RADIO
Hello there eSports DFS enthusiasts, and welcome back to RotoBaller's coverage of Call of Duty DFS contests for DraftKings! Welcome to the start of the third stage of the 2021 CDL Season! Wouldn't be a weekend of COD without something happening! Both London and Paris managed to take a round off of Optic and Dallas ruining any sweep chances there. Havok looked horrible in his debut for Florida as Toronto was easily the most optimal team on the slate. And it wouldn't be a Seattle game without an impressive start to go up 2-0, just to let the other team reverse sweep them! Time to rebound!
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! My Name is Koby and I'll be here all season long to help guide you through the COD DFS world. We have a fantastic set of games ahead of us this weekend! We have the bottom of the barrel playing as Paris Legion takes on LA Guerrillas, Optic Chicago looks to take down Seattle once again, and last but not least we have Minnesota Rokkr making their Stage 3 debut against Florida Mutineers!
Today I'll be bringing you my COD DFS advice, analysis, and lineup picks for eSports DFS contests on DraftKings for Saturday, April 24th, 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: London Royal Ravens Home Series
Best of 5
- Paris Legion (-225) vs. LA Guerrillas (+160)
- Minnesota Rokkr (-165) vs. Florida Mutineers (+120)
- Optic Chicago (-375) vs. Seattle Surge (+250)
Slate Overview
Paris managed to steal a game off of Dallas Empire in the first game of Hardpoint and breaking any hope I had of cashing Dallas Empire stacks. Aqua has been lowkey underrated this year and I think this is a good spot to grab him in a good matchup. On the LAG side of things, they have made a roster change as they have benched Vivid for being too fast-paced and basically dying too much. They bring in Chino who is quite a bit slower and will follow pace much better for LAG. They are also moving SiLLY to the SMG role and I think that might take a second to get used to. Paris should win here and they are actually a lot bigger favorites than I had imagined they would be. I think this one ends 3-1, with SnD going in favor of LAG.
Minnesota has been looking pretty good since the addition of Standyy to the lineup. They were able to knock off Optic in the 2nd round of the Major 2 before losing to the Champs in Toronto. Since Standy joined Minnesota has won 4 of their last 6 matches and in all but one of those Standyy dropped over 120 DKP. Minnesota gets a good matchup against Florida who looks to be struggling especially in Havoks debut on Thursday against Toronto. This should be a good match for Minnesota to start their Stage 3 off with a bang. Not sure how this one ends, but it could be a Minnesota sweep or a 3-1 win but I'm fairly confident in Minnesota winning this one.
Last but not least. We have Optic Chicago taking on Seattle Surge. Optic has won both meetings so far this season, one by the sweep and the other as a 3-1 win. Seattle went and blew a 2-0 lead once again today and just looked awful doing it. Optic on the other hand today looked great. They choked in Control and let London get a map win but that just helped Optic players score even better as Envoy went off today for 131 DKP. In reality, these guys should sweep but Seattle is a very scrappy team and can make things very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised to see them take Hardpoint or SnD, but Optic should come out with the win.
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
Standy: This dude is the real deal. He has been absolutely killing the competition currently. In his 4 games that have been scored by DK, he's had 120+ DKP in 3 of the 4 and the one game he went under was a tough loss from Dallas. He has scored really well in both 3 map games and 5 map games. He currently has a Top 10 K/D at 1.06 and 1.01 in Hardpoint. He is getting a lot of kills and has shown that he is a critical addition to this team and a big part of Minnesota's recent success. Florida looked awful in their first match of Stage 3 and I don't expect much to change overnight. Either way though, Standy has 134 DKP in 3 map games and averaged 116 DKP in 5 map games. The only thing I'm worried about with this pick is getting the rest of the picks in without having to punt too much. He's expensive but has shown that he is well worth his price at 10.6k. If you don't grab him at captain I highly recommend getting him as a flex play.
