincere, Heroic, BiG, FURIA, Complexity, and Liquid. These are some of the best teams in the world as they battle it out for the $500,000 prize. We have contests every day this week and ill be your guide! My name is Koby and I'll be here to help make those tough decisions on who to play and who not to play in your DFS contests!
Today we saw FURIA take care of Heroic in 3 games and knock them out of the tournament as well we saw NAVI make quick work as they swept Team Liquid to the losers bracket to take on their NA rival FURIA. So let's get right into it! Today I'll be bringing you my Counter-Strike: Global Offensive DFS lineup picks, analysis, and advice for eSports DFS contests on FanDuel and DraftKings for Friday, December 18th at 7:00 AM ET.
Be sure to also check out our awesome CS:GO Premium DFS Tools including our Research Station, Projections, and DFS Cheat Sheets! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @DFSKoby or find me in our Premium Slack, I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have! Good luck in your contests RotoBallers!
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CS:GO DFS Picks
Best of 3 Series
- Team Liquid(+115) vs. Furia (-155)
- Vitality (-130) vs. Astralis (EVEN)
Captain Plays:
ZywOo: The last two meetings for ZywOo against Astralis has resulted in him leading the team with 57 and 58 kills and W to go with it. ZywOo definitely doesn't have the favorable matchup but he does have the high chance to have this game go to 3 maps and that can result in a very high kill game for him. the last meeting that Vitality lost against Astralis, ZywOo still had 51 kills and went positive on the day. So he does have upside even if Astralis pulls off the upset. ZywOo has a 1.45 K/D and is getting .84 kills per round and .58 deaths per round. He also has only had 2 games where he has gone negative in the last 6 months which is insanely impressive.
Hen1: I just talked about yuurih just yesterday so I decided to mix it up, HEN1 has been incredibly good in recent weeks and has been a savior for FURIA as they try and make a championship push at the end of the year. He has gone positive 10 of his last 12 games with the two negative games coming against NAVI and Astralis, so it's understandable. HEN1 has played well against Liquid in the past. In the last three meetings, HEN1 has gone +10, +31, and +24. And with his recent performance, this trend could easily continue and provide a high scoring day for the streaking HEN1. Also, FD gave him a price reduction to 9,800 so he makes a nice pivot off of ZywOo if that's what you are looking for.
Other captain plays: yuurih, device, dupreeh, KSCERATO, NAF(GPP)
Value Plays:
Gla1ve: For all of us on FD, you will see that the value section is very small tomorrow. It is filled with players of TL and sub-risks. But we also need a one-off for FD and gla1ve has been kind to us lately. He has been a lot better since returning to his role as the In-Game Leader. We don't need much out of him for his price and he is definitely safer than a lot of the options we have available. As he has a floor that we can guarantee with the likes of Bubzjki, Nivera, Misutaaa, xyp9x as they are all sub-risks and all around the same price range. He has a 1.03 K/D and is getting about .67 kills and .65 deaths per round. If Astralis pulls off the upset, gla1ve could be a big part in helping their team achieve that.
VINI: 8,600 is all it takes to get this guy into your lineup. That is dirt cheap and he will more than likely be very chalky in that spot. He has performed well in the past against TL but also has underperformed in some spots as well. But at this cheap, we aren't looking for much as we can really get anyone in our lineups at his price. He did have 63 kills in their win today against Heroic and that ended up being very optimal and at the same price, he could be optimal again. In his last 4 games against TL, he has gone +24, -12, -2, +18. So he is a little inconsistent but the upside is there and at 8,600 the risk could be worth it.
Other Value Plays: Stewie2k, Grim, apex, HEN1
Top Stacks/ Team Picks:
Vitality: Vitality has won their last two meetings against Astralis and Vitality has looked unstoppable in recent weeks other than a rough loss against BIG who is on a heater right now taking down both Vitality and Astralis. In the last 9 meetings, they have played the map Dust 2 8 times. This puts misutaaa at extreme risk to not play one game which could affect his performance. He still might play 2 games if the game goes to 3 but it's not going to be as optimal to play him.
Last game Misutaaa was subbed out on Nuke. Which puts him at an even higher risk. This does increase Niveras stock though as well as he may be inline to play more games and he is only 8,400 tomorrow but is still a risk. RPK got a major price increase making him safe but very expensive to play and could make it difficult to fit him in a lineup.
FURIA: FURIA stack was the most optimal stack of the day today, and honestly they are coming up on their longtime rivals in the NA region against Team Liquid. They have played 12 times since the beginning of 2019 and Furia has won 10 of those 12. It's by no means a lock by saying that Furia is going to win, but with recent performance and how they have performed against Team Liquid in the past.
Furia has been killing it, and all players are in play here. HEN1 had a career day with 83 kills today and his hot streak could continue. He and Yuuirh are a great pairing and if you are looking for a full-stack KSCERATO or VINI round it out very nicely.
Other Top Stacks/ Teams: Astralis
Sub-Risks:
Vitality: Misutaaa, Shox, Nivera
Astralis: Xyp9x, Bubzjki
Good luck in your contests, RotoBallers, and make sure to keep stopping back for more CS:GO analysis!
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