DraftKings Call of Duty: Friday Cheat Sheet

Games (EDT)

• 2:00 p.m. Paris Legion vs. Chicago Huntsmen
• 3:30 p.m. London Royal Ravens vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas
• 5:00 p.m. Minnesota Rokkr vs. OpTic Gaming Los Angeles
• 6:30 p.m. Seattle Surge vs. New York Subliners

PAR (6-8) vs. CHI (12-4)

And we're back! Special shout to Kalvin Thongchamleunsouk for helping fill out the DFS coverage during the Florida Home Series two weeks ago as I recovered from an appendectomy. Never fun to have surgery during a pandemic, but I felt a bit more reassured knowing we had quality esports coverage still being churned out.

Onto arguably the most anticipated Call of Duty series in some time, as the reuniting of the stateside twins -- Prestinni and Arcitys -- could be one of the most influential moves of the entire competitive season. Of course, the dynamic duo, who really solidified their place in the scene during their time on eUnited in Infinite Warfare, will get plenty of coverage for their familial dynamic, as well as Prestinni's admission regarding his deteriorating mental health with Florida, but I'm selfishly intrigued about the move from a fantasy perspective.

Arcitys has seen his price dip slightly since the inaugural DraftKings pricing, but we're still talking about a guy whose posted over 100 fantasy points in two of the three Chicago Home Series slates. His innate connection and chemistry with his brother, Prestinni, can really only help matters, communication wise, and I think we could see a bit of extra motivation from Arcitys to legitimize the move as more than nepotism (which it isn't).

You also basically "have" to lock in Prestinni given his $5,800 salary. He wasn't entirely impressive during his stint with the Mutineers, but this is a situation where brand value and name recognition, not to mention egregiously low pricing, will make the twin brother too chalky to ignore. Ironically, the transaction means that former eUnited teammate, Gunless, will hit the bench, so don't make the mistake of putting him in your lineup.

There is another side to this equation, and that's the overall team chemistry of the Huntsmen. Recent scrims from Chicago were, uh, not up to par, and no matter how you slice it, there's a bit of a downgrade when it comes to overall slaying power with this latest transaction. While Arcitys might have some natural connection with his brother, the same cannot be said for the rest of the Huntsmen.

I'm assuming those scrims are more of a red herring than any sort of immediate danger, but if I'm wrong this has the makings of a full series, which would give fantasy utility to just about everyone on either side.

Prediction: CHI 3-1

CHI Players to Target: Arcitys ($8,400), Prestinni ($5,800), CHI Team ($2,800)

PAR Players to Target: Denz, ($8,000), Louqa ($7,600)

LON (5-8) vs. LAG (2-9)

While the aforementioned PAR/CHI will be the most talked about series, this feels like a higher-potential contest from a DFS perspective, as the Royal Ravens feature a trio of aggressive slayers, and also add in a sneaky new addition of their own.

My one concern in regards to stacking the side of London is the possibility of outright sweeping the Guerrillas, who we last saw losing for what feels like the umpteenth time to the Seattle Surge during the Chicago homestand.

Still, the combination of Skrapz, Dylan and Wuskin have been some of the highest scorers despite playing in a handful of series they've barely managed to snag a map in. There's also something to be said about replacing Jurd with former New York Subliner, Zer0. The trio have all had prior experience with the slayer, but I think Zer0's swagger might go understated in terms of boosting the performance of everyone around him in this series.

I imagine there will be plenty of tournament lineups that feature one, or both, of Prestinni and Zer0 ($6,200). It's a bit dangerous considering both teams enter as overwhelming favorites, but I'm admittedly going to have at least one in separate lineups just due to the sheer savings it will create.

Prediction: LON 3-1

LON Players to Target: Skrapz ($8,800), Dylan ($8,600), Zer0 ($6,200), LON Team ($1,400)

LAG Players to Target: Blazt ($8,200)

MIN (11-8) vs. OGLA (5-9)

All that price-savings talk above? Yeah, I think here is where it comes into play. Three of the four $9,000+ priced players are in this series, and I think there's a really reasonable argument for rostering any, or all, of the group.

I'm assuming these teams are evenly matched enough to get at least four games, which should give enough of a floor to Dashy, SlasheR and Assault to make them relevant captain options. A fourth game in particular solidifies Assault's value, as he ranks seventh overall in terms of Hardpoint hill time per game across the entire Call of Duty World League, a stat courtesy of analyst FaZe Easy Mac. 

It's also hard to ignore the heavy point totals of Dashy and SlasheR in previous series, but tread carefully -- in the one series last homestand in which OGLA failed to win at least one map, neither of the slayers scored more than 82 points, and Minnesota should be coming out with a vengeance after a lackluster performance in the Florida Home Series.

Prediction: MIN 3-2

MIN Players to Target: Assault ($9,000), GodRx ($8,000), Alexx ($7,800)

OGLA Players to Target: Dashy ($9,400), SlasheR ($9,200), Kuavo ($7,400)

SEA (4-10) vs. NYS (4-10)

This is yet another series that will see one team make a roster decision, but unlike the previous two, I'm not certain it's actionable.

The Surge, who have registered all four of their series wins against one team -- Los Angeles Guerrillas -- opted to re-insert Enable, who started the first two homestands before relinquishing the job to Pandur, back into their lineup. Enable and Pandur are probably net even in terms of skillset at this point in their respective careers, so the move has been billed essentially as a chemistry change more so than anything else.

Given the two play similar roles, essentially aggressive SMG slayers, the change probably matters most if there's a second Hardpoint, as Pandur did register the second-highest hill time on the team by a wide margin. I just don't think we'll get there.

New York has improved each and every tournament, particularly during the online portion, most notably falling a game short of the championship in the Florida Home Series. MackMelts has emerged as dangerous second option for the Subliners, and should he continue with that sort of consistency, we're potentially looking at a dangerous second-half squad that has a number of long-standing veterans ready to lead the unit into a different competitive tier. Don't worry Seattle fans, you're at least slated to play LAG once if everything goes the way I anticipate.

Prediction: NYS 3-0

SEA Players to Target: Slacked ($7,400)

NYS Players to Target: MackMelts ($8,200), Attach ($8,000), Temp ($7,600)