Aqua: Aqua has by far been one of the most overlooked players in the CDL this season. He's playing very well for playing on such a horrible team. He's 10th in overall K/D at 1.07, 3rd in Hardpoint K/D at 1.12, he has 1.05 K/D in Control. He is a bit expensive for how shaky his DK scoring has been, but in a win, he's scored just fine at 107, 120, 122, 131. And in 5 map games, he has 96 and 114 against FaZe and LAG. Paris has had some tough opponents. And they finally get a beatable team. 10k is rough, but for someone with 120 DKP+ upside, It's something I want to make work. He isn't the flashiest captain, but he will definitely garner less ownership than all your Optic players, and if Aqua can score well today, that will boost you up the leaderboards.
Other captain plays: Optic players, Attach, Octane(GPP), Owakening(GPP)
COD DFS Value Plays
Classic: Both Classic and Aqua have been just flying under the radar this season. When Paris is winning, these guys look really good together and score well also. The addition of Temp was a good move by Paris as Fire was just not cutting it this season and therefore was released. Temp looked pretty good in his debut for Paris and although they lost, they showed some promise. They managed to win the first hardpoint fairly quickly and scored well in doing so. I do want to say this is purely a play based on price, if you can fit Skrapz in over him, do so. Classic is just very cheap and is in a very good spot to excel. In games that Paris has won, Classic has scored; 136, 115, 90, and 94. And even if this match ends up going to 5 maps, he even managed 115 against a tough Atlanta FaZe team and 90 against LAG at the beginning of the season. In other words, as long as Paris is winning, Classic is winning.
Priestahh: Since the addition of Standy to the roster, we got a brand new Priestahh as well! He has dropped 103 DKP in 3 of his last 4 with the most recent game being his worst game as he tanked against Dallas. This game will be much easier for them against Florida. Priestahh had three straight positive games against Optic, Dallas, and Seattle all with a Kill-death differential of at least +5 or better. He is getting at least a minute or more of hardpoint time as well which is an extra 6+ points added. Priestahh is far too cheap for the matchup and his recent performance. As long as Minnesota is doing well, Priestahh should be a big part of that. Since the addition of Standy, Priestahh has been much better and has averaged a 1.0 K/D or better in both Hardpoint and Control. If he can just do well in SnD, then he should be good for at least 100 DKP and for 6,400, ill take that all day.
Other value plays: Prestinni, Scump, Gunless, Temp, Havok(PUNT)
COD DFS Stacks
Optic Chicago: Optic is definitely going to be your cash stack. They are the largest favorites on the slate and definitely have the ability to sweep in this matchup as they have shown before. Nothing has changed roster-wise for Seattle and I don't think that is going to help them much coming into this one. Envoy, FormaL, and Dashy are such an elite trio and to add on top of that, the experience that Scump brings along is just the icing on the cake. Optic has had its ups and downs but looked really good today in Hardpoint and SnD and should be able to take care of things here. Envoy and FormaL are my go-to guys right now as Dashy is pretty high up there in price. He has played well against Seattle though so it's definitely something to look at. Scump is really not worth much more than a hopeful sweep bonus. His price is decent but won't make a big difference in the long run.
Paris Legion: I don't think I have talked about Paris at all this year. They finally get a spot I can actually see them winning. LAG has been easily one of the most inconsistent teams in the league, they can go out and give Atlanta their first loss of the year but also get swept by Florida or London. So hopefully we get a good Paris team today and the bad LAG team. Aqua is finally in an elite spot here to score well and is my favorite Paris play. I think Classic is in a good spot as well and is very cheap and is my favorite value play on the slate. Not big on Temp, but could also play well. Skrapz is priced just right and isn't too expensive or too cheap. And can score well in close games. These teams played earlier in the season and it was very bloody and went all 5 rounds, I don't think it gets that far, but if it does then Paris could be upset as LAG is definitely the better SnD team. I do think this one ends 3-1 though.
Other Team Plays: Minnesota Rokkr, Florida Mutineers (GPP)
Summary
- TLDR: Dallas 3-0, Florida Mutineers 3-2, LA Thieves 3-2, Optic 3-0
- Optic is Chalk.
- Paris will more than likely be the close pair, LAG would be a massive upside if they win, Look to Silly and Assault if you want LAG at low ownership.
- Minnesota I think wins, but Florida can be unpredictable and is my GPP spot for today. Minnesota will come in with higher ownership.
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