DraftKings Call of Duty: Friday Cheat Sheet

Games (EDT)

• 1:00 p.m. Paris Legion vs. Dallas Empire
• 2:30 p.m. London Royal Ravens vs. Seattle Surge
• 4:00 p.m. New York Subliners vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas
• 5:30 p.m. OpTic Gaming Los Angeles vs. Florida Mutineers

PAR (7-14) vs. DAL (17-10)

Just two tournaments remain heading into Champs, starting Friday with the London Home Series. It'll be interesting to see if the Legion can build off their small momentum from last week, where they were able to get a surprising 3-0 lower-bracket sweep over the Los Angeles Guerrillas and secure a much-needed 10 CDL points. I don't think we'll see it much here though, as the Empire have a lot to play for in terms of top-four playoff seeding and should put together a strong showing against an inferior opponent. Perhaps the Legion can steal a Search and Destroy, thus kick-starting a four-game series, but I just don't see a way in which anyone from Paris gets close to their price tag, even as a contrarian play. If a sweep is in the cards for the Empire, good luck rostering Shotzzy, who sits as the second highest-priced player Friday. Dallas will likely tinker with who uses the second and third ARs in this new meta, but I just don't see how they can even allow the Legion to stick around long enough for anyone to have much fantasy utility on DraftKings

Prediction: DAL 3-0

DAL Players to Target: Huke ($8,000), DAL Team ($2,200)

LON (10-13) vs. SEA (5-14)

Friday's slate features a number of teams expected to waltz through their first-round matchups, and while DraftKings has the Surge priced as the third most likely favorite, I'm not sure it's that simple. Of all the series Friday, this feels like the most obvious one to go more than three games.

Octane is going to be worth every bit of his price, particularly in such a heavy AR type of meta, but the problem is we could see arguably one of the highest player percentages for the slayer since DraftKings started doing these competitions a couple months ago. Something like 40-50 percent player percentage wouldn't shock me in tournaments, and in cash games it'll be even higher. So how else are you going to differentiate from the pack?

Let's start first with Wuskin, the hero from this past Saturday's slate. Wuskin trails just Skyz and Octane in terms of total KD throughout the season, but the biggest standout for me isn't what he does in respawn, but what he's capable of doing in Search and Destroy. As the primary sniper on London, Wuskin is generally able to stay alive longer, thus getting more opportunities to finish near even in KD. He might not soak up a lot of Hardpoint time, but when you're getting something close to eight kills per S&D like last week's tournament, any sort of shortcomings in the other rounds are more or less mitigated.

Skrapz and Slacked also intrigue me as near $8,000 priced-players, but they both have their issues as well. Skrapz used the AR more than I've ever seen him last week, but he's still one of the team's primary SMG players in a meta that is unforgiving to the gun. Depending on map selection that might not make a difference, but his kill totals didn't really bump up much from the last time the Ravens took to the virtual field in mid July, so you're essentially banking on this series going at least four games. The same issues could be applied to Slacked, but you also have to add in we haven't seen Seattle in this new meta. There will be a second AR for the Surge, and you have to imagine it won't be Slacked, so can he stay close enough to an even KD while also keeping his engagements high in an unfriendly meta to be relevant? It'll be difficult to know Friday, but it's worth at least rolling the dice in a tournament setting.

You might not have to even go that direction if you target a guy like Pandur, who is minimum priced. Somebody has to take over as the second AR, and it's entirely feasible the former pro-AM player could be the key to unlocking a high-scoring lineup. It's a risk, but when you look at the rest of the slate littered with obvious winners, I think you could take a reasonable gamble on this game going at least four series without getting punished too much.

Prediction: SEA 3-2

LON Players to Target: Skrapz ($8,000), Wuskin ($7,800)

SEA Players to Target: Octane ($10,000), Slacked ($7,800), Pandur ($6,000)

NYS (12-15) vs. LAG (5-15)

The Subliners tournament win last weekend was critical for playoff seeding, vaulting New York into fifth place with more points likely on the way starting Friday.

Dating back to May 10, MackMelts has had just one series on a DraftKings-eligible slate where he's posted lower than a 1.00 KD. That's 10 of the best 11 series he's been able to return essentially positive value in a series that goes longer than three games. I'm just not certain his $9,000 price tag makes much sense against the Guerrillas, who were unceremoniously dumped out of the New York Homestand last week in last place.

Look, the Guerrillas aren't normally this bad. Vivid's 0.71 KD across the team's two series last week was a massive black mark on Los Angeles' fortunes, but he's normally a fairly reliable S&D slayer if nothing else. AquA was miserable against FaZe in back to back series, but that could be said for most players in the CDL when they tackle Atlanta. Saints was victimized against a bad Legion team, but has otherwise held his own after being re-inserted into the starting lineup in June. Suffice to say, if the Guerrillas can put it all together for one or two maps in a series, they shouldn't be swept. They just...haven't been able to do that lately.

Between this series and FLA/OGLA, one of the favorites will be pushed to a fourth map which will likely end up being the difference maker in tournament lineups. I'm not entirely positive who that could be, so setting multiple lineups which feature MackMelts or Owakening feels like the safest way to diversify your assets, but of the two teams, it's the Subliners who are priced way cheaper than their counterparts. A heavy NYS stack isn't a bad option in a tournament setting, but it's a risky move in cash games given the odds of a possible sweep.

Prediction: NYS 3-0

NYS Players to Target: MackMelts ($9,000), Temp ($7,200), Accuracy ($6,800)

LAG Players to Target: Blazt ($8,400)

OGLA (7-13) vs. FLA (17-8)

We round out Friday's slate with easily the most intriguing of the tournament matchups. 

To be clear, the Mutineers should win this series, and they should win by plenty. But with OpTic replacing both Dashy and Chino with relatively unfamiliar names in Drazah and Hollow, this should make for a compelling story to watch unfold the rest of the weekend.

Two primarily SMG-heavy players replacing one obvious AR (Chino), and at times one of the more dynamic slayers in all of Call of Duty (Dashy), doesn't necessarily scream successful strategy in the current meta. But we've seen far too many teams be successful with their young superstars this season to just completely throw the idea out the window. If OpTic faced really anyone else save for the Mutineers on Friday I think I would consider the possibility of a five-game series achievable, or there would at least be enough potential for a second Hardpoint that the group would collectively make sense in a tournament lineup.

But I don't think it can be understated just how good the Mutineers have looked since the arrival of Owakening, and now we operate in a two-AR meta where both Skyz and Fero can dominate in a way they haven't even had the opportunity to before. They certainly are the better S&D team, to the point where Florida would be the obvious team play if not for the walking 3-0 scoreline that should be Dallas.

The new duo of OpTic Gaming will win people a lot of money if they correctly guess which matchup they go off in. At the very least, the floor for both teams should be raised with the massive amount of engagements likely set for Friday.

Prediction: FLA 3-1

FLA Players to Target: Owakening ($9,600), Skyz ($8,200), Fero ($7,800